Space Invaders

I've landed! I'm safe. For now.

Beginning with my flight from San Francisco to Beijing, I realized I'd have to reevaluate the size of my personal bubble. To my right was a very friendly man named Harvey who happily gave me hours of Mandarin lessons. To my left was a man I came to nickname "The Walrus." The Walrus seemed to think that, in addition to his seat, he was also entitled to half of mine. We didn't know any of the same words (except maybe how to say "beer" and "bathroom" in Mandarin, thanks to Harvey. Mission accomplished!), and he seemed oblivious to my awkward physical attempts to reestablish my territory. The Walrus wasn't mean or greedy. He was just very comfortable touching my left side. The Walrus goes where he pleases.

Since arriving at Shanghai, everyone has been incredibly nice and helpful. The EF facilities are impressive and much larger than I expected. Yesterday I visited the school where I'll be teaching, and was so happy to see that it was a colorful, kid-friendly, clean facility with tons of fancy high-tech equipment. I'll primarily use the classroom whiteboards as a touchscreen projector. As in, the image projected from the computer onto the whiteboard is controlled by me touching the whiteboard. I tap, drag, draw, etc, and things happen. It's like Minority Report. I really am living in the future! My fellow teachers were SO warm, excited, and welcoming. I'll be working with people from around the world, and they're all delightful.

Pictures soon.