Teacher, Teacher!

So far, we really like the school that Joel is teaching at. The school has two different sections, the regular Chinese high school and the international division where Joel works. The international division is designed for Chinese students who want to go to the US and be successful at an American university. They bring American teachers to teach all of the subjects in English to help students prepare for studying in America. 

The school was founded in 1724 and is one of the best schools in Beijing. It is a public school but students have to have good grades and test scores to get in. The campus almost looks more a university than a high school; there is a Koi pond (where we saw a ferret yesterday!), fountain, and nicely maintained landscaping.

They have been really good to us so far. There is a dining hall just for the teachers and they serve a complimentary breakfast for all of the staff. Their lunches are very cheap, usually about 50 cents per person and the food is really good. I have gone to meet Joel for lunch a few times and I have always liked what they serve. We can also eat a very affordable dinner there if we want to. The only downside to eating there is using chopsticks! It takes me forever to eat my meal. Especially noodles, those are really tricky. I usually end up getting my face as close to the plate as I can politely manage and just using the chopsticks to shovel in what I can!

The school even provides Joel with a bilingual teaching assistant to help with all of his classes. She is very nice and speaks very good English, which is helpful when we need to pick her brain on how to say basic phrases in Chinese. Most of the teaching assistants teach one day a week for the teacher so that the teacher has more time to prepare and grade, which is so nice.

This is the courtyard at the school. It's really pretty, it has a lot of bright colors and intricate designs.

Another shot of the courtyard.

It's hard to tell in the picture, but this day was one of the clearest we have had since we've been here. Usually, it's so hazy from the pollution that we can't see very far. But there are mountains in the distance that we had no idea were there!

Tropical vacation anyone? We found this lovely little backdrop at our local mall and couldn't resist the photo opportunity!

On another note, we found a great imported goods grocery store. I bought cream cheese!! I never thought I would be so excited about such a simple food item. I haven't really had much dairy since we moved here. Cheese doesn't really exist in the Chinese diet and their milk is not refrigerated (gross, I know). Luckily I don't really like milk.