China by the Numbers

35 - number of kids in the entire 8th grade
20 - minute walk to my school and also Vic's walk to school; kids take a bus to school
16 - number of buildings in our complex; Shenzhen is high rise haven
12 - the number of students in my grade 1 class who showed up (16 on the roster)
11 - squat toilets visited so far; they are in so many restaurants
10 - # of cultures represented in my classroom of 16
9 - number of times swimming in our apt pool; so luxurious, clean
8- lucky number in China
7- pounds lost so far, :)-- sweating, lack of sugar, and massive amounts of walking...
6-number of silk stitches Renata received on Tuesday after cutting her finger with our new Ikea knife. Made Renata a bit of a celebrity
5 - in US$, price of a good Cbinese meal for one
4- the floor of our apartment
3 - the amount of 40 gallon bottles of drinkable water you receive each week. Really hard to communicate; completely reliant on nice Chinese people we know
2- the number of phones and bikes we are buying today
1 - number of harrowing taxi cab rides taken so far. Like a fair ride, scary and fast...

That's it for now.