Starting work

Tuesday morning at 8am the alarm clock was kind enough to tell us that we were starting our new jobs! We practically jumped out of bed, had our usual banana and bread for breakfast and then strolled the 5 minutes down the street, past the 'Oh Mcdonald Had A Farm'-singing-kindergarden and the many men and women with pointy strawhats that were working away in the flowerbeds and bushes, and over to our uni-college HKU (Hongkong University) SPACE Global College. We were warmly welcomed by the management, filled in the appropriate paperwork, and then all 10 new teachers were taken to lunch by the Executive President of the school, Professor Wong. After lunch we were shown our desks in a nice office space, and we were introduced to other teachers in our department. We were pleased to find out that we will be teaching 1st year students this semester, which means that our classes don't actually start until after the 10 day holiday in the beginning of October! All new students in China have to go through couple of weeks of rigorous military training before they are allowed to enter our classrooms (Joe: Anette was terribly scared that she would be forced to join in too!), so therefore we will be assisting and learning from other teachers until then. We were thrilled to find out that we would receive some on-the-job training, and even more thrilled to acertain that new teachers, thankfully, don't have to participate in the mili-training!! Over the past week we have seen students from one of the other universities here dressed up in full mili-gear, and they are marching (or attempting to) and standing rank and file, while Joe and I just stroll past them into a restaurant or eating an icecream! When our own students commence their 2 weeks of training we will take some pictures and share them with you.

The rest of the week flew by with planning, training (job, not military), seminars and lecturers meetings. It is fun being a part of the team of lecturers, and all have made us feel at home and have helped us settle in quite well. The school is amazing. It open and spacious, and it's got white marble everywhere. - It's even got 1 western-style toilet in each of the washrooms! - This is probably because there are so many international members of staff. Up to 80% of the teaching staff (all subjects) come from outside Mainland China, there are quite a few from Hongkong, Malaysia, Singapore and the UK and then we've got a couple of Aussies and Americans. The place is amazing and we have been really blessed with this place!

Yesterday morning all the new teachers were taken to the hospital in Suzhou, where we were all given our compulsory medical examination. The hospital was lovely and clean and we were taken to a room which had several rooms attached to it. Then a bit of a scavenger hunt began, as we were requested to visit 7 rooms in any order and get a stamp after completion of the task of that particular room! The 'tasks' included a bloodtest (Anette: a PAINFUL bloodtest!), a full ECG, sight test, weighing and measuring, an ultrasound scan of the kidneys/liver/stomach/gallbladder etc, a chest x-ray, bloodpressure, and finally a visit to the dentist who ensured that we had all of our own teeth (apparently a necessity if you hope to work in China!)! At the end Joe and I enquired about vaccinations, and were staggered to find out that getting inoculated here is less that a tenth of the price to back in the UK, so we're going back there next week!

Last night was Friday night, so the end of our first week working, so some of the English Dept. teachers went out to a Swedish bar here in Suzhou and later continued in a nightclub built like a medieval castle (Joe: An absolute monstrosity... We had to check it out!). We had a fab night out - the Chinese really know how to party, and we really feel like we are now firmly a part of a great team! I haven't danced like I did last night in ages, and the castle, although cringeworthingly over-the-top, proved a good place to party! They had live singers - good ones - and there was a great atmosphere underneath the chandeliers and 'wooden' beams!

A couple of nights ago a bloke, Sean, from the HR/School Development Office moved into the spare bedroom in our flat temporarily. He's Chinese, so he's able to help us with things like deciphering the controls on the washing machine and aircon, and he can help us talk to the Superintendent about the lack of a waterheater in our ensuite toilet and maybe explain to him that our toilet is broken again (same water-spraying problem as last week). He's a really nice guy and he's a recent graduate from the school, so he gives us the inside track and some good ideas about teaching and what to expect from our students.

As you will be able to see from our pictures, our area is really lovely. Every night a seemingly expanding group of women gather near the playground and they dance for a while to some charming(!) Chinese Opera music. Their dance includes a set of two red Chinese fans, and it looks rather elegant. - Although we are now starting to think that if they don't soon change the one and only song they dance to, then we might fall out of love with this little dancetroup!

We were supposed to have gone sightseeing today, but the food, or something, finally caught up with us and gave a few uncomfortable hours of stomach aches. We're feeling better now. I am enjoying a papaya as I'm writing this - 2.5 yuan (20p) - we're drinking plenty of water. Tomorrow Sean's going to take us into Suzhou and show us around some of his favourite places of his hometown. He thinks this city is small, but trust us, it's massive! We're looking forward to seeing other parts of Suzhou, as we are so spoiled here in our little enclave in the Higher Education Town as everything is so new and modern! We will probably also go back to the giant supermarket and invest in a pretty mosquito-net - you know, the ones that make your bed look like a princess bed! Poor Joe is apparently so tasty that he is being eaten alive at the moment, and we can't have that!

Until next time! (btw - more pictures are on their way as and when the internet decides to work!)