We have internet!

Sorry, I'm a little behind schedule already.  Just finally got our internet set up yesterday afternoon, but then I spent most of the evening jailbreaking my iphone.  Wheeeeee!  But I'm done now, so on to more enjoyable tasks, like blogging.  :) 

Monday was our first day of "work", but it was mostly spent going on a tour of the English Language Center (which is in the basement of the library) and meeting people and setting up our office and school laptops.  (nice!)  Then they told us they don't have much for us to do until it gets closer to the first day of class (8/29) so our task is to go out and explore the city.  Sweet!  So we've been doing just that, when we're not taking care of business like setting up the internet or trying to find stuff - like a yoga mat.  I didn't have room to bring mine and had no idea where to even begin looking for one in the chaotic mass of tiny shops that is most of Macau.  But one afternoon I was just wandering along on a completely unrelated errand and happened to spot one in the corner of a sports store.  It had punching bags hanging from the ceiling and a stack of GNC drink powder - totally odd assortment of stuff.  But I got my mat and it's lovely.  Everything is like that, wandering and pointing and finally figuring it out.  Next on the list is a rice cooker and a toaster oven - we just have a little 2 burner stove and a sorry selection of pots and pans.  Plus, as most of you know, I don't really cook all that much or that well so if I have any prayer of managing it here, I'd better get the tools.  Angie (housemate) found a market today where you can point to the live fish of your choice and they'll clean it for you on the spot.  Or frogs for that matter.  So I guess I can handle cooking some fish, making some rice, steaming some veggies and calling it a healthy dinner.

It's typhoon season here and I woke up to the sound of very loud thunder and crackling lightning yesterday morning.  It was pretty awesome, so I sat out on my little deck to watch and took some photos.  Here's one of the view directly across the way.  We're on the 12th floor of a 20-something story building.  It reminds me of Rear Window and I have to keep remembering that all the people on the other side can see me too.  So far nothing too exciting going on over there - just a lot of laundry drying.  It's surprising how well it dries when it's so humid.  I'm doing all my "ironing" by spraying and hanging my clothes on the porch.

Beth (other housemate) and I went out on an adventure today despite the fact that it was raining - a lot. I brought my rain jacket and boots from Berkeley, but it's so hot here that I can't stand to wear them.  You'd think that when it's raining the humidity would lessen - it's like that back home.  Not here.  So as much as I like to be warm I can barely stand to leave the house in anything more than a t-shirt and shorts.  At least the rain was warm, and my horrid purple umbrella did a pretty decent job.  (See the right column for my ridiculous outfit.)  We walked to the southern part of our island/peninsula (also called Macau) to look around and to see where the major bus stop is so we know the best ways to come back from work.  Our school is on the island below us, called Taipa.  The buses stop right outside the Grand Lisboa - one of the big fancy casinos here.  Beth and I decided to check out the inside, get a cup of tea and let our feet dry a bit.  It was pretty spectacular.  I can see where all that gambling money goes to.  (Apparently Macau makes 4-5 times the money made in Vegas.)  There was a ton of artwork and many, many elaborate chandeliers.

This one was my fav.  After we dried out we wandered around a bit more until we decided we were ready for dinner and headed home.  Took a bus, which was fine, but it reminded me of the Seinfeld standup routine where he's talking about NY City cabs and how even though what the driver is doing seems incredibly scary from an objective viewpoint, you really don't worry about it.  As Jerry puts it "no matter how dangerous it seems, it's all quite amusing in the back of that cab."  Similarly, when the bus is charging down the crowded rainy streets and scooters are squeezing by in every open space and pedestrians constantly walk out into the street you think, "well this must be normal here."  At least until later on when we saw a car that had crashed into the metal guardrails which are placed all over and I had never really noticed till I saw one all crumpled up.  Remember to look both ways!