By the way, “whoo-hoo!” is Chinese, for: “woo-hoo.” So, take a look at some of the photos of my work environment. The office is on the 6th floor of a business center/mall. I’ll take some pictures of the mall, itself as it’s nothing like any mall I’ve seen back home and post them in a separate missive.
At some point, I’ll devote a separate post about what it’s like to teach here. For the time being, know that I enjoy the work and find it very rewarding. I am actually helping students learn (unlike back home), and they are appreciative, friendly and eager to learn as well, (again, unlike back home).
A “Face-to-Face” room where we teach no more than four students at a time.
An “I-Lab” where students work independently.
The teachers workroom. It’s small but there is usually only a handful of teachers any given day.
Another “I-lab.”
Walking to work the other day, I came across a bus, parked on the sidewalk. It’s Beijing. You just accept these things as normal.
We had a going-away pizza party for a teacher who’s leaving. Those are big pizzas! The price: $25 each.
The front entrance to the office, off the elevators.
The nightclub marquee. I would guess I’m way too old to imbibe here.
The 6th floor plaza facing the back of our office. Every establishment here is some type of restaurant.
The Wudaokou subway station, across the plaza from my office. During rush-hour, there is an immense line just to get in, never mind, the line-up to get up the stairs, then the line-up for the subway cars.
I haven’t actually bought coffee at any Starbucks but they are everywhere. Note the vertical EF sign.
Across the street from my office. Note the D-Mart. It’s where you can find mostly imported foods and household items from many countries.
Believe me; there isn’t anything Parisian about this bakery!
The front of the office building.