Quick Update

I looked out of my classroom window the other day, and with great surprise noticed that the leaves on the (maple?) trees had suddenly changed from green to a muddled canvas of orange, brown, and yellow. Did it happen that quickly, or had I not looked--really looked--at the trees in a while? The air is now much colder, and the wind blows all day long. The weather has now officially taken a turn. Zach and I are on the lookout for a better comforter that will keep us warm at night until they turn on the heating in November. Thankfully, until then, Zach also knows how to switch our AC unit onto the heating setting. :-)
We signed the contract for the previously mentioned apartment on Thursday this last week. It feels good to have that all finished up. We were able to negotiate with the landlords for them to purchase a water "cooler" (that's what we in the US call it, but these actually have a tap for hot water and room temperature water), a small computer desk/table, 1 AC unit for the living room, a flat screen TV, larger stove, a microwave, and that we would repay the landlords for our monthly bills (much easier to repay one entity than worry about several bills in Chinese!) We will hopefully start moving this upcoming Thursday. The apartment is only about a block further away from the school than our current apartment, so walking to work is still an option. The thought of our new apartment is a bittersweet one. We are moving into a nicer place, but Yew Wah's teacher apartments will be no more. Bygone is an entire era for the expats here. We have heard stories of glorious barbeques and get-togethers at the "teacher apartments"...back when everyone lived close by. I hope that we will continue to develop our sense of community, even though we will be living in all different directions. We will see. Please pray that Zach and I will be able to develop some close friendships with others while we are here.