My arrival in China!

Hello everyone! I'm alive. After around 16 hours in a plane, I was so glad to be on the ground and away from airports! But immediately after stepping off the plane, I could literally breathe in the humidity.

After arriving in Guangzhou, we had a two hour bus ride to our city (Zhongshan.) It was cool driving through China, but I was more excited to see our neighborhood. It is a beautiful gated area with sky-rise apartments. There are gardens and ponds running in between the buildings. Everything is green and our view is fabulous.

Once at our apartments, we talked with our coordinators, made plans for the next day, unpacked, and settled in. As the Head Teacher I held a short welcome meeting going over plans, rules, goals, and other such things. Since then we've been battling jet lag. The struggle is real.

Our apartment is quite nice. There are 3 bedrooms with 2 beds each, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a small balcony, and a washing machine on the back porch. :) I can't say that we're going to be living in luxury for the next five months...that would be a lie. It's what you would expect an apartment for American volunteers would be like. And it will do just fine. The only problems I've encountered thus far are cockroaches (and no, they are not huge ones---at least not here anyway) and a sort of damp-like smell.

So far to eat I've had rice, dumplings, and noodles. Authentic Chinese food! It's awesome. I'm enjoying my time here thus far.

Here are some pics...

"nǐ hǎo!"

 Walking to our apartment

 A street in our neighborhood

A pavillion next to our apartment 

 Our apartment building.

 The school we teach at!

 Real, authentic Chinese food!

 From inside our apartment complex, the gate into our community.

 Me walking to our apartment!

The view on the way to our apartment.