We have found the interwebs!

So, as you may have guessed, my apartment is now hooked up to the internet! Skype, facebook, and (of course) blogspot are now easily accessible at any time. We're still working on the cell phones but we have phone cards for our home phones so we're chugging right along. Luke and Katherine's internet worked briefly....then their computer (the one the school provided) kinda broke, so the school is sending someone to fix it Monday.

Today we had a dinner with all of the American English teachers in Shiyan. Laughs and good times were had by all, and Barry almost mastered the art of picking up watermelon with chopsticks. We have a REALLY great group of folks here, and it was good to communicate with over 2 other English speakers in one sitting!

Luke and Katherine are doing well. I think they have not rebounded from the jet-lag quite so wel; they are in bed pretty early every night, but I tend to stay up and watch a little West Wing now and then. Perhaps they are trying to prepare themselves for the upcoming schedule! Luke and Kat start classes on Monday, but I apparently won't have classes for another 3 weeks! I have all freshmen classes, and all Chinese freshmen are required to do some sort of training, so I will be free to hang out for a bit around the city before getting to work.

Sorry there's nothing very new or interesting to report in this post, but I suppose a boring post is better than none at all. I hope everyone is doing well stateside...but clearly something's wrong back there if we're nominating governors from Alaska to VP slots....unbelievable. As far as I'm concerned, Alaskans are geographically Canadian, and therefore unfit for the office of VP, but what would I know? OK, enough for my political rant. I'm working on getting my Mac internet-ready but its proving difficult. I may have to swap my photos over to the desktop to put them online, but don't worry, they'll be up soon!

Peace,
Finn

Oh! and ROOOOOOLLLLLLLLL TIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
P.S. please don't let us know game scores until you know we've watched it...we're trying to watch online after it happens, but we don't want to know the outcome 'till we see it. Thanks!

Finn's first morning in his Chinese apartment (step by step)

1) Got out of bed, still in boxers, and proceeded to stumble about the apartment after 12 hours of jet-lagged sleep.

2) wandered into 2nd bedroom with no curtains up, got stared at by a Chinese guy cooking breakfast in the apartment building across from mine

3) set up curtains

4) shower time: I wandered into shower/bathroom/laundry room (you have to walk across the shower area to get to the toilet and washer, which are set 6 inches above the shower area).

5) started shower, only got cold water.

7) Tried to work Chinese water heater.

8) Got burned by chinese shower.

9) Tried again to work Chinese water heater.

10) got slightly less burned: commenced showering.

11) tried to differentiate Chinese Shampoo and conditioner with little success.

12) turned on the sink to shave...cold water

13) stopped up the sink, pointed shower head into sink for hot water.

14) shaved

15) Used a sgueegee on the floor as I had managed to soak everything in the room with water.

16) Got dressed, headed out for Chinese breakfast (hot noodles, egg and beef)


These are the steps I would recommend for anyone's first night in China. It certainly makes for an interesting experience when you can't read ANYTHING in your apartment.

Well, Luke, Katherine, and I are in Shiyan now. We have set up in our apartments and are doing well. I have many many stories to tell, but I am typing right now on my neighbor's computer. Our internet is sadly not set up yet, and we have no Chinese cell phone for the moment. We have alerted the school though, and tomorrow morning we will be getting phones and internet.

Shiyan is a beautiful city. Although busier than you or I could have imagined, the people are friendly, the air is clean, and the mountains are gorgeous. Sadly, it has rained all day today, so Brad showed us where to buy umbrellas. We grocery shopped a little and had lunch with some of our fellow American teachers that we ran into on the street. We ate at a place they call "happy lady's" because the owner of the small restaurant is a short portly Chinese lady who CONSTANTLY grins from ear to ear. She was SOOOO sweet and we ate very well (5 of us ate for just over 5 American dollars!!!).

I will have more pictures coming, as well as some other stories, but for now I think I will get out of my neighbor's hair and go watch a movie or something. Thanks for your patience. I promise we will do better at blogging/facebook/skype when our internet is hooked up. Until then, goodbye, and God Bless.

Finn

Pictures from Wuhan!

RELIEF!

Our long day(s) of travel have come to a temporary stop!  Today, Luke, Katherine, and I landed in Wuhan, China, where we were greeted by a fellow American teacher from Shiyan and two Chinese representatives of the school.  After some hurried goodbyes to our travel companions, we were hurried onto a small van and driven to downtown Wuhan for our first meal!

Well, if you have never had authentic Chinese (and I have not), it is an interesting experience.  We all sat down, were offered tea and other beverages as our hosts perused the menu to order dishes for the whole group.  We also each received a hot towel with which everyone wiped their faces (surprisingly refreshing, you should try it sometime).  The dishes came one by one and were placed on the lazy susan in the middle of the table.  Not wanting to offend, I sampled some of the saucy tofu cubes and carrots that didn't quite look like carrots.  From there, we moved on to some AMAZING spicy pork dishes (one looked like ribs, and the other a sort of bacon-like meat mixed in with peppers and spices).  "Water-boiled fish", beef and shrimp, a dish that I would identify as spicy french fries....the list goes on.  

Needless to say, we are all stuffed and exhausted.  Our gracious hosts directed us to our 14th floor hotel rooms where we have hot showers and internet!  As much as I would like to post a myriad of pictures and tell dozens more stories, I am DESPERATELY in need of a nap.  

Peace,

Finn

3 flights down, 1 to go...and a train ride

This morning at about 5:30 AM local time (somewhere in the afternoon for our stateside friends), a group of around thirty exhausted, smelly, cramped Americans stumbled into the Hong Kong airport, which was probably a humorous sight to see!  After a 14 hour cross-pacific flight (with no sunlight the whole time!!!), we were able to watch through the glass siding of the Hong Kong airport as the sunrise revealed the most magnificent fog-crested mountains!  It was certainly a reprieve from the back of another passenger's headrest.  

Though the worst part is now over, we are now waiting at the gate for our last flight which will take us into Wuhan.  We have fortunately located Free WiFi (props to Hong Kong for providing what Dallas AND L.A. would not), so everyone is facebooking/emailing/watching Michelle Obama's speech on Youtube and loving it...ok maybe that last one was just me.  

We are safe, tired, happy, excited, and experiencing a whirlwind of feelings (physical and emotional).  We will post again once we are in our new apartments!  woohoo!

Peace and Blessings,

Finn

WE ARE ON OUR WAY!!!!

Thanks to the Huntsville airport, we are able to fire off one quick departure post!  Hugs have been exchanged, passports have been checked, Luke has been unnecessarily scanned in security, and the obligatory water and tic tacs have all been purchased.  

So now we await the boarding call for our flight to Dallas.  From there, we will stop in L.A., change airlines, fly across the Pacific Ocean, stop in Hong Kong, then continue to the Wuhan airport!  As exhausted as we are from a LONG night of packing and goodbyes, we are all running off of a seemingly endless supply of nervous energy and excitement (which I'm sure will expire halfway across the Pacific).  

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers as we fly.  We hope to update as soon as we can find the internet in China, so keep checking up on us!  It may be a couple of days, so be patient with us!  

Peace and Blessings!

- The Brelands

Departure

We leave for China in 17 days!!!

Luke, Katherine, and I are all running around frantically to see friends and family, pack for a daunting 11 month trip, and take care of all our pre-China concerns and errands.  Forgive us if we are stressed, but we are oh-so-excited!