After spending about twenty hours traveling, I was ready to find my luggage and begin my new adventure in China on Friday morning. Some exciting news that I learned while traveling was that the metal in my arm actually does not set off the metal detectors. I'm sure the security guard thought I was a little strange, since I made sure he knew that my arm was going to set the alarm off and then it didn't do anything...rather disappointing. Anyways, Deborah (another student teacher from IWU) and I met up with our new roommate here in China. She has been great and has been showing us around the city. We've been able to go to so many places and learn so much in the past couple of days. From learning the street names and how to use public transportation to actually crossing the street (which is more like playing frogger) and going to Hisense and other "grocery stores" and meeting many new people, we've been keeping busy and keeping awake so that we don't give into jet lag. The city is filled with many different options for food, so I don't think that we'll ever go hungry. Our roommate made us a list of about twenty-six different restaurants ranging from Vietnamese food to Turkish to Mexican to KFC to Korean to Indian, oh and Chines
e. We went to a Muslim restaurant on Friday night, and I got to try my hand at using chopsticks for the first time. Yesterday we went to TaiDong, a central shopping area in the city. We went to a tailors where we could get almost any kind of clothing custom-made for a very good price. 
After browsing the different shops, we ate at a Japanese chain restaurant, Ajisen Noodle, where I had my first taste of tofu. So far, I've liked everything that I've eaten.
My apartment is right next to the Yellow Sea. The Olympic complex where the sailing and boating took place this past summer is right next to the apartments that I am living in. It is open to the public for a small fee, so we may go explore that someday. 
A view of the sea which I will see everyday on my walk to the bus every morning.
Tomorrow, I will begin my first day of student teaching. I have already met many of the other teachers and staff. I am looking forward to starting my teaching experience here. I will be teaching the 2nd and 3rd grade ESL students. A majority of the students are ESL, since it is an international school, but the students that I will be working with are at a much lower level of English that requires more individualized attention. I appreciate and am so thankful for all of the people who have shown an interest in my experience here and who actually want to read this blog! Thanks for your support and love!