It's raining in china

Well i just got back from the health examination required so that i can take up residency here.
yeah...wow. quite an ordeal. Three of us were shuffled all over this medical building getting all kinds of tests done. The first room we went to they took blood...and plenty of it and instead if a bandaid they give you a q-tip to hold on your puncture spot. Giving blood was no fun. Nurses in china are definitly not as nice about things as one back home The next room we had to be weighed, measured and have our blood pressure taken. The man who did all this asked me "what are your eyes"...i didn't really know what to answer....so finally he just said "normal?" so i went with normal. the next room i had to have an ultrasound done in order to prove i wasn't pregnant....again the nurses...not so nice. the pushed very hard and i was surprisingly sore afterwards. The next room was a doozy. I had to lay on a table and the clamp things to my wrist my ankles and had me lift up my shirt to attach things to my chest. They printed out a looong piece of paper with all kinds of heart information. And last but not least...i had to have a chest x-ray done. All just so i can live here for 11 months.
I met another teacher my age today. Her name is Jessica. She seems very nice and like me wants to travel while she's here so i think we're going to be travelling buddies. the only other teacher i've met is a middle aged man, who is very nice but i have very little in common with him so it's nice to have another girl around. So hopefully i'm on my way to making some friends.

Yesterday i learned how to use the bus. and luckily the stop get off to go downtown is the same stop as the train station. so i'm excited to know the train station is that easy to get to.
and.... I got a cell phone!!! I love it!!! it's bright pink and rather spiffy!! it's by a chinese brand called haier. The downside to it is it doesn't have voice mail. i assumed voice mail was a standard thing that came with mobile phones. Aparently here it is not. They also don't really have a cell phone plans. I'm never sent a bill. i have a phone number i can call to find out what i owe and then i go to a china mobile store and can pay there.

It's about noon here right now. at 3:00 i have a meeting to find out what i'm teaching. I'm getting very nervous about teaching.....and the first day of classes is approaching fast!!!!!