The Journey So Far

Well, I have been here about a month now. Crazy how time just flew by. Oh, by the way, I downloaded a VPN before I got here. (Not sure exactly what it does but in short, it lets me sneak past the firewall.) It was free so I wasn't sure if it would work very well. But it looks like it does, so... yay! I can blog!

So far, teaching English in China is everything that I thought it would be and more (some good and some not so good).

The Good (in no particular order):

1. The other ILP teachers.
The are all so cool and nothing like the "spend the semester partying abroad with my bestest friend" girly girls that I was afraid they might be. Actually, none of us knew each other before hand and we are all so different but we gel together so well. It's too bad we all live so far away from each other in real life...

2. The food.
Some of the other girls might not agree with me but I think the food is awesome. Sure, I don't know what I'm eating half the time and sure, at other times, I wish I hadn't found out what I had been eating (duck blood being the top of that list). But I am seriously digging the egg drop soup and loads of veggies that come with every meal. And I think we can all agree that the street food is to die for. Hopefully, nobody will though. The Chinese aren't exactly known for their sanitation.

3. The Shopping.
Ok, I admit it. I like shopping. Don't let the frumpy wardrobe and complete lack of accessories fool you. Anyway, the prices here for a lot of things are excellent. One girl, McKenzie, got a nice bottle of perfume last night for 12 kuai (or about 2 USD) and I saw some pretty cool Vans shoes for 95 kuai (less than sixteen USD). And that is before bargaining. Which is also awesome. The prices at a lot of stands are really inflated, especially because they think we are rich, being from America and all. But it is generally expected that you haggle unless it is a nicer store that has actual price tags on the items. There are so many sports apparel stores too. I am practically drooling over jackets and shoes each time we turn a corner.

4. The Teaching.
This has been the hardest part about being here. The kids are little devils a lot of the time and the actual teaching is emotionally and physically exhausting (especially when you have had to chase after more than one kid screaming down the hall or wrestle another one for pack of crackers because one was just not enough). But it is so rewarding when they start using the language, even if it is to say that they didn't get a marshmallow yet as they're still chewing the first one. And did I mention they are the cutest little kids on the planet? My nephews and nieces aside, that is. :) Pictures are forthcoming.

5. Just Being in China.
I just like being here. I've had numerous nightmares where I've had to come home early for some reason and can't get back, and I'd be very upset about it. These dreams have actually been quite interesting. In one, I had to come back so I could talk to an advisor about doing an internship in DC. In another, I had to go home because I had a hair appointment along with Rochelle. Very interesting dreams, indeed. I guess what I can take from them now is that this time in China will be over before I know it so I should make the best of my time here. Already, a month has gone by in the blink of an eye. I hope that I will remember to make every minute count and get out all I can from this experience.

The Not So Good (or rather, That Which Builds Character):

1. The Air Pollution.
I thought Salt Lake was bad with the inversion but China is like super bad inversion all day, every day. I hate that I can stare at the sun without damaging my eyes even at noonday. I hope it'll get better as it gets to be spring.

2. The Trash.
There is trash everywhere on the streets of the city, along with other types of waste too. Everything seems to have a thin layer of grime coating it.

3. No toilets.
My room, thankfully, has a normal toilet but they are nowhere else to be found in all of Bengbu. It's just "squaters". Basically a bowl on the floor. And even tracking down a public squater is an ordeal.

4. The Honking.
Chinese people just honk all the time. They hold down their horn or honk repeatedly constantly. I guess it's just their way of communicating where they are at because there are no traffic laws or at least traffic laws that are generally acknowledged. Anyway, super annoying and I hear them all night long.

5. The Spitting.
Everybody spits but it's not just a normal spit, it's hawking lougies left and right. Men and women. It's so loud too. I just don't get why it's ok to do out in public.

Well, that's a bit about what I'm experiencing in China. Overall, I really do like it here and thanks to Skype, I haven't felt too terribly homesick, though I can't wait to hang out with my "friends" again when I get back (namely my sisters and nieces and nephews). To all reading, I love you and miss you and I will see you before you know it. :)

A New Chapter

Thinking back on the last few times I thought about making a blog post, I realized that one of my biggest excuses for not writing anything was that I had absolutely nothing interesting to write about. Well, I guess that this really lame excuse will be harder than ever to justify for the next four months because I am leaving tomorrow to teach English in China!

The only downside is that I will be in China. Where blogger is not allowed. Luckily, my lovely sister Kristin is willing to post whatever interesting tidbits and pictures I find along the way for me. Even though I will be behind the great firewall of China, you will be hearing more from me than ever before! Get excited.

Moth Man

The good thing about living near the edge of civilization (Herriman):

Nature!

The view, biking trails, hiking trails, prime location for viewing the Perseids (check it out August 12th!).



The bad:

nature...

Five foot long blow snakes in the front yard, cougar sightings, rumors of tarantulas and this:

3-Day Weekends

Three day weekends such as this always seem to come at the time they are most needed. I have a lot of reading to catch up on and it would be just grand if I could get a little ahead in my homework. But alas, just like pretty much every other three day weekend that has come before, I have wasted the Saturday away, thinking about doing homework and being conveniantly distracted by such things as speed skating, car cleaning, food eating, original disney channel movies (no comment), and a renewed love for cheesy eighties music. Oh well, at least there's still Monday!

Also, this video, in my opinion, is pretty much the greatest music video of the eighties. Or ever.

Dances

I don't like dances. Never have. I cannot fathom a situation where I would feel more awkward, namely because:

(A) High heels don't agree with me
(B) I DON'T dance
(C) My quiet voice + the cacophany of the dance floor = the most awkward conversations ever.

So what do I say when a sorority sister asks me if I want to go to on a blind date to the fraternity valentines formal? .... yes.

This is college, isn't it? I'm supposed to grow and try new things. I think. After I said yes, I even had the pleasant thought that maybe I wouldn't have to wear high heels. Who cares if it's formal and who cares what one's older sisters think is fashionable? All that matters to me is if my dress isn't too short, doesn't look like it belongs in napoleon dynamite (though that would be AWESOME. If only I were brave...), and is modest. So, I even almost kinda sorta looked forward to Friday. I was so proud of myself for willing to subject myself to new experiences (social ones, at that).

And then, I get this text, fifteen minutes after I sent the my answer: "Shoot sorry :( he found someone!"

Ha. Awesome.

Don't like dances anyway.

It was a dark and stormy night...

Well, it wasn't exactly stormy, but it was full of intrigue nonetheless. I was walking back to my dorm after another enthralling late night meteorology lecture (not once did I nod off; a new record!), minding my own business, when what other than a small grey streak should cut across the otherwise lonely, dark sidewalk. "Could it be?" I thought to myself. "Could this mean that I wasn't just seeing things, this same time of night a few weeks prior?" I continued along the sidewalk and stopped where the grey streak had dissapeared. And there she was: the elusive campus rabbit. We both stood still in the still darkness eying each other; her with the creepy one-eyed glare of a rabbit. I attempted to take a picture with my phone (because no one else seems to believe in the existence of on-campus rabbits) but all I got was a small grey dot in the middle of some brownish dead-looking grass. Some footsteps of another late classer were heard in the distance and she was gone.

Yes, a rabbit! What is so strange about this is that no one else seems to have encountered one. This all reminds me a certain mouse who took up residence in my sisters' car. Only Kristin had ever seen the mouse, despite sharing the car with two other sisters. Needless to say, the rest of us came to know it as "Kristin's special mouse." Apparently it either only trusted Kristin enough to grace her with its presence, or it had malicious designs to make her look delusional. I am beginning to know how Kristin felt...

So This is Blogging?

Well, I suppose that since I have so much free time inbetween classes, it's about time I start blogging. It would definitely be more productive than the usual activities that I engage in when I don't feel like doing homework. But I must say that since I moved into the dorms and cut out the forty five minute commute to and from school, my solitare success rate has greatly improved. :)