The morning of the 15th, we woke up to a steady rain...too bad, I really wanted to go for a walk! So since it was pouring out, I decided to move some of our bags to the new apartment. I grabbed 1 of 2 keys they gave us and lugged 2 big bags with me to the other tower. Whatta ya know....the key doesn't work! So instead of bringing the bags all the way back, I left them there and came got the other key as well as another bag....whatta ya know, that key did not work either! By this point, I'm sweating my bag off and quite irritated with the whole situation. I sent a text to Muneer about the keys and he and the agent met me at the apartment. Apparently there was a 3rd key that was properly labelled as the new apartment key in Amanda's purse. What a dumbass....and I still have no idea what those keys I tried were for. Also during this fiasco, one of the younger security guards in our building asked me if I was ABC....what the heck is ABC? I told him I didn't know what he meant so he looked at his coworker with a bit of a snicker then asked me if I was asian. For all of you back home, I look asian right? Too bizarre! As we waited for the new place to be cleaned, we decided to hang at the pool and buy some stuff for the place such as pillows, pots, wok etc. We finally moved in around 5 pm that afternoon. After we unpacked some clothes, much to Amanda's pleasure, we headed to San Miu Supermarket a couple blocks away for our first grocery trip. Back home, you drive to the store, buy whatever and how much you want, knowing you just pack the car and drive home. Here you have to carry everything home in bags or backpacks. Good thing Amanda is stronger than me! I like to pack light!
Amanda started her week long orientation on the 16th. It was lightly raining that morning so she grabbed all her classroom supplies and umbrella for the 15 minute walk to the school (during the school year there is a school charter that will pick up and drop off Amanda and the kids across the street everyday). Here, you're not very smart if you don't carry an umbrella with you everywhere you go. Not only is the umbrella great for the sudden showers, but also for keeping the scorching sun off you. It doesn't matter what the weather is, you can always see numerous umbrellas all around.
Over the next couple of days, I knew that furniture was being delivered, so I couldn't really leave the apartment all day. It sucked because here is so much to do and see here. So this day, the flat screen tv, Kylisha's bed, coffee table and tv stand came. Also the lights and curtains were installed and the gas was turned on (we didn't really miss the gas because the cool water was very much welcomed). The furniture is pretty good, except for the Goldmember curtains, the horrific flowery brass light fixture in the living room and the totally cheesy chinese butterfly muraled coffee table. The owner of our unit (a lady in Hong Kong) picked all the furnishings so we did not have any say in what came.
There were 12 new teachers at Amanda's orientation and she had nothing but great things to say about them all. After Amanda got home for work, we went out for dinner down in Old Taipa to Mexicana. The food was fantastic and the beer tasted even better. We went out with married teachers from Winnipeg, married teachers from Australia, a teacher from Edmonton and one from Innisfail. It turned out that we live in the same complex as 4 of the 6 people. The teacher from Edmonton is actually going to be Kylisha's soccer coach and she was quite excited to hear that Klash has been playing competitively for a long time as most of the girls here only play in school and not in metro leagues.
On the 17th, Amanda headed to work and I headed to the coffee shop. I chilled there for a while then headed out to buy some more hangers, fabric softener and a clothes drying rack. I wasn't sure what time our water cooler as being delivered to I headed back around 10 am to wait. Of course I sat around until 2 pm for the water to come. To ease my boredom, I hooked up the DVD player and good news, it plays movies off of a usb stick. Good to see my downloading will not be hampered! This evening, Amanda's principal (from Milk River, AB) was having a bbq for all staff and families. A lot of the teachers at the school are married to each other or else single with no kids. Only a handful of the teachers have kids too. You should try jamming 30 or so people into an apartment! It was a fantastic time (with a couple brews of course). I happened to chat with one of the teachers from Calgary and he mentioned that he substitute teached last year (his wife was full time last year, he wasn't) and he worked an average of 3 days a week. Because most teachers are married to staff or single, the need for substitutes is great.....I should have no problem keeping busy and getting our travel fund up there. I'm a little nervous, but more about Amanda watching me teach, than actually teaching. It will definitely be pretty cool working with Amanda over the next couple years.
Wednesday the 18th was the day our internet was being installed!!!! Yippee! We've been waiting for this since we got here. The internet was hooked up by noon so it was perfect timing to skype back home. I chatted with Jesse and Loni, my parents and Klash. She is definitely excited to get here. I took them on a little tour of our place with my netbook. Amanda got home around 5:30 ish and it looked like she ran a marathon. Sweating is just a way of life here! This evening was the first opportunity we got to cook dinner at home and of course we whipped up some stir fry with vermicelli. It was great, especially with all the fresh produce from the local markets. So we ate and Amanda crashed for an hour or so. It must be the back to work fatigue! So tomorrow is supposed to be the day our king bed, kids' wardrobes and couch are supposed to arrive so we'll see what goes wrong tomorrow!
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