大家好! Hi Everybody!

Friday night dinner

2010-10-14T19:57:00.001-07:00

On Friday I invited Lisa and Christina over to cook dinner and we made SEVEN extraordinary Sichuan dishes. I know how to make them all and I can teach you too!

Pumpkin and green pea soup (Lisa, my new sitemate)
Kongxin cai "open heart veggie" because the stalk is hollow (me)
Eggplant with garlic (Christina, my counterpart)
Chinese style garlic mashed potatoes (me)
Tomato egg stir fry (Lisa)
Garlic cucumbers with vinegar and sugar (Lisa)
Mapo tofu- a Sichuan classic (Christina)

Happy Birthday China!

2010-10-05T20:35:00.000-07:00

October 7, 1949 the People's Republic of China was formed and seven consecutive days off is mandated every year to celebrate. Nothing wrong with that of course, but seven days off is a pretty long stretch for 1.3 billion people to take off so the solution is making up the "days off' on the weekend. New York Times had an (article http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/02/world/asia/02china.html) covering the rescheduling confusion. Foreigners are not exempt! An email from my counterpart:

Officially there is one day off for Mid-Autumn (Sept 22nd) and three days off for National Holiday(Oct 1st to 3rd). But we usually make it three days and seven days respectively. So it means we have to make up classes on some other days.

Mid-Autumn Festival is from Sept 22 to 24 (no classes on the three days).

National Holiday is from Oct 1 to 7 (no classes on the seven days).

The following is the rescheduling of the classes:

On Sept 19 (Sunday), we will make up the classes of Sept 23 (Thursday, Week 3).

On Sept 25 (Saturday), we will make up the classes of Sept 24 (Friday, Week 3).

On Spet 26 (Sunday), we will make up the classes of Oct 6 (Wednesday, Week 5).

On Oct 9 (Saturday), we will make up the classes of Oct 7 ( Thursday, Week 5).

PS: The freshmen starts their classes on Oct 8 (Friday, Week 5). But on Oct 9, we need to make up the classes of Oct 7 (Thursday) for the freshmen.

As I bemoaned the injustice of having class on the weekend my sitemate pointed out that it must be really brutal on the students who have class everyday (we do not teach everyday). At one point after the Mid-Autumn festival they had classes SEVEN DAYS IN A ROW. Can you imagine?

Back to Reality

2010-09-28T08:42:00.000-07:00

Summer's come and gone! After finishing my classes in July, my friends Tiffany and Emily and I hopped on the first plane to Kuala Lumpur to enjoy 2 weeks of getting reacquainted with our long but not forgotten friend, the SUN! We spent a few days in KL with our friend Ruhulla (a foreign exchange student in Chengdu) then headed to the duty free island of Langkawi. Cans of Guiness for 80 cents? Yes, please. Foot rubs and coconuts? Don't mind if I do. Malaysia is pristine, multi-cultural and has a delicious fusion of food influenced by its melting pot of people. Floating in the Indian Ocean the stress melted off my body. Well deserved after a tough Spring semester teaching a Writing course, the most dreaded of the dreaded classes to teach.

The second half of July was spent in northeastern Sichuan, in a "smaller" city Dazhou (pop. 6.3 mill). I worked on a project with other Peace Corps Volunteers teaching Chinese English teachers from rural areas of China. We taught English teaching pedagogy in the mornings and gave American culture lectures in the afternoons. The teachers were fun but the best part for me was working with a local Chinese college student to plan some lessons and even co-teach some classes. It reminded me of PC Georgia days of working and teaching with a counterpart. The second best part was a buffet the school treated us all to at the end of the project. Watermelon juice and shrimp were a perfect ending to the successful summer project.

And finally...and finally... in August I returned to the land of the free and the home of the brave! I spent the first week of my visit in America falling in love with the state of Pennsylvania. Jesse's sister is an organic farmer outside of Philly and we went to visit. Check out Dana and Derek's farm! The second week was spent in Boston, my old stomping grounds. It was really really nice to be back, I love that city. It was also a wonderful occasion to be there for, Jee-Young and Greg's wedding! I'm so happy to call Greg my brother-in-law and I love the Madisons. Thanks for the great time.

Back in China now and the semester is in full swing. I'm teaching a new course this semester, British and American Culture which I'm really excited about because I get to research and teach my first love, History as part of the course. I am supposed to cover British history in one week but I've already stretched it out to four because I'm having so much fun with it. Kind of makes me wonder why I wrote off the idea of being a history teacher a few years ago.

Until next time! Meaning, probably another update around December... :-)

Welcome to our China!

2010-06-18T06:46:00.000-07:00

I know you're out there. Lurking, reading blogs, trying to get a glimpse of what your life will be like for the next two years. I don't blame you I was the same way this time last year. Less than 2 weeks, right?

Here is my advice for any soon to be US-China Friendship Volunteers:
-You can find almost everything you want for much cheaper here. Don't panic that you can't fit everything in those two suitcases. I'm wracking my brain trying to think of things I couldn't find in Chengdu and all I'm coming up with is chickpeas and Korean buckwheat noodles. And I bet I could find both of those if I cared enough.
-Keeping the first tip in mind, SAVE ALL THE MONEY YOU CAN. Don't buy a whole bunch of stuff for China/Peace Corps, get it here. They will throw so much money at you during staging. If you don't already have a lot saved up, I'd definitely try to save it for traveling during service. I just bought a ticket to Malaysia for 60 USD. It is incredibly cheap to fly to Southeast Asia.
-I'm really glad I brought a planner.
-I'm really glad I brought a BPA free Nalgene. They have Chinese knockoffs but it's not the same. And everywhere you go you will be offered hot water. It's nice to have a Nalgene.
-Host family gift worries? Chinese people take a lot of pride in sharing the food or snacks that supposedly originate from their hometown. It's all usually the same type of thing; dried tofu or meat, tea, etc. If there is any kind of snack you can pack and claim it's from your 'hometown' it would probably make a nice gift.
-Anything fun for school. Sometimes classes and English corner can get a little dry. Also, I think a good frisbee should be required packing for Peace Corps volunteers worldwide.

Before you leave, take one long look at the blue sky.
See you guys soon! I'll be the Asian one!

Three things

2010-06-14T01:14:00.000-07:00

1. I've been in China a year now and my favorite holiday I've decided is Dragon Boat Festival (端午节), which is celebrated this week. If you want the full story you can check out Wikipedia, but to me it's a few days off to eat zongzi (rice and filling stuffed into bamboo leaves and steamed) and participate in the local dragon boat race. A few weeks ago we got wind that the government was sponsoring a lottery for foreigners to race in a "foreigners boat" and me, Allison and Micah scored a spot! Unfortunately, we came in last but at least we looked good doing it. I call the look High school basketball player with a part time job at Wendy's.

Zongzi

2. I just got a call on my land line and it was the phone company demanding why I haven't paid my phone bill. I explained that I didn't pay it and it was paid for by my school, etc etc. I'd get it taken care of, etc. etc. And hung up. And then basked in happiness that I could talk to someone on the phone. In my experience, being able to speak to someone on the phone crosses that line from completely hopeless in a foreign language to almost, maybe, not completely terrible. It's one thing for my Chinese tutor to patiently listen to me fumble over words. It's another to pacify an angry phone call. I feel like a million renminbi.

3. Some people may wonder, jeez what are Peace Corps volunteers doing in China? Why do they need English teachers? This is why!

200 Americans in Beijing and 1 Jeesun in Chengdu today

2010-05-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

I haven’t had a Chinese lesson with my host mom for a few weeks but I stopped by tonight and she excitedly asked me if I knew that Clinton’s wife was in China. She was cracking up exclaiming how America wants to send so many Americans to learn Chinese. I reassured her that I shouldn’t be representative of how well other Americans will learn Chinese because she seemed pretty skeptical of Obama’s great plan.

We started talking about the “neighborly dispute” as CCTV (China’s state controlled TV) refers to it, in the Korean peninsula. I discovered we had something in common. My grandpa fought bravely in the Korean War and her father also fought bravely in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. We both awkwardly smiled at each other after our realization and then she hurriedly gave me some dried tofu snacks and I told her how I tried to make vegetarian dumplings instead of pork (she was not impressed). I wonder how the neighborly dispute will play out and what, if any role China will play in it. I hope that those in charge of making decisions keeps in mind all the Korean people suffering in the DPRK.

My recipe for Tomato and Egg Dumplings:

-1 package of dumpling skins
-3 or 4 eggs
-3 or 4 small tomatoes. The closer grown to your home, the more delicious.
-salt and pepper to taste
-soy sauce, white vinegar and whatever else you like to dip dumplings in

Step one: Make the filling
- Scramble the eggs and set aside. Chop up the tomatoes into small bits and sauté in vegetable oil. Tomatoes may get kinda juicy, drain some of the excess liquid. Lightly toss together eggs and tomatoes and add some salt and pepper. Important: cook the eggs and tomatoes separately. You can add some chopped green onion too.
-Let the filling cool.

Step two: Folding the dumplings
-take a small spoon and put about a tsp. or 1.5 tsp. in each wrapper, then fold up with fingers. You can practice to make pretty folds but just make sure it’s sealed well. Mine were ugly but delicious. Some people use an egg/water mixture to help glue the skins but I found just plain water works fine.

Step three: Cook the dumplings
-After water comes to a boiling drop some in and then bring the water down to a very low simmer. They’re done when they look done!! Important: Don’t let the water continue boiling after dropping in dumplings because it may break up the dumplings.

Dip with soy sauce, white vinegar, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, sesame seeds or whatever your heart desires.

Sorry no picture, all dumplings are in my belly.

A small typo

2010-05-12T08:31:00.000-07:00

Check out last sentence.
I still gave her an 85!

My Thursday

2010-05-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

Today I introduced my students to "20 Questions" and I overheard:

Student A: "Is it a man?"
Student B: "Yes."
Student A: "Is he Chinese?"
Student B: "No."

Student thinks carefully.

Student A: "Is he American?"
Student B: "Yes!!!"
Student A: "Nicholas Cage??!!"
Student B: "No."
Student A: "This game is impossible."

Here is a picture of late night eats in China, shao kao. Meat, seafood and veggies on sticks. Now that the weather is warming up you can see lots of people hanging out eating shao kao and having beers late into the evening. Maybe I'll open a shao kao stand one day.

Some photos

2010-04-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

Internet!

2010-04-28T07:36:00.000-07:00

There's this thing in China called 关系（guanxi) and it basically means relations. I'll never fully understand it but lately my understanding of it is: I agreed to tutor the new Director of Foreign Affairs and voila, high speed internet is hooked up in my house and I am getting tennis lessons. Works for me! Funny, Peace Corps is the first time in my life that I live in a gated community and have private tennis lessons. So what this means for you guys, all 3 or 4 of my loyal readers, is hopefully it won't be such a pain to update my blog and there might be more updates.

Since my last post, I went to my host sister's 12th birthday party. The great thing about little kids is they speak Mandarin (yay some Chinese education policies) so I could converse with them a lot easier than older Chinese folks. I get aggravated that I have such a hard time with the locals who speak the dialect but when in Sichuan, speak Sichuanese. I got annoyed with a postal worker this semester because I couldn't understand him and I snapped, "Why can't you speak Mandarin?" I felt so bad that day I couldn't sleep and since then I've resolved not be such a self righteous jerk. It's not like I can speak Mandarin well anyway (not even close), so who am I to start making demands.

I also attended the opening ceremony of my school's "Sports Meet" which was all the departments of my school sending Freshmen representatives to walk through our stadium and do some kind of show. It's like the Parade of Nations in the Olympics. Department of Foreign Languages were show stoppers! In my very biased opinion. The Sports Meet by the way is a weekend long event of different events. Kind of like Track and Field day in Elementary School in the US.

And last weekend I went to a Mountain, 天台山 (Tian Tai Shan) with two of my students. Three days with students is a lot but we were on the same page about being as frugal as possible so it worked out pretty well. "Ms. Jeesun, would you find it agreeable to leave at 5AM so we can sneak in before the gate opens and not pay the entrance fee?" "YES." We had a great time. One bummer about China's parks though is that there are steps everywhere, so you never actually get to walk on the dirt. So hiking up the mountain was more akin to walking up flights of stairs.

And now for all you poetry lovers, two Haiku's my students wrote last week in my Writing class for our Poetry Unit. Wonderful and hilarious.

You are so noisy
Can you just shut your pie hole?
Then I can do work

Sonnet is too hard
I cannot do it quickly
Dear god assist me

My colleagues told me although Chinese students love poetry, they are never asked to write their own in school and my class was probably the first time in their lives they were asked to compose their own. Go Peace Corps Go! Rent this if you don't get that reference.

I was planning on including pictures for your edification but I think it's too much for my computer to handle right now. Hopefully later.

Fei Lu Bin (Philippines!)

2010-02-22T06:16:00.000-08:00

I went to the Philippines with Jesse for my Spring Festival holiday and it was spectacular. We stayed on a tiny island called Busuanga in a small town called Coron. Almost everyday we hired a bangka (motorized bamboo boat) to take us out and explore the surrounding islands. The air was so clean, it's the first time in 7 months I haven't woken up sneezing. As you all know I am a lover of food and although the Philippines is not renowned for its cuisine it was JUST what I needed after being in China for the past few months. Since the Americans were there so long, American food is everywhere and it's actually really good. So while for lunch we always had heaping amounts of fresh seafood, I also got my fill of American food I missed. Pancakes or french toast and bacon for breakfast, brewed coffee; for dinner I had my choice of all the American food I've been craving. In fact, Jesse and I agree that a small bistro in Coron serves the best chili and garlic bread we've ever had. So it was a gastronomically pleasing vacation, which is always priority in my book.

And then there were the beaches. And coral reefs. And limestone cliffs. And mangroves and hot springs. It was absolutely the most wonderful place I've ever been in my life. See album --->

Philippines Trip

Family Planning

2010-01-12T01:35:00.000-08:00

I went to a new school built for kids who were affected by the earthquake. Every time I went into a classroom this is basically what happened. They are calling me "Auntie"! When did I get so old? :-/

Light at the end of the (semester) tunnel

2010-01-12T00:40:00.000-08:00

Almost finished! While the Chinese semester should end around the last week of December I am still going this week with Finals because I teach mostly Freshmen who didn't start school until the middle of October. The Chinese Fall semester usually runs from the first week of September until the end of December and then yes, they get two months off for Chinese New Year. School starts again the first week of March. So while other volunteers are already traveling and enjoying their two months off I am still interviewing my students for their Oral English Final Exam. All 100+ of them. It's been a long week.

The holidays in Chengdu were as festive as can be expected for it not really being that big of a deal here. American commercialization of Christmas has made it's way over here and you can find frosted windows and waitresses wearing Santa hats galore. The students put on a Christmas concert which I stupidly forgot to bring my camera to but it was a lot of fun with games and singing. Learned a few I may bring back to America. One was a 'lottery of humiliation' as I remember it. Everyone had to put their student number in a hat and if their name was picked they had to do things from ranging from spelling words with their butt or telling someone in the room of the opposite sex they liked him or her. My favorite/nerdiest Freshman picked that one and he came straight to Ms. Jeesun and told me his true feelings. Hilarious.

The students were very aware that this is a big American holiday so they gave me lots of little gifts such as apples and candy. Some very sweet Christmas cards. My favorite was from Leslie, who wrote me a long letter expressing her concern that she sees me running by myself during the day. "Ms. Jeesun I saw you running at the time you should be eating lunch. Do you miss your hometown?" The concern my kids have about me being lonely is actually pretty funny. Though I've told them time and time again that Americans are more independent and value their alone time they still seem really concerned. Sometimes when I run if my students see me they'll literally dump their books with a friend and join me.

The nicest Christmas gift I got was a tin full of notes from my students to me. Some just wished me a Merry Christmas but there were a whole bunch that were really touching and made it one of nicest Christmas mornings I've had in awhile.

There was also a Christmas Party and New Year's Party with the other volunteers in Chengdu. There are about 10 of us here and it's really nice to have such a strong support system.

Happy 2010!! Back to grading.....

End of 2009

Number One Procrastinator

2009-12-05T23:41:00.000-08:00

I've always been a procrastinator. When I was 8 my piano teacher asked me (after failing to remember new scales) if I knew what procrastination meant. In college I prided myself on being able to pound out midterm and final papers the day before it was due. This by the way, I eventually learned is a really bad idea to do often.

As I get caught up in the whirlwind of living here updating my blog gets put on the back burner but that's a cryin' shame because China is fascinating, funny, aggravating, enlightening and everything else. If anything, I suppose it's my obligation to teach you all as much as I can about our eventual overlords.

So another blog entry pledging to be better about the updates. We'll see if I make good on it this time.

Trying out something new. Here is an album with pictures from the past few months:

Jesse's Visit/Birthday/Thanksgiving

Album includes Jesse's visit in October, my birthday in November and Thanksgiving.

My New Digs

2009-11-13T00:14:00.000-08:00

My home away from home. Yes, that is a wooden couch.

It's good for the skin!

2009-10-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long absence! My dad has been complaining he is tired of looking at the same old picture of bibimbap.

Things have been getting really busy. Teaching is a lot work, not just the actual hours in the classroom but all the grading, planning, and office hours that go with it. More details about the teaching to come.

A bit about my new family first though. My university decided that as a means of helping me integrate into my community they would hook me up with a host family. I’ll still have my own apartment of course but across the street is a family that will keep up with me and make sure that I’m doing OK. First let me say, I love host families. I loved them in Georgia and I adore them here. But it’s far more interesting when the host family hasn’t been through Peace Corps sessions about how to deal with Americans. It was clear my PST family was carefully trained on American versus Chinese culture. For example, Ayi constantly ask me if I needed “alone time” or “quiet time”. They never ever pushed food on me and were just generally very careful around me. My CUIT family however is a little more…traditional.

Right off the bat my host mom insisted I call her “Mama” (mom) and she takes her role as Mama very seriously. One of the first question she asked me was if I missed my mother in America and when I said of course I did her eyes kind of went wide and I could see that she was on a mission. Within the afternoon she was smacking my back if I started to slouch, picking crust from my eyes (last week she pulled a booger from my nose), and fixing my collar. She tells me I am her second child.

Then there’s Grandma. Mama’s mama is “Waipo” in Chinese and Waipo actually started crying when I told them of course I missed my mother in America. When I’m eating she’ll carefully watch what I’m eating most of and push the plate closer to my bowl or sometimes simply just put some more on my plate for me. When I finish a meal and tell her it was delicious and I’m full her response is a huge grin and another scoop of rice and a dish for me. The whole family speaks Sichuanese and since I can barely understand Mandarin there’s always some miscommunication. But more than once when the whole family is bewildered it’s been Waipo that came to the rescue and miraculously understood what I was trying to get across. I think it’s because she doesn’t take her eyes off me.

Last week they took me out for hot pot. Hot pot is like fondue except instead of cheese it’s boiling spicy/numbing pepper oil. It’s delicious! I went a few times with my PST family and as always they were super careful to order very American friendly menu items. I love my hot pot with lotus roots, noodles, bean sprouts and tofu. My CUIT family didn’t get the Peace Corps memo though about what Americans normally eat and thought I’d enjoy among other things: pig esophagus, pig brains, tripe, something greenish brown that was sort of hairy I couldn’t figure out what it was they just kept pointing at their stomach, and duck tongue. I gamely tried a tiny bit of each, partly telling myself it was cultural exchange and partly because I had to because they kept putting things in my bowl. As I put the brains in my mouth I starting panicking but I didn’t want to offend anyone so to help me get it down I actually started thinking to myself, “Think of all the people who starved to death during the Great Leap Forward…they would have eaten this. I shouldn’t be so self-important…” I finally gagged though when the duck tongue touched MY tongue and I think that was when they finally took the hint. Mama gave me a half smile and fished the brains and remaining tongue out of my bowl and said I really should at least eat the esophagus because it’s good for women’s skin.

I promise to be better about maintaining this blog. Stay tuned for teaching tales!

Dear Young-Ran:

2009-09-04T04:05:00.000-07:00

Rest assured Umah, I can get my Korean food in Chengdu. Not only are there dozens of restaurants downtown there is a small restaurant a 10 minute walk from my apartment. This bimbimbap is 6 kuai. Less than a dollar!

Swear-In

2009-09-04T03:30:00.000-07:00

Can you find me among all the other idealistic faces of America?

After 8 weeks of training Peace Corps deemed me and 74 fellow trainees fit to swear in as US-China Friendship Volunteers on August 28, 2009. We didn’t lose a single trainee from staging in San Francisco to Swear-In! We were sworn in by the brand new Ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman and after some inspirational speeches, a slideshow and a Chinese buffet we left for our sites. This semester I’ll be teaching Oral English, American Cinema and English for Social Work majors. Classes start next week!

The line was too long to talk to him so I settled for posing for a picture of Mr. Ambassador talking to another volunteer.

Starbucks in Jinli

2009-08-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

Seventy-two kuai for two tall lattes and a passion fruit juice. This may sound a bit excessive on a PC budget (seeing as this is about 3 days living allowance) but the way I see it is I’m just fulfilling goal number two of the Peace Corps, helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the people served. Now thanks to me, Ayi and Nancy will forever understand that Americans pay way too much for coffee. The toughest job I’ll ever love! It was actually very cute to see the both of them clutching their cups with both hands almost in fear of dropping their overpriced beverages. They took me to Jinli Street today, which is fashioned after a neighborhood during the Qin Dynasty. There were dozens of shops selling traditional Chinese kitsch. After downing her Starbucks, Ayi said with a small smile that foreigners like this place because it’s “very Chinese”. A good time was had by all.

It's a Celebration

2009-08-16T07:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I attended a banquet with Qin, one of my model school students. It was a celebration of her cousin being accepted into a university in Beijing. Her parents threw her a party with oh, maybe 300+ of their closest friends. I counted at least 30-35 banquet tables and at each table were 8-10 people. Each table had at least 15 different dishes, I stopped counting after 15. One of the dishes was turtle, a whole turtle just floating in a bowl of potatoes like they were lily pads. The meat on the shell is apparently very nutritious. I took their word for it. Traditionally at a Chinese banquet the hosts come around to each table and make toasts and the guests congratulate whatever occasion. By the time Qin’s cousin and her parents got to my table I commented to Qin that I would never be able to drink 35 + toasts like her cousin was expected to do and remain standing. Qin whispered back that this was the first time her cousin has ever drank alcohol. It turned out to be quite the party.

Model School

2009-08-07T05:56:00.000-07:00

As a part of our pre-service training all the trainees are required to conduct a two week model school. Peace Corps recruits local students and the trainees teach English and cross cultural lessons 2 hours a day. My partner Tim taught the first week and I taught the second week. As most of our class was college aged students my theme was, "College Life in America". It started with everyone getting acceptance letters to different universities and we went through the process of deciding on a college, figuring out how to pay for it, deciding on a major, developing a club, going to a football game, planning a weekend trip, studying abroad, graduation, and interviewing for a job after graduation. All while incorporating communicative activities! Some of the activities I planned went surprisingly well, like having them create their own extracurricular club. Others sort of sank. I thought teaching them some Gator cheers would be a hit. Not so much.

In Georgia, after a good lesson a student might buy me some sunflower seeds or peanuts. In China, after a good model school week one of my students made a slideshow of the week. I can't get the link to work directly from this blog but just copy and paste this --> http://user.qzone.qq.com/12267882/photo/vphoto/34413 to check it out. I'm getting a little more intimidated about teaching Chinese college students... I guess doing the hokey pokey can't be a back up lesson plan anymore.

Permanent Site Announcements

2009-08-06T07:15:00.000-07:00

Presenting bullet points (because I’m too lazy to compose something more thoughtful) of why I couldn’t be happier that my site is CHENGDU!

• Notorious for the spiciest food in China (anyone who knows me knows this is a very very good thing)
• Chengdu is really flat and super bicycle friendly.
• Western restaurants a plenty for when I miss Subway, Papa John’s, etc.
• Korean restaurants a plenty for when I miss my mom.
• The Peace Corps office is here which means I can access its work related resources, PCV library, and anything medical related whenever it’s convenient for me
• Volunteers in China are really spread out. From Chengdu, volunteers are as far out as 30 hours by train north and 30 hours by train south so a lot of volunteers don’t really get to see each other after training. I get to see other volunteers when they come to the city to visit the PC office whether they like it or not! Well, I guess it does depend on whether they want to see me… :-)
• Already established network of Chinese people; our Chinese language teachers, my students from model school and my host family. Although I’ll be glad to have my own apartment I’m really happy that my host family will also be in the neighborhood.
• I am right next to an international airport. Right now round trip tickets from JFK to Chengdu are $912 including all fees and taxes. No excuses for not visiting!
• Did I mention there is an IKEA here? Oh the Posh Corps.

I admit I am a tiny bit envious of some of the other volunteers that are going to farther and stranger and more distant lands. But I got exactly what I wanted. Chengdu is known in China for its laid back attitude and there are so many pros of my site that I have trouble coming up with any drawbacks.

I will be teaching at Chengdu University of Information Technology. Although subject to change I will be teaching Oral English to English majors and night classes to non-majors. More details to come, I couldn’t be more excited.

For Mrs. Ellen Clarki-Greeni, I present China

2009-08-01T07:58:00.000-07:00

Appreciative

2009-08-01T07:34:00.000-07:00

One month in at China and one more month of training to go! I spend my days cycling my bike around Chengdu, practicing Mandarin with my host family, and going to trainings 5 days a week (sometimes 6…). My host family has been phenomenal in supporting my efforts to learn Mandarin. Although they speak the Sichuan dialect they are always careful to speak to me in Mandarin. My host parents speak to me everyday using words they know I’ve been learning in school and I’ve been really impressed that they rarely rely on my host sister to translate if we aren’t understanding each other. They work with me to help me figure it out, either by speaking slowly or using different words or even miming. After learning the vocabulary for bargaining Ayi took me to the market and insisted I try out my stuff. And Nancy has become my own personal language drill sergeant. If my tones aren’t good she will demand to know why I am speaking like a robot, and she’s also been know to holler, “Peach!! (she calls me Peach, long story) do not SING Chinese, SPEAK Chinese!” So along with giving me ice cold Gatorades when I come home from school, taking me out to American fried chicken every Friday night because they think I miss KFC, and every other wonderful thing they do for me, I have been floored by their genuine understanding of my desire to learn Chinese.

Language learning shenanigans

2009-08-01T06:47:00.000-07:00

Tonal languages are a constant source of amusement. Oh Mandarin, you slay me...

Send Love!

2009-07-14T06:49:00.000-07:00

To this address:

U.S.- China Friendship Volunteers/ Peace Corps China
Sichuan University Mail Box 278
No. 28 Wang Jiang Road
Chengdu, Sichuan 610064

Where I'll be

2009-07-14T02:58:00.000-07:00

A lot of people ask me where I'll be. Although we will not find out our sites until August 4, here is a map with an outline of the provinces volunteers are placed. Special thanks to John for the image and for setting up a proxy on my laptop!!

A visual update

2009-07-14T02:08:00.000-07:00

Ayi, Shushu, Nancy

Check out my sweet ride!

I <3 China

2009-07-13T06:29:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the long delay. I’ve been a little busy. :-)

Two weeks in Chengdu and still going strong! It’s been the usual PST business; an avalanche of language, sessions on ghiardia and cultural sensitivity, and lots of ultimate Frisbee and soccer games. There are 75 trainees in my group and about 30 or so have served at other posts. This is one trainee’s 3^rd tour of Peace Corps! Listening to PC stories from around the world has definitely given me some perspective. A bad day in Georgia is when the marshutka breaks down. A bad day in Mauritania is when your mud hut disintegrates with you in it.

And a bad day in China is…? I think about this as I pace the hardwood floors of my host family’s house. As I read the NY Times with the wireless available under the cool AC in my bedroom. While I gobbled up lunch today with my family: 8 different dishes including peking duck, kung pao chicken, grilled beef and bell peppers. And if I’m still contemplating I will meander into the living room to watch TV on the plasma flat screen. Life here is sublimely cool. My host family is a blast, especially my little host sister, 11 year old Nancy. She became nearly blind when she was a toddler but what she lacks in vision she more than makes up for in spunk. She likes to ask me about men in America, is a tyrant when she helps me with Chinese pronunciation and she constantly makes me laugh. Today she casually mentioned that I am welcome to call my host mom “Old Cat” instead of Aunt if I felt like it.

My first night with the host family they asked if I like bikes. I said I loved bikes. After dinner Ayi (Aunt) and Shushu (Uncle) said they were going “grocery shopping”. They came back with a brand new bike for me. And Dove chocolate.

大 家 好! Hi Everybody!