Blog Status Update

I've been meaning to post this for awhile now. I realize the posting frequency has drastically dropped off. I understand that I am not holding myself to the level I should as self-proclaimed blog editor-in-chief. And for this I apologize.

There is however a very good reason for the sudden decline in posts... I got a job! In China! This may be old news to some, but I'm not sure if everyone was aware.

I am teaching as a semester long substitute at Shanghai American School in the outskirts of Puxi. I have two preps: Algebra2/Trig and Core Pre-Cal. The position is called a substitute but it's a full time position as I'm filling for a gentleman who is on medical leave through at least January.

So how does this contribute to fewer posts? Every weekday morning I leave the apartment at 6am to catch a shuttle bus 2km away from our complex. The shuttle leaves at 6:25am and arrives at 7:30 while the school day starts at 8:05am. The folks who know me know that in order for me to leave by 6, I'm waking up by 4:45. The nice thing is since Shanghai is east of Beijing, and all of China is in the same time zone (i.e. Beijing time), the sun rises around 5:30.

I pretty much repeat the same process in the afternoons, although the commute takes longer since we travel on Shanghai's busiest road: the Yanan Elevated Road. Think of it like I-35 around downtown Austin during rush hour. Fun stuff, only I ride on a 32-seat bus with some of my coworkers. The other really cool thing, I don't pay a single RMB to ride the shuttle, as the school covers 100% of the cost. But I usually take a taxi to the stop in the morning. In the evenings I walk or take a taxi, depending on how tired I am, and/or how the weather is.

I arrive home most days between 6-7, and I'm usually pretty tired. Then we cook dinner, and I like to try to workout at the gym. The experience has made me appreciate everything Jim did from January until May.

The school is pretty cool. It's the oldest international school in Shanghai. It first opened in 1912, but closed in 1949 due to the Cultural Revolution. The doors reopened in the 80's when the rest of China opened to the rest of the world. One of the school's goals is to be the leading international school in Asia by 2012 - some say it already is. It's an American curriculum (as the name says), but it has a very Asian face. The students are not Chinese citizens, but expats' kids. Mini Terminology Lesson - Jim & I are expats. It's from the verb expatriate: to withdraw (oneself) from residence in one's native country. Anyways, close to 60% of the school's student population is Korean.

If anyone wants to know more about the school, the website is: http://www.saschina.org/.