Our First Week of School!

Although Rachel was super grumpy on Monday morning, she was very excited to start school. We spent Sunday enjoying some much needed spiritual refilling with two other families that just moved here for Micron.

On Monday morning, the new school year began!

Rachel cheered up as we waited for the school van to arrive. Below are a few pictures of Hanova. I am the homeroom teacher for Year 7 which is 6th grade. We took them on a tour of the school grounds during orientation. Most of Monday was to welcome all the students back to school and get all the students settled.

The Library is small but very full of books and resources.

The next few days were a blur but on Tuesday night (I think) we went out to dinner with a few friends I decided to locate a Tex-Mex restaurant that had been recommended to me. It took a little logistical ingenuity but we got some taxis to take us to the mall where it was located. 

We had so much fun and the food was great!

The next day Rachel and I adventured down to a restaurant near our apartment. We found a lovely place where the manager spoke some English. He was very friendly and we've eaten there again since our first visit. 

Rachel loves rice so I got her Rice with pork. I had a pulled pork sandwich (essentially) called a Rho jiao mo. Food in Xi'an is very inexpensive. Our whole dinner cost around $3.

After dinner we walked to the grocery store next to our apartment complex. On our way there are several pet shops selling fish, birds and turtles. We stopped to look at the baby ones.

At night many people get together in groups to do some kind of dance that looks like a mixture between line dancing, Zumba and Tai Chi. Even in the parking lot at Vanguard (the grocery store) they get together to dance.

On our walk home the sky was clear and we were able to see a few stars. The pictures don't show it but the skyline at night is actually quite nice. 

The rest of the week was filled with lessons and planning. We took it easy most nights and are continuing to settle in. I'm glad we have such great friends as colleagues. Everyone helps and supports each other and we are like a big family. Can't wait for next week!