Getting Settled in Beijing

We have now been in Beijing about 6 days. We can't believe what we've learned and how far we've come in adjusting to this unique life. Chuck started teaching his classes this week--two classes of sophomores. Each class has about 20 students. They are amazingly sweet and he is going to love teaching them. They are anxious to learn about how Americans think and act. They were blown away by pictures of his family--6 children and 14 grandchildren!

The language barrier is substantial when traveling out in the community. Chuck's Cantonese is pretty useless when everyone speaks Mandarin, so there is a lot of pointing and gesturing. He is trying desperately to re-engage with the written language he learned only minimally a few decades ago. Eating in the canteen is an adventure. The foods don't even look recognizable. Cantonese food is what you normally see at Chinese restaurants in the U.S. The foods in this part of the world are quite different and much more spicy. Eating her first foods in the canteen, Laraine turned quite red-faced and we quickly learned together how to say, "too hot!" We ate once at a restaurant down the street and Chuck used his smartphone translation app to decipher the menu. One item looked good in the pictures, but when translated, it came out, "dealer's hospital." So Chuck ordered the dealer's hospital and it was quite good. It was mostly stewed vegetables, with chopped corn on the cob (including the cob!) and some kind of meat still on the bones.

Our classes are on the "old campus" (Chuck teaches two classes there), and on the "new campus" located nearly an hour away via shuttle bus. Laraine teaches all her classes on the new campus, and Chuck teaches his remaining classes there also. Chuck teaches Mondays and Thursdays and Laraine teaches Tuesdays and Thursdays. The new campus is quite large and located on the outskirts of Beijing. The old campus (including our housing) is very small and "cozy" and located in the inner city.  

The apartment is in the International Exchange Center. All residents of the building are "foreigners" and teaching various subjects at the university.

This is the apartment building we live in--it is part of the China Foreign Affairs University compound located not far from the Forbidden City and Tianenman Square area in the center of Beijing 

Our apartment's dryer. This is how we dry our clothes.

Tiffany's family came to wish us luck at the airport. It was great to see them. 

At Salt Lake Airport. Getting ready for a long flight.