Wednesday, 25 August

Last night was a quiet night and the day followed suit. It is still drizzling here which makes for wonderful sleeping weather! High was 73--jeans and long sleeves weather! Only a few mini-skirts to catch

Andy's eye but still lots of high heels with the jeans! One thing we noticed in FL that holds true here: if it's clean, it goes together--plaids, checks, stripes--whatever.

As many of you know, we are unable to access our blog from China. Daughter Berkeley is posting what we send her. Consequently we also can't read you comments. So if you have

something to say, either email us at jnalindauer@gmail.com or skype us at jnalindauer.

The picture of us was taken at the office today. We went over to find out which day we could actually depart, ask them to contact housekeeping about our refrigerator (somethings just don't

translate well with hand gestures!), check on a tutoring job for 3 ?American? tweens and pick up some more reading material (nice selection of old fiction). We learned that there will be 7 teachers

this semester but no real number of students yet determined. Best guess is about 100 so still a nice student-teacher ratio.

We have been told that there are lots of fish in the lake and from all indication it is a popular spot both for the couples and the fishermen. It is also a nice place to walk and the sunflowers are lovely.

The two 'interior' shots were taken in the courtyards of two of the classroom buildings. It was empty when Andy took the pictures (6.30am).

We have met another fellow teacher. Kyle is a recent theatre grad from Kutztown University (PA); KU is setting up with exchange programs with Yantai. Obviously that is how Mae (the accounting

professor we met Monday night) got her exchange. Nice young man -- here for 2 years. He's also a Mac-daddy so Andy has someone to talk computers with. The rest of the staff are due to arrive

either the 27th or 28th.

We went to the grocery again today. With the fall clothes required, so were more hangers. Such excitement! We also went to SHS Restaurant--by ourselves--and managed to order a delightful lunch of

sweet-sour pork and egg fried rice. With 2 cokes, our total was 36 yuan ($5.50)--do we see a pattern here?

Tomorrow night we are supposed to have dinner with the last two Yantai exchange students: Anqi and Nan. We have spoken with both but haven't gotten to see either yet. Sunday we hope to have a

mini-reunion with all 5.

If the weather is nice, we will go to Penglai on Saturday. There is a beautiful area about 1 hour west of us along the coast. One of the largest aquariums in China is located here. It is also known for its

Pavilion (built around 1061), it is the only ancient pavilion in northern China (there are 3 situated in south China). Like many sites in China, there are temples, palaces and caves to explore; in this case

we don't want to miss the Eight Immortals Sea-passing Port! This is an articifial island rich in Taoist culture with yet another Pavilion. Also in Penglai is the water city; "the best preserved ancient marine

force base in China". It was built during the Ming dynasty. Obviously we have been reading the tour guides!!

Now the Americans and South Koreans aren't doing manuevers in the South China Sea, the MIGs aren't in evidence--much quieter!

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Wednesday PM, 25 August

Another walk around the campus and down to the beach resulted in these shots.

We learned today that last Monday 1,800 students waited from 5pm Sunday until 8am Monday to get seats for studying in one of the academic buildings. Evidently it truly is first come, first served.

It is cool and pleasant here this evening--even Andy thought about putting on long pants!

Looking forward to the start of the semester.