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.
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