Week Two in Dalian

So I have just finished up my second week in Dalian and my first official week of teaching. I teach three classes a day and have really enjoyed the students in my class. It has been a lot of fun trying to come up with different ideas on how to engage them and make learning English fun! It also seems that I have ironed out all of the wrinkles that were concerning me last week. I know that time is going to fly by and I will be on to the next segment of my journey before I know it so I am trying to slow down and appreciate it as much as I can while I am here. I have met so many great people in Dalian and made some new friends. Today I hung out with a guy that moved here with his boyfriend from Phoenix about six months ago. I was so worried that I would be really lonely this summer but so far this has not been the case at all. I do miss my friends and family at times but its not as intense as I thought it would be.

I have been watching a lot of CCTV which is a Chinese News Channel. Watching Chinese Media is a trip, they have such an interesting way of looking at things. Its so different from America. Everything here is layered with a positive and optimistic view of China. I have been seeing a lot about the terrible storms and typhoon in Southern China and even Dalian has hit the National News. There was an oil spill here about a week ago that I guess was pretty bad. I have talked to a lot of people who have been to the coast and say that you can see the oil floating on the water. It seems like China really contained and controlled it pretty quickly but I do find it kind of ironic that this happened so close to the huge BP spill in the U.S. A pretty clear wake up call for us all to figure out how to get off oil and start finding more clean and sustainable ways to live.

I am continuing to enjoy incredible massages for ridiculously cheap prices. Tomorrow I am getting a massage at the place I go regularly and then on Tuesday someone is taking me to a place where I can get a two hour massage for a little over $10. I will miss this when I go back to the States. My body is unwinding and letting go of a ton of old crap. This week I might also go to a karaoke club here for the first time. It should be awesome! Next weekend I don't have to work and I am probably going to travel up to the capital of this province which is Shenyang with my roommate. I will post some more pictures of life around Dalian soon!