I have arrived

Hello Friends,

Local Beijing time is 1pm so I have been here a whole 16 hours! I survived the 24 hour plus trip through Chicago and Tokyo. Landing here was like stepping into a St. Louis' August - hot and muggy. The only real problem I encountered along the way was trying to find my host family's apartment entrance. No problems with any immigration or customs - though the cranky lady in Saint Louis told me I was only allowed two carry on items. I looked at her and said, "You want me to shove my $2,000 camera into my bookbag? For what? I will be taking it right back out again." The guy behind me chuckles and the only response I get is "Ma'm you are only allowed two carry on bags." So I gently place my camera bag on top of every thing in my book bag, pull the strings taunt, scan my boarding pass, and promptly take it right back out. The guy behind me is still chuckling.

I have to recommend that anyone traveling overseas take a non-US airline. The whole experience of traveling changes. I flew Japan AirLines from Chicago to Tokyo and then onto Beijing. I had the pleasure of bento boxes and hot green tea with Hagen-Das. Not to mention the beer is free and not half bad. The stewardess (and I can use this as there were no men!) even brought us hot hand towels. I really have to give them credit though since I don't know if there was a height restriction in their job description but each and everyone of them had to stand on the foot lift attached to the chair in order to close the overhead storage bin. *Something for my stateside friends to comment on is if there are foot lifts attached to the seats in US airplanes because I certainly have never noticed one there before*

My host family is very nice. I have a feeling they were expecting me to speak more Chinese as I was expecting them to speak more English. So we are muddling through it even if I have no idea what is going on and agree with them so not to be difficult. This is how I wound up on a 4 hour bike ride this morning. No idea what I agreed to but sure sounds great! On the other hand, that four hour bike ride showed me Tienanmen Square, lots of the Forbidden City from the outside, a really big pleasure garden, a new made to look old shopping district which has a Starbucks and Sephora, a very tasty noodle restaurant, and an open air market. My host mother put away 3/4 of a half-gallon noodle bowl with speed that would make Marines proud. I on the more unfortunate side of things 1st only finished half, and a good 10 minutes after my host mother.The open air market was the last stop, and I assume it is for dinner. We bought a bunch of fruit that I did not recognize, and hope is tasty along with some spices and tomatoes.  The market was like any other open air extravaganza I have ever been to, but it has an indoor meat which I as an American who buys their meat nicely packaged is just astounded this is the normal way to pick up meat.

More later, I need a rest for now -- I haven't done that much physical activity in months! And did I mention that my host family lives on the sixth floor? Yay for mandatory physical activity!

22 May 2013

                I am currently reading River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze. The author, Peter Hessler is a native of Columbia, Missouri, and his book documents the two years he spent teaching English Literature at a teaching college in Fuling (see map). So far I am only 100 pages in and enjoying his style. Beyond the story though, I have two motives for reading this book. First, it was recommended and thus worth the 16 hours it will take me to read this. Second, it is written by a Missouri moving to China for the first time – you can see why this was recommended to me. Overall, the book should cut my daily blunders in China from 15 to 10, and be a reminder that I am not an idiot and people before me have faced similar and undeniably harsher circumstances.

                My time in China will begin in Beijing, a mega city and capital of the People’s Republic of China. I have enrolled myself in a local language school called Live the Language (LTL).  You can visit their page at www.livethelanguage.cn/.  I chose this one over all of the others I found not because of their program or pricing since their competitors are all fairly comparable, but because they are endorsed by Deutschland’s Bundestag. For those low on German trivia, it is the equivalent of the U.S. Congress giving its stamp of approval. Getting back to LTL, I have signed myself up for eight weeks of intensive Mandarin. This breaks down to 30 hours a week where I spend 4 hours a day in a small class and 2 hours a day in a one on one session. In addition to this I will live with a Chinese family, so the only “English Time” I get will be the 6 hours a week I will spend teaching my homestay family’s children English! I know, I know, me and children, but I get on well with children, and this cuts my room and board costs in half. The weekends are my own, and oh yes, I plan to get out, explore, get lost, and use my brand new Mandarin to get me back.

                LTL is supplying me with a “survival pack” which includes a pre-charged Chinese SIM card – I assume this means I have to buy the phone to make the SIM card work. It is probably good they got the SIM card since that is the piece with the phone number and the Chinese have huge superstitions about numbers – 4 is really bad, and 8 is really good, that is all I know. Local Police registration, foreigners have to do this within 24 hours of arrival. Airport pick-up. Help me set up a Chinese Bank Account. A revolutionary bicycle – great, since I picked up the one I used in Germany from a friend and I don’t exactly think he purchased it. A map pack for Beijing, good thing I know how to read one of those. A 24/7 LTL emergency card – I assume this is something like an emergency contact if I am incapacitated or a help line if I can’t figure out what I need/ where I am. A pre-charged Beijing public transport card, to be used on the metro and bus system. Finally, an overnight trip to a rural part of the Great Wall! Yay, I get to go hiking, and avoid all the touri on their little air conditioned buses.

                But Wait! That is only Beijing!

                In July I will move from Beijing to Chengde. Chengde is the imperial summer capital of an ancient Chinese Dynasty. All I have to say is that I will be moving from the hot muggy city to the nice cool northern mountains! In Chengde I will still have 30 hours a week of intensive Mandarin, but here it is all one on one. I will once again be staying with a host family, though I don’t know if I am teaching English here. My survival kit for Chengde includes transport to and from both Beijing and Chendge in addition to pick up services. A revolutionary bicycle. A map pack for Chengde. 24/7 LTL support that comes with the note: “No English is spoken in Chengde – if you are stuck we will be there to help you.” Well alrighty then, let’s hope I make it out with great stories and no scars.

                After a month in the North, it is back to Beijing for my final month with LTL. I will be staying with another host family. I don’t know if I get the same one back or not, or even if they will want me back. This month in Beijing I will not have any intensive Mandarin. Instead, I will be working at CSOFT as an intern. CSOFT is an international marketing PR firm that specializes in adapting companies PR platforms across language and cultural barriers. I have been told that I will be a project management intern doing data entry. Whether or not this is what I wind up doing, I will find out August 1. I do hope this is what I will be doing because it will give me a month where I get to see how everything is built, and as the data entry person I get to look at all the pieces.

                My final move in China will take place at the beginning of September and will take me from Beijing to Shanghai where I will start my Masters of International Business with Hult International School of Business at their Shanghai Campus.  More on that later, lots to do before I get on that airplane.

Hi all,
This is just a testing post to see how all of this works!

What better picture than one of me dancing at my sister's wedding. Love you Slavina!