What the Heck? Here's a post for the New Year

Ok, so as I am sure it is apparent to you all, I really am not so good at this blog thing. I am sorry, really. There is no excuse. I will tell you that much. In the past few months since I posted here last, life has been quite a whirlwind of culture shock, settling and then enjoying the everyday life here at my site in Gansu, Tianshui. I absolutely LOVE my school and my students. I have learned alot this past semester; about how to be an English teacher in China, how to live in loneliness, how to shop with only a few words, and how wonderful and supportive my friends and family are. I can't express my thankfulness for all the support I have received so far. I have had some beautiful moments here, which continue to surprise and amaze me as they occur. It has also been a very emotional time. I had a few weeks of true culture shock and loneliness, but since then things have begun to get much much better. While my Chinese is still pretty bad, I am beginning to be able to understand people when they talk, even though most of the time, I don't know how to respond in Chinese. I keep telling myself, that this will come in time. (Did you know it takes TIME to learn a new language!?) and I try to use it to motivate myself to study more. Unfortunately, I can always find a million other things to do with my time. I have had the opportunity to travel to Lanzhou, Xi'an, Haerbin and back to Chengdu. I have made some wonderful Chinese friends, including my host sister, my counterpart teacher and my Waiban director. My sitemate is great, and the other volunteers in my city are awesome. We often get together on the weekends and have dinner. I feel really blessed. But please note that this does not mean that things have not been challenging. It has been.

Wow, it is difficult to summarize 5 months in one post. I suppose I need to add blogging to my ever expanding list of New Year's resolutions. I have quit smoking (12 days now), trying to eat better and exercise, not bite my nails....ect. All the same resolutions I do every year. Wish me luck!

I promise I will try to keep this updated. Really. I am also tr5ying to journal. We'll see how it goes :)

Love you all!

It's my birfday!

As you are all aware if you are my friends, today is my birthday. What you may not know, is that it was also my first day teaching a class by myself. It was definitely a learning experience, but overall it went really well! My students are great, about 15 12-16 year olds, and they are amazing and fun. 

(as an aside, as I am writing this, there are fireworks going off outside our complex, and I can see them! Not at all unusual for China, but AWESOME for my birthday! I'll just pretend they are for me :))

Anyways, model school. I had a peer observe my class today and give me some great feedback, so that was really helpful :) Overall, I think that with experience, I can really do a great job teaching English in China. 

My friends bought me lunch today, and after my class, some other friends bought me a beer. My PCT friends are great, and I love them all! I feel fortunate to be among such a talented and wonderful team of human beings. Speaking of feeling lucky, last night in my journal, I made a list of things that are frustrating about China, and things that I am thankful for. While the frustrations made a longer list, they were much more petty and much less important than the things that made my "thankful for" list. Peace Corps China is not the typical "Peace Corps" experience, but there is still so much to learn and teach here. It is really taking some time to adjust to these differences, but overall, my petty gripes are not really big deals in the grand scheme of things. So I am truly grateful :)

So my birthday has been great, my host family even bought me a cake! We will party like rock-stars this Saturday to celebrate the 3 PCT birthdays this week (there is even a guy who shares my birthday!) So, I'm sure that story will be much more interesting.

Traveling across the globe and the first three weeks in Chengdu

My sincerest apologies for the lack of blog posts during this time, I know you are all anxious and excited to hear about my travel adventures. As some of you may already be aware, the government blocks some websites here in China, and unfortunately my blog was one of them! It has only been since this past week or so that I have finally been able to get a solid Internet connection, and my VPN working, but as of now and through the end of training, we should be good! After that, I will have to keep you all posted, as I am not sure what the situation at my site will be. That being said...

We had staging in LA on June 29, where the China 18s met for the first time, and we enjoyed many great sessions to prepare us for our travels. 74 Americans about to depart on our great adventure to China. We then boarded our planes and headed first to Tokyo, and then to Bangkok (15 hours). We spent the night at a hotel in Bangkok, eating dinner at a local food stall, where we realized...none of us speak Thai. It was exciting and scary, but we managed to get a great meal out of it (thankfully!). The next morning, we boarded our flight to Chengdu (5 hours). When we arrived, we had some training sessions and immunizations. For the first week in Chengdu, we stayed at a hotel at Sichuan University. At the end of the week, we met our host families and moved in with them. At first, I was a bit apprehensive about living with a host family, because it was a new experience, but my family is great! They are very mellow; My host mom is a university teacher, my host dad is an engineer, and I have a 9 year old sister who plays piano and like to draw, and is very good! Our house is pretty quiet, and of course, I am too at this point because I don't know how to say anything in Chinese! It took a few days to settle in and begin to feel comfortable. We have had language and TEFL training the past two weeks at Sichuan Normal University. Our days are jam packed, and we are all very tired, but it is very rewarding. (And I can finally order food at restaurants, hooray!) I am starting to be able to understand words here and there out on the street, and am able to engage in some small talk, which is great. I am studying VERY hard. In the coming 2 weeks, we will be teaching "model school", which I am really looking forward to. We have a class of about 12-15 high school students (16 year olds) to practice our teaching and get feedback from the PC staff and other volunteers. I am team teaching with my neighbor Katie, who is fast becoming a great friend and confidant. I have yet to go anywhere besides home and school (and back to Sichuan University on Fridays for our whole group training sessions), but I am thankful that I have been able to have alot of time to study, reflect and relax. Many of our training group members have gone many places, but they are also complaining that they don't have time to study. And learning Mandarin requires ALOT OF STUDYING!

I live on the 12th floor of our building, which has 24 floors total, and next to a loud busy road. The "city living" so far has been the biggest adjustment (well, I guess not being able to communicate is pretty challenging too). But I am doing well adjusting to my new surroundings. It is pretty hot and humid most of the time, but it has also been cooler some days when it has rained. Last night we had a pretty big storm, which knocked down some trees in our complex. There was some cool lightening and thunder. It was VERY windy. Several of our other trainees came over to visit Katie and I, and we played a new card game we learned in language class downstairs at the corner market, which we have now officially named "Our favorite bar". Katie and I go down there to study our language and write our lesson plans over yi ping pijiu (beer).

Overall, the experience so far has been great, albeit challenging. There is still much more to come. After our 2 weeks of model school, we will learn about our site placements. August 9. Can't wait! Then after that we get to go and visit our sites. Hooray! I will defiantly get some pictures of that. :) For now (since I have to summarize three weeks into one blog) I will leave it at that, but there will be much more to come...especially since I've figured out the internet thing finally! If you have Skype and are not connected, please add me. Or Google+, or you can text me at my cell number (goes to Google voice), or Facebook. China...I am so lucky to have all of these resources so readily available! Keep in touch, and I look forward to sharing more adventures!

Peace.

9 days to go!

Wow, I cannot believe that this time before I leave for staging is going by so fast! Even though I knew it was going to, it never ceases to amaze me that one minute you have a few months, then the next it's only a few days! I'm in Livermore now, with the Bean (my koshka) at my Mom's house until I leave. It still feels like I'm just visiting and I will go back to my apartment in Chico in a few days. With all my stuff. But it's all gone! (Yes, I donated most of it...4 truckloads of donations to ARC) Moving out of the apartment was a whirlwind, and it still seems like I dreamt it. Even with all of the fun adventures ahead, I know I will miss Chico, my apartment view of the creek, the crazy boys (and Nicole) in my apartment complex, the Johnnie's crew, my TIL classmates... But this is the way things go. So now I'm busy in Livermore tying up all the loose ends: bank stuff, power of attorney, my phone, final packing, selling my truck...and getting to spend time with my awesome family before I leave. Each day has been (and according to my calendar, will continue to be) packed full of things to do! Today is a fun one though; I will be leaving to go to Santa Cruz to visit my sister Lindy in a few hours. I'm looking forward to being away from all the business stuff and to have a little Chilean Funk dance party. 

I'm feeling sad that I haven't made time for language learning yet. It's pretty overwhelming with everything else that's going on. I know that I will have plenty of time to study and learn in a few weeks, but I can't help but feel like I'm slacking on that a little. My Dad gave me some audio CDs, maybe I'll check 'em out on the drive to Santa Cruz. On a more positive note, I was able to complete the TEFL pre-departure training course before the deadline (yeay me), and think about what I will do on the first day of class. I am still struggling with grasping how to plan lesson plans for students who I have no idea about what their levels of proficiency are. At this point, I don't want to insult them on the first day with a lesson that is way too easy, or confuse them with one that is too difficult. I suppose that erring on the side of easier and adapting as necessary is the way to go for now. 

So, June 29th I fly to LA for staging in the early morning, then off to China on the 30th in the early afternoon. We will be spending the night in Bangkok,  which we have all expressed concerns about on our China 18s Facebook group. To be determined if we are just spending the night in the airport or not. :) Then it's off to Chengdu, to settle in with my host family and start the crazy schedule of being a PC trainee. After training (until August) I will be interviewed and find out my official post, and be sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I'm sure there will be many more blog entries during this time, but I figured I'd give you all a glimpse of what's to come. I am feeling the typical range of emotions: excited, scared, nervous, anxious....they all come and go. It's a crazy roller coaster ride! But I am inspired by Cindy Kennedy's spirit to keep pushing through these emotions, and to GET IT DONE. Even though I wish I could talk to her now about all this crazy stuff (and get some of her AWESOME advice), I know that she is with me and helping me tackle the things I need to do. I hope to make her proud, and I know she will be. 


So I suppose that's it for now, much, MUCH more to come in the upcoming weeks with the preparations and travel stories. And then I'll be there...in China...hooray! I can't wait to get there! 


Peace.

Going to the People's Republic of China

I can't believe I've been so busy I haven't even thought to post a blog to update my Peace Corps placement information for all of you! I am set to depart for China on June 29th, about 34 days from today! I am starting to get excited, but also am definitely getting nervous and anxious as well. I have been told it's normal, but my "freak outs" are getting more and more common. I am working diligently on getting my affairs in order, in addition to working a lot at the restaurant. That will be over soon (only 2 more weeks!) and then I can really focus on getting myself ready for this great adventure...

The one goal I have form these last few weeks in America is to soak it all in. I have had several moments that I have allowed myself to just pause and enjoy my surroundings, as I know that soon my experiences will all be new and different. I am reveling in the comfort of the life I am leading now, and anxious about the changes that will soon happen. I am also working on eating as much Mexican food and cheeseburgers as I can get my hands on! :)

Our Facebook group has PCVs that are currently in China, and they have been giving us some really good advice about what to bring and expect. I am so thankful for this resource! I have also been reading a great deal about China, and the etiquette and customs. I am hoping that this will help me not make too many faux paus when I first arrive, but I'm sure I will still make mistakes. The customs and culture is so different than America, it will be exciting to see how I change and grown from the experience. I also have obtained a copy of "The Art of War", which will give me some deeper insight into how the Chinese approach life. I have read that this text is hugely influential in China. I am not very far along in the book yet, but hopefully soon I will have a chance to read more of it (I have 3 days off next week...what a luxury!) In addition to reading, I have started working on Rosetta Stone lessons. It is SO HARD! I am beginning to see patterns and recognize vocabulary and grammar structures, but at this point I can only say things like "He has a pen, they have a pen, this is my cat..." Ha ha, not very useful, but hopefully I can get to the more useful lessons before I go. There is defiantly a little bit of language anxiety there. Because Chinese is tonal, I am nervous about pronunciation (especially since my lessons have the "Rosetta Stone" voices). Oh well, hopefully I will get a chance to meet with my Chinese friends and practice a few things before I leave Chico.

There is still so much to update you all on, but I am running out of time now. I will blog more soon in then next coming days. I am so excited to share all of these adventures with you all. Don't hesitate to comment or email me at teenamreitz@gmail.com with thoughts, questions, perspectives.....all of which is helpful for my research! (Oh yeah, I'm doing a self-study for my thesis research, more to come on that later)

More to come soon!

Playing the waiting game....

Ah, the waiting game. Lessons in patience. As of this moment, we are waiting for the confirmation that the Peace Corps has received my long toiled over and extremely expensive medical evaluation paperwork. What a wonderful feeling it was when I was finally able to drop that huge envelope in the mail slot at the Post Office here in Chico, CA. Five months and $1500 worth of doctors visits later.  Anxiously, I have been checking the Peace Corps website for updates that they have received the packet. After 2 weeks, nothing had changed, so I emailed them to ask how long it generally takes to receive the paperwork and update the site. I was informed that it generally takes 3 weeks, but because of the holidays it may take a bit longer. So I am waiting...excited, nervous, anxious, relieved. I anticipate the great feeling of the confirmation letter. But this is the easy part. I'm sure that soon I will be complaining that I just want to know where I am going! And when! Soon. Once school starts again (in 2 days), I will have many distractions to make the days seem shorter. I am so excited to learn this next semester, and hope to gain additional tools for my service in the Peace Corps. I know I will. Yeay school! It really is great to be a student again (although I may be singing a different tune in a few weeks).

I've been meaning to start this blog for awhile, since I wanted to capture the moments BEFORE I was assigned and off on my adventures. So far, the process has been long, but not particularly difficult. I suppose everything worth doing takes time and patience. This Peace Corps thing is no exception. I can't believe that it has already been almost 9 months since I started this process. So many things have changed in my life, and continue to do so. Since making the decision to enroll in the Master's International program at Chico State and apply for the Peace Corps, my world has turned upside down, and it's only the beginning. I'm sure my world will be turned upside down many more times before my adventure, and of course, once I am facing the reality of living in a foreign country for 2 years, we'll really be talking! Oh man, do I know what I've got myself into? No. But that's the beauty of these things. Do we ever REALLY know what we are getting ourselves into? What's the fun in that anyways?

Well, for now, I suppose that's all. I am so looking forward to letting everyone know where I am going...and all the wonderful times we will share from now until I leave.