Day 1

We get into Tongliao, and it is much colder than Beijing (which was basically sweltering), however, we get off the train and IMMEDIATELY something is very obvious. We are definitely foreigners. EVERYONE in the city stares at you. It's not rude or mean - but these people do NOT get foreigners around here for much of anything. What's nice is that they all seem to be (for the most part) happy to have us around. A lot of smiles and "Hallo!"'s come from all over. But mostly, I think they are simply curious. We are the first foreigners many of these locals have ever seen in their lives. It's pretty crazy to consider.
So we get into a bus and get shipped down through downtown Tongliao (which is actually a pretty nice city! It's not entirely clean, but it's definitely developing, and has a decent amount of anything you could need.) Driving in Tongliao is INSANE. There aren't really any rules to it - you just drive as fast as you can, don't break, and beep hard if you're getting close to anyone else. The street is filled with bikes, mopeds, cars and buses. However, I have noticed one thing. The drivers in China are extremely skilled behind the wheel. It seems like absolute craziness, but there is definitely a method to the madness. More on that later.
We pulled into the school (at the west gate, which is near where we live) and checked into our digs. Had some lunch at our school's cafeteria, and was greeted by Mr. Huon (a wicked nice guy) and a few other teachers. After lunch we had some time to get our affairs in order, unpack, get our rooms together, and see where we were living for the next year. David came with us and gave us a big tour of the school, and even introduced us to a few classrooms. The kindergarteners are ABSURDLY cute. The school is actually rather large - bigger than PC, but very very nice. We also met a few teachers along the way. Cindy, Sue, and Honey (David's wife!!) to name a few. They are all so eager to meet us and so welcoming, even though we have literally done nothing to deserve it. It is an extremely humbling experience, to be sure.
After our tour, we relaxed, then had dinner with the dignitaries and administrators of the school. I wore a tie. Mr. Won is the president of the school, and LOVES making toasts. Everyone we had met so far was at dinner with us, and there was TONS of food to go around. Now about those toasts. The chinese have a very particular way of doing these. Everyone is served either a full cup or half cup of Bai-joe, the lethal grain alcohol I was talking about earlier. You are expected to drink AS MUCH or MORE than the person toasting the group. We didn't quite understand this, so were just slugging back our drinks. Mr. Zheng told me 'that it was a good thing. Make Mr. Won very happy'. So I guess getting blitzed at a formal dinner meeting is okay around here? Anywho, each of the school officials made a toast, then Mr. Zheng egged me on to make my own, using David as a translator. I did, and the rest of our American group followed suit. Needless to say, everyone was laughing and slapping backs by the end of the dinner.
Things got interesting after we were home for an hour, ready for bed. David calls us at around 8pm and asks myself and Mike if we would like to come to his night English class. Half in the bag, of course we agreed. I honestly can't explain how excited his high school students were to meet us and have us in their class. David took the class to have his students ask us questions about EVERYTHING. Some of them were very good with English, others had a bit of a difficult time. They asked us to sing american songs - so we sang Backstreet boys. Then one boy asked me to arm wrestle him - we did - I lost. It was a wonderful experience meeting all of the kids - they are fantastic people. I love 'em all already.