So here we are!

So here we are, into our fourth week of being in China and really just starting to get settled. Yesterday we bit the bullet and decided to get an Ayi...pronounced "I-E". She..I don't know her name yet will be our cleaning lady. Yes, I know what you are all thinking...she is not our maid...I mean kind of but I really don't want to think about. We will pay her well.

Doug and I have officially paid bills, so here is the story:

We have a bank account where our money from the school is wired to once a month. Now you would think that once you get a bill you would just write out a check to pay it...well that doesn't happen. Instead you have a separate bank account to put money into for your electricity and water bill. Now when the company feels like it they will take money of that account.

For our gas....yup gas for our stove....NO OVEN you have to go to a different bank and put money in that account so the gas company will just take money out when they feel like it. I went on that excursion. We went to the bank took a number stood in line for about 10 minutes and then someone moved us to a different line where we could just use a machine to deposit the money. Now the sign for that machine read AUTOMATIC MONEY RECYCLER..(other signs said..automatic teller machine and multimedia machine)...I wondered if they just took the money and burned it. So after ten minutes in that machine, one of my friends Jill broke it...we then were moved to another line and that took about 5 minutes..after they figured out what we were doing...yup in total about an hour.

Last but not least we have to pay for our phone..the land line in the house.

I wasn't feeling well today...whatever goes in comes right back out...except it is all liquid...so this task fell on Doug's shoulders...he was about to go but when the vehicle pulled up that was suppose to take him..well it a was a pick up truck and only room for four of the seven people..Doug bailed out and gave someone else our money. The pick up truck then continued on to the post office because that is where you pay for your phone bill!!! Who knew right. I thought you only bought stamps there. You give them your home phone number and some money and then you are done. They might have asked if you needed to buy stamps but I do not know!

Well I guess that is all for now!
The Thompsons

Getting There is Half the Fun!

We have now been in China for three weeks and have learned a year's worth of lessons! Getting here was a methodical experience with peaks and valleys, luckily ending on a peak! The flight over was full of excitement, highlighted by hours on a foggy runway in Trenton, ME; a five hour hotel stay in Chicago before our flight to Shanghai; a flight to Shanghai which will forever mark our minds when Kirsten had to convince me that it was O.K. for the stewardesses to dote all over us; and an experience with humidity that could give anyone a kidney stone!

Needfull to say, the people here have been beyond kind. I'm not talking about the people who want to sell you stuff, I'm talking about the young women who stopped on the middle of the sidewalk with her daughter in Shanghai to help us find our way...not to mention she spoke a little English! Her name is Xiao, pronounced similar to shout without the t. We met a few other people, not by name, and got around just fine. It is abundantly clear that it is the biggest city in China! We went out and were shoulder to shoulder with everyone!

We flew from Shanghai to Ningbo. FYI, if you ever fly in China and you have anything greater than a 28" inseam, pay the extra cash to get out of economy! The school's administrators picked us up from the airport and got us here using one of the school's bus.

Here in Beilun, a district of Ningbo, its pretty easy to get around. Taxi's are cheap, providing you can get the driver to go where you want to go. We will get bikes and that will help. No pix yet but will update soon....