During a walk downtown I decided to look in some random shop just to browse around and lo and behold I see guitars on display in the back. It was an exciting moment, as I thought I might never find one in this city. Apparently they do have everything and kitchen sink (no really, they sell sinks on the street). I bought a decent acoustic for 250 Chinese Yuan, which is about $37 American. Not a bad deal for something to mess around with during my stay here. I'm sure it'll provide me lots of entertainment plus I may use it for my classes.
Rebecca and I each got our own computers for the apartment a couple days ago, so now we have internet access from home instead of having to walk down the street to the internet cafe where a few kids play World of Warcraft all day. The people who brought the computers over came by soon after we got back from buying my guitar, and one of them brought their young child, who I 'babysat' for a few minutes letting him play with my new guitar. He kind of reminded me of my nephew Justin, because he was very quiet and had a serious look on his face as he curiously played with the guitar as I made different chords. Also, notice the strange body shape of this acoustic guitar.
Rebecca and I start teaching classes tomorrow, and although the school arranged for us to teach separately, I think it will be no problem to let us teach together. Our teaching schedule is very light, as we only have eight classes altogether each week. On Thursdays we are supposed to take a bus to a small village elementary school about an hour away, and we're only supposed to go one at a time for those trips.
One thing about China is that about every time your butt hits a seat you are served tea. At some of the nicer meals we had earlier this week we had tea as we sat waiting for the meal. Also when waiting at a bike shop and a mobile phone store I had tea served.
I've been away from home for well over a week and I've settled in pretty well. I'm kind of surprised how easily I've adapted to my life here, it helps that I'm not the only American around and that everyone here has been really nice. I'm sure by the end of this trip I'll be craving pizza and cheeseburgers and all that high fructose corn syrup-packed American goodness, but the food here is pretty good and there are many Western items like Pepsi and toilet paper available at the supermarket and all along the streets. My favorite so far in Shuizhai are the local bakeries, which beats eating cafeteria (the "canteen") food. Everything here is very inexpensive, and I doubt I will use much of the money I brought with me even though I like to buy lots of soda and bakery items
Homesickness hasn't set in like I thought it might -- I really like this place and find it quite comfortable. I think the warm weather helps.
And my favorite sandwich thingy from that bakery. These cost about 30 cents American
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