Thoughts as the day approaches

It's getting close to time to go and I'm anxious to start this new chapter of my life. But I'm also not sure I'm ready to uproot myself. I have so many great friends here that I am going to miss, not to mention my family. A year is such a long time to be away from everyone. I'm going to miss out on a lot of parties, weddings, birthdays, holidays, and every little get-together. My friends will move on without me and make new memories together.

I was trying to explain my feelings last night, and I guess it goes something like this: I used to make wishes about my life, and sometimes I still do. Right now, I want to wish that I could skip to the day I get to come home and be reunited with my friends and family. But before I get to the end of the wish, I think of all of the experiences in China that I would miss out on and I change my mind. As much as I will miss everyone, I want to go to China and go through this most challenging time in my life. If I didn't go I would regret it every day. I know that all of you are going to be here when I get back, and while I am gone you will be here praying for me and cheering me on.

Thank you all for supporting me as I prepare for this amazing adventure.

The Surprise

On Friday, my and Sara's friends threw a surprise Going Away party for us. We had no idea! It was a potluck with several cakes and other yummy food. Many of our friends were there, and we watched a movie and played a game. They also gave us plug adaptors to use in China. I had a great time.
Thanks everyone!

International VBS

This week Sara and I helped out with VBS at the Chapel. It was so much fun! Sara taught the Kindergarteners. I volunteered to help wherever I was needed, but I was mostly in Sara's classroom helping her because she had one little boy that was very difficult to handle because of a disability of some sort. He distracted everyone, and was never on track. His mom was able to give Sara some tips on handling him, and also expressed that he is probably the most difficult student she would ever come across. Hopefully, after him, Sara will find her Chinese students much easier to deal with. Sara had two Chinese girls, one Japanese girl, and two American boys in her class. The students were so much fun! I have posted all of my pictures on Snapfish, so you can check out some of the crafts that they did, and all of the fun we had this week.

I put on an old t-shirt from high school today, and I realized how fitting it is right now, also. I got it during my senior year (along with everyone else graduating in 99). It says "Take a good look, I won't be here next year."

I have started packing... well, I have two suitcases on the floor in my apartment with various things in each. I have so much more to go through to determine exactly what to bring. I have two weeks to pack up my apartment and get ready to move it all home to my parents house. Then one more week to visit a couple more friends and then it's time to Ship Out! I can't believe I have only 3 weeks left in America. It is amazing how quickly this summer has gone by. I have gotten so many encouraging words from all of my friends and family. There is nothing like a long departure to find out how many people care about you. Thank you for all of your support!

One month left...

I took a look at my contract with the school today. The first copy is in Chinese... so I didn't get a whole lot out of it. But then I read the English version and sure enough! The school actually calls itself: XinXing County Number One High School, Guangdong. Wow! AND! It also calls me a "Foreign Expert"! The discouraging (yet hilarious) part, is under the heading Salary. Without writing it out in detail, I'll be making roughly $2.50 USD per hour... It had better be worth it! :)
I've been informed that I will not have a computer in my apartment, but I will have one in my office at the school. Therefore, I plan to buy one before I leave. If anyone knows where I can find a reasonably priced laptop ($700 or less) with XP and lots of speed and memory, let me know. Also, I am selling my car. It is a 1995 Saturn SL2 with new tires. I'm hoping to get $1000 or best offer for it. So again, if you know of anyone in need of a car, let me know.

38 days...

I just found out that Laura J is going to Albania!!! I am so glad she has a partner to go with her, and it's even cooler that it is someone she knows already.

This weekend, Sara and I met up with Caroline and Polly for lunch to discuss XinXing. Caroline and her husband, Brandon, will be taking over for Polly and Rachel at the Experimental School. Polly had lots of good information for us to know before going over there. Even though Sara and I still don't know exactly what our situation will be like, we at least have an idea of what the city and the people are like.

The most interesting information she had for us is that Chinese people don't like to tan. They want to be as white as possible - and more. Apparantly, they even put bleach in their lotions and soaps! A little extreme, don't you think? They also go outside in long sleeves and carry umbrellas if they will be in the sun. Polly once got chased by someone with an umbrella! I can't wait until that happens to me!

As much as I'm glad to be done with school and homework, I'm really not interested in working right now. I would rather be at home getting ready to go to China.

Graduation!

We had our graduation ceremony yesterday, complete with the traditional graduation march played on kazoos! Eric gave a speech which included the typical "this is not the end, it is only the beginning" phrase. Even though we've graduated, we are not finished yet. We still have another lesson plan, grammer sheet, paper, and exam to finish up this week. They will all be sent over the internet. This means that I am finally back in my apartment - it's wonderful to sleep in my own bed again. :)

You will find photos of our graduation under the "Ann's China Photos" link on the right side of the page. I made a group page through snapfish, so if you don't have an account, MAKE ONE! so you can keep track of me and see the pictures that go along with the stories. There are also more pictures of Stu - you don't want to miss those! - and pictures from the Lincoln Center.

We took a field trip to the Lincoln Center in Mankato on Thursday. It is a place where people of all ages and English levels can come to learn how to speak English. We got to work with some of the students, and observe the classes to get more of an idea of what our students will be like. Since they do not have classes next week because of July 4th, they had "Libertyfest" that day. Each level of classes did a presentation on American symbols: the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, and the Flag. We also sang a song that I can't remember the name of right now. (If any of my classmates reads this and can remember, please post the answer.)

Wednesday I taught a lesson all by myself. It was harder than I thought. I had it well planned out, but then I rushed through important steps. Here are some of the compliments I received:
"Nice lesson material. You will do a good job!"
"I liked the activities. You got us involved quite a bit. You seemed very confident and composed and seemed to have a good plan. Nice job!"
"I appreciated the little things you did to make it easier to follow (board, colors, etc.). Good job having a focused purpose for the listening activity. You seemed comfortable presenting. I liked it. :)"
"It was very impressive how you tied in - recycled - info from other lessons, and at various points! You made good use of the board, it was neat and colorful."
"Good variety of activities for us to do and good way of integrating things we learned in past lessons. You had a nice organized progression."

Wednesday evening was a bit rough for me because I said goodbye to my good friend Sarah. It was the first in a long list of goodbyes for me. Maybe I should call them "See you next year's". There is a possibility that I may see her again, but not for sure. I'm sad because she is getting married two weeks after I leave for China. So close! She'd better send me lots of pictures!

On Friday at lunch, we started talking about the Olympics. We decided that we are going to pretend we know Kobe and Yao Ming, or pretend Nate is an olympian and we're his followers, or just go as fans and paint I Love China on our stomachs. Watch for us on TV! :) Speaking of Yao Ming... the Milwaukee Bucks drafted a player who used to play for the Guangdong Tigers! Too cool!

(Sorry, this wasn't very chronological. I hope you were able to follow anyway :)

Good news!

They are NOT panic attacks! I learned that food is a comfort thing for me and in new situations I get so nervous about what I'm going to eat and when and what if I don't like the food, etc, that I get nauseous and can't eat anything. So I just have to learn about the food in XinXing to make it as familiar as possible. I'm going to make sure I bring food I like to eat and make for the first week or two until I get more comfortable. I'm also supposed to learn how to cook fish (even though I still don't totally like it but I'll eat it) because that will be a basic food for me to eat there. I talked to Rob (my main contact in China) last night about it so that he's aware of the situation. He's being very supportive in helping me make the transition as easy as possible. He says he'll make sure to ease me into the food slowly. And no, that doesn't mean he's going to put me in the food!
This week we talked to a couple of people who have been to Asia to teach English. One just got back from Thailand, and the other was in China 6 years ago. They gave us so much information on what it will be like there. I've heard twice now that we can buy bikes to use, but not to count on them always being there (theft is huge in China). But it's ok because they are cheap so you just buy a new one!
It sounds like once you are in China, it is pretty cheap to travel around. Sara and I want to go to Thailand to visit the Katie's and get foot massages. Apparantly they really know how to do it!

It's been a rough week...

We're almost half done with classes and it's getting stressful. I have had a few panic attacks this week and I'm pretty wiped out because of them. I'm hoping to discover how to prevent and/or work with them before I get to China. Also, the reality of teaching in a foreign country is finally setting in and I'm pretty scared. I'm torn between not wanting to go at all, and knowing that if I can do this, I will be able to do anything. We talked about culture shock today in class and that made me nervous. Between that and panic attacks, this fall could be pretty rough. My professor's advice is to get out and explore so that we don't isolate ourselves from the culture. I'm glad we are learning about what to expect now before we get over to our different countries. We will hopefully be prepared to deal with the situations better.
On a lighter note, my group taught our first lesson today. I think it went well. We got lots of good feedback on things we did well, and things we need to work on. Here are some of the compliments I was given:
"Nice job! You seemed very relaxed and spoke clearly. Good eye contact. Overall, very nice lesson and good worksheets :)"
"You did a good job of calling on people and getting them to respond. You have no need to worry - be confident - you did great :)"
"Thanks for calling on me even though I didn't raise my hand. You seemed confident and in charge. That was very good."

Everyone meet Stu

This is Stu, our creepy mannequin. He enjoys dancing, learning Spanish, and wearing his sunglasses indoors.

Today has been an interesting day. We learned how to make lesson plans for our classes. We got into groups during class and were given a lesson to plan for. I worked with Nate on teaching a class how to apologize. It took us about a half hour to write up a rough outline for an hour-long class. Now we are "ready" to make up a real lesson plan. I am in a group with Sara and Nate to plan a lesson on "How much does it cost?" for Monday. We started today, and it is not going as smoothly as we would like it to be. I hope we are able to get it done tomorrow before the weekend.

I am enjoying my time here at MLC learning all there is to know about being an English teacher in a foreign country. We are in class from 8:15am to 3:15pm, with a couple of breaks for lunch, chapel, and other short breaks. It's hard to believe that almost a whole week has gone by already!

Ohayo Gozaimasu!

I've finished my first day of class in New Ulm. What a day! We started out by learning Japanese... (the title is Japanese for Good Morning) I wasn't sure I was in the right place at first, but it was the instructor's way of showing us what we will be doing, and how our students will feel. We received three books so far to help us with our lesson plans and teaching. One is a picture book, one a grammar book, and the third is for TEFL teachers.

There are 7 students in the class. Five of us are headed to various cities in China, one is going to Thailand, and the last is hoping to go to Albania. She doesn't have a partner yet, so she is taking the class in the hope that someone will be going with her. If you know of anyone interested in going to Albania for a year, let me know!

Sara and I got checked into the dorms at 9:15pm last night. We each have our own room. There is no air conditioning so it's not very comfortable. There was a thunderstorm last night and I didn't sleep very well. Thankfully, the class is interesting so I haven't felt very tired today. Hopefully I will sleep better tonight.

On a completely different note: there is a creepy mannequin in the back of our classroom. Every time I turn around I think it is a real person! Maybe someday I will get a picture of it and post it... Stay tuned...