Well, we made it back mid morning on the 8th of August & got right into unpacking & setting up our new apartment; 3rd apartment in this the start of our 4th year. Thank God our friends Ryan & Lainey unpacked our stored clothes & watered our plants while we were away. If not the clothes would have been covered with mold & the plants would have died. Only 2 pair of my shoes didn't make it, you can see the mold problem. It took a week to get things sorted & the internet pulled in. It feels like home. Because we're a little further from work we went out & bought bikes to commute to work, about 10 minutes. We went out with some new friends & fellow teachers Stephen & Kayla. So now were really into the culture as many do bike around. We stand out because we wear helmets. I began the school year with a cold which lasted about 5 day & now following it up with heat rash, yuck. Good health is not one of my better characteristics lately. The lead up to the beginning of school here at QSI Shekou was rough as in previous years. They don't seem to organize themselves for smooth transition to the first days of school but for me it was not bad. Most of the returning 8th graders will be going into some form of English preparing class as they scored low on the English aptitude test. Fortunately, the school hired qualified ELL teachers to help them & they are a super group of new teachers. For me I'm trying to get into a routine & pace myself. Next week will be our first full week so I'll write more about it then.
