The Tai Tais come to lunch

Happy Tuesday! Last week on this day, the Korean tai tais (Chinglish for housewives) of our Chinese class came to our new apartment for a little housewarming party. We found out the day before our midterm exams that we were moving, so when we went to school I was ecstatically excited and they had to know why! They asked to come over so we invited them to lunch at our favorite Suzhou cuisine restaurant, the Happy Family.

Don't we just look like a happy family? Also pictured are Doug, Tom and our Chinese teacher, Pang Lao Shi. She's the cute little one on the far left. Not pictured is Li Zi Ying, who is taking the picture because the waitress didn't seem to understand the concept of a camera. The Tai Tais presented us with a bouquet of little roses and a red envelope containing a far too generous cash gift! Then we went to our apartment, where we showed them a slideshow of our travels last year and served them coffee, tea, and old cookies. Aww....

You can't see much right now, and I promise a follow-up video coming soon. We're about to make some big purchases (couch, TV) and you want the full effect, right?? We did buy some plants to impress the Tai Tais, but Mr. Chairman is slowly eating them to death. Just telling you now so that when you see some pots lying around with just dirt in them, you'll know what was meant to be there.

The before

Here's a video tour of the apartment/living quarters we left behind. "The after" to follow soon!

We're moving on Thursday. Also: why am I speaking Chinese mostly with non-Chinese people?

Tonight Cullen and I moseyed down the hall to visit the Japanese teacher to find out when she wants to move next week because we're sharing a moving van provided by the school to do so. She takes Chinese courses three times a week in a class in the Suzhou New District with other Japanese students, so we were able to have a choppy, somewhat coherent conversation about the move. She wasn't "home" the first time we stopped by, but thanks to the ingenious design of these "apartments", there is a window into the kitchen/dining area/living room which makes the extravagance of privacy seem like one of the finer things in life that only the rich can afford. Since we are only English monkeys to be displayed for the school's street cred and not among the wealthy elite, we live like zoo animals while the random people who stay here (yes, they use this place as a hotel as well, somehow) gawk at us during breakfast, lunch, AND dinner! What better way to make us appreciate what we're moving away from, however; you can't appreciate the sweet without the sour. Anyway, yes, Cullen hoisted me up so I could adequately gawk at her living quarters, but in my defense I only did so once I knew she wasn't home, thus preventing any embarrassing glimpses into her private life as happens to us on a daily basis. If only everyone had the common courtesy to knock before peeping! If you're wondering, what I saw were boxes and signs of someone having had excitedly begun preparations to move.

On the second attempt she eventually came to the door, as she was sequestered away in the bedroom with the door closed, likely hiding from public view. We brought over our calender to aid in the scheduling, and decided on this THURSDAY, which is now my favorite day of the week.

Included is a photo of the only part of this place I will miss (the new apartment building doesn't have an elevator). Also a photo of the propaganda portal, the main feature of the elevator. Communism at work!

WE'RE MOVING!

I couldn't wait to share the news with our loyal readers, so studying for midterms/preparing for tomorrow's lessons will just HAVE to wait!! We just got the okay to move into our new apartment(s) NEXT WEEK! As you may know, we currently live in the same part of town as all of the indigent, transient, essentially interloping population of migrant workers who all live in ramshackle cardboard boxes that are somehow floating on the contaminated swamp waters of the nearby gravely neglected canal, and must ride the already packed-to-the-gills bus from almost the start of it's route out in the hinterlands with all of them gaping incredulously in our foreign faces for hours and hours until we reach our destination somewhere in civilization. The smell from the sewage plant, which is situated directly across the canal from the current location of our possessions (I will not stoop to recognizing it as an apartment!) will no longer linger on our freshly washed laundry after being hung out to dry; we will no longer have to leave our place of residence at 6:45 AM to arrive at school by 8:30; and perhaps most gratifying, we will no longer have to carry buckets of hot water to our kitchen sink to do the dishes! No sir, the new apartment has HOT WATER FROM THE SINK!!!

I don't mean to sound snobby, but we weren't expecting to move until next Fall, so the excitement of the move is now TEN fold! Included in this post is a photo of the garden on the old campus, the location of our new apartment. At a later date I will post a "before and after" photo tour for your viewing pleasure! 周末快乐！Have a great weekend!!

Meet The Chairman

At the beginning of last winter a female cat followed one of our fellow foreign teachers home, and he began to care for her. With each passing day, she demanded more and more food until she would only eat ice cream, Kentucky Fried Chicken and bonbons (jk). Well, they had to leave for their Thailand vacation, so they handed her over to a friend to watch her.

When they got back to Suzhou, the one cat turned into six cats! The mother cat is an orange and grey tabby and the father must have been a white cat. She gave birth to three timid white kittens, one matronly orange tabby and one adventurous grey tabby.

Our friend knew that Melissa has an affinity for grey tabbies, so he immediately started encouraging Melissa to adopt that kitten. Well, it didn't take much convincing, because Melissa fell in love with the little guy almost immediately!

Our friend called him Rosco the Rascal, and we call him Chairman Meow (I know, very original...), or just The Chairman. He's about two months old, and so far, his favorite place to sit is on our shoulders after clawing his way up our bodies. He likes to play, sit in our laps, and go dumpster diving for fresh poultry.

A few days ago, he got sick, but I can detail that in a later post. We took him to a vet and everything, but I didn't take any photos. We have to go back in two weeks to administer more medicine, so I'll try to remember to take our camera.