A Yankee Texan in China

It has been an interesting week for me.  On the 28th I flew from Yanji to Kunshan to get ready for my new job in Suzhou.  All I can say is thank God for China's high speep rail system.  I can go from Kunshan to Suzhou in about 10 minutes.  I actually spent more time on the bus and in a taxi than I did on the train.  The last few days I have been busy setting up a simplified version of my AP history class for Chinese soplomore students.  I'm using a US history book printed in China so the information it has is limited, but the director wants me to go into greate detail, but do it in a way to keep their interest.

I've also been looking for a place to live, and I must say that Magggie, the head teacher, is a jewel.  she has taken time out of her schedule to help me find a place and I value her input, especially when I have to take into consideration that when my wife gets here, we will be dealing with an infant.  The vast majority of the places I saw were marginal at best till we were showed an apartment on the 19th floor of a new highrise.  If we had to deal with stairs we would have been limited to no higher than the third floor for that reason.  But an elevator changes things dramatically, so even though the place was more than I expected, 2600 Yuan ($409.47), the company and school give me 2000 ($314.98) Yuan for housing assiatance so the extra 600 Yuan won't be a hardship. 

We went the the bank to withdraw 13,000 ($2047.74) yuan for the deposit, 2 months rent and the realtor fee.  We went to an ATM self service center to withdraw the money and the heat there was stifling.  I just wanted to get the money and get out.  Since I had to do it and keep track of it in incraments of 2500 Yuan ($393.73).  It was hot in the selfserve lost track of ended up withdrawing 15,500 Yuan ($2441.10).  In the lon run it was good that I withdrew extra beause as we were sitting in the  realtor office I realized I had left my card in the machine.  we ran back to the ATM but my card was not there.  We called the bank and was able to place a hold on my card and it the last transaction they showed was the money I had withdrawn and the balance was ok.  I hoping the machine ate my card and I can get it back.  If not I'll just get a new card.

But, I was able to secure a real nice new apartment and hopefully I'll be getting our stuff from Kunshan soon and be setting up a new home for us and baby.