Ni hao from Weihai!!!!! WOW! It’s already been an adventure unlike any other! I have no concept of time right now! Let me update you on my experiences thus far!
Saturday night I said goodbye to my friends and family! Madi, Alli, Ben, and my siblings ended up staying up all night talking and playing games! It was so much fun! I said goodbye to my Cheryl, Dan, Nate, and my pets. It was harder than I thought for me. Sunday morning at 6:30 I met my group at the airport. My dear friends Alli, Madi, and Steph accompanied my parents and me to the airport. They are the best!!! I will miss them more than I can say! I checked my luggage... both bags were 49 lbs exactly! WOOT WOOT! That couldn’t have been more perfect...
It was Cierra’s birthday the day we left. Samantha and I tried to make it a good birthday... I mean, at least we got her a Cinnabon! Anyway... first we flew to San Francisco. That wasn’t bad at all. I sat next to a kid in my group named Matt Goodrich on the plane. We were able to bond over lame jokes on our last names (“Bad Poor” and “OH! Like the guy from Monster’s Inc?! Mike Wazowski!)
The next flight was intense. No one is really sure how long it was... it’s still an ongoing debate. But it was LONG! I probably slept for 2/3 of it. The rest of the time I watched free movies! I finally saw How to Train Your Dragon and the Back Up Plan. They fed us two dinners... kinda weird! But I didn’t go hungry! I sat next to a newlywed couple. They were so cute and nice. They helped me with my bags and woke me up at meal times! :) The weirdest thing about the flight was that even though I knew it should be getting later and later in the day, the sky stayed bright as midday the whole time! It’s kind of an unnerving experience! I really liked Korean Air though! The flight attendants’ outfits are SWEET! As we landed in Korea I took my first steps off the American Continent! Still a little strange... It was so hot and muggy in the Korean airport, so we were actually happy to get on the plane again!
Our next flight was from Seoul, Korea to Beijing, China. It wasn’t too long... We got another dinner though. At that point I felt like I should be eating breakfast, but it was just evening there! I had my first battle with food. I’ve decided I want to try as much stuff as possible while here... and some of the stuff in the dinner was testing my will. I tried it all though! Come to find out, I don’t like Bean Curd with Oriental Dressing. And apparently slightly flavored rice stuck together with some raisins in it counts as a dessert in some places. Anyway, I couldn’t get any cool pictures of flying over China because it got dark! We went through immigration, and finally got all our stuff! Not one of the 21 of us lost any luggage, so that’s a miracle! :)
You would think that we’d be there at this point... nope! It was time to hop on a bus. For 12 hours. Luckily I was still exhausted, so I slept most of the time. Toward the end of the drive, our driver started a movie for us. Oh man! It was so stereotypical. Karate, colored hair... all that and more. It was actually pretty entertaining!
We FINALLY got to our school at about 11 AM on the 24th (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DUSTIN!!!!) It was still Monday night back at home. Still weirds me out. We lugged all our bags up 5 floors... 100 stairs. We counted. You would think they’d heard of an elevator over here, but apparently not. We finally got to unpack and settle in a little. Our rooms are pretty nice. The bed is not comfortable at all. I have sept on more comfortable beds at girls camp. Seriously though. And our pillow is a bean bag. Haven’t the Asians heard of feathers?
Another things the Chinese apparently haven’t thought up yet: showers. That’s right. We have a shower head and a drain. If I were really lazy I could sit on the toilet and shower. Or if I was really efficient I could shower and go the the bathroom at the same time! HAHA!
I had my first legitimate Chinese meal. Yes, we ate with chopsticks. No, we didn’t eat on the floor. I think that’s Japan? (People NEVER sit on the ground here! I’d tell you why, but it’s gross.) It was actually not too bad. Nothing nauseating... But I do like American food 100000000 times better! I could really go for some mashed potatoes. There was also a random pot of boiling water in the middle of the floor. None of us Americans could figure out what it was used for...
Our entire group headed out into the city. Here are a few things I learned:
1. You can hold an umbrella and ride a bike.
2. Don’t assume you have the right of way as a pedestrian.
3. The Chinese aren’t ashamed to stare! They point, too. And when you notice them staring, they don’t look away! They’re shameless! I now know how celebrities AND zoo animals feel! Blonde hair... it’s not letting me blend in at all here!
4. Asians use skin bleach. There were face whitening masks all over the Supermarket. We tan... they bleach!
5. Chinese just assume you can’t understand them. And I can’t. HOWEVER... we have a girl in our group who speaks fluent Mandarin. She’ll translate what people are saying about us... it’s awesome! It’s like we have a spy in the group! Because she’s like the most American looking person you’d ever see! No one expects it. She’s broken into a few conversations in Mandarin. It’s quickly becomeing a form of entertainment for us to see their reactions!
6. Apparently “Blueberry” is a chip flavor. They’re not bad. It’s like eating fruit and chips at the same time. Healthy, right?!
7.The cute little turtles for sale on the street are for dinner... not pets. :(
8. When it rains... it POURS!!! There was literally a waterfall forming at our school! And I had to buy an umbrella. It’s HILARIOUS!!! ... only in China! :)
We’re wasting no time here... We started teaching today! No time to rest! I planned a lesson last night. Way over planned! But they say that’s good. I had plenty of stuff to keep us occupied. The idea behind the method is to engage the children and immerse them in english... kind of like you would a baby! You model the language and they practice it. The kids we were teaching today already know a little english. On monday we start with new kids, so that will be very interesting!! It was really fun though! My head teachers, Amanda and Lauren, said they were very impressed. They thought it would be much more rough, especially on the first day! I was pretty excited about that!
It’s going great here! I’m loving it so far... even though I’m always soaked!! OH! During meal times they play this music over the loudspeaker trying to teach english! It is hilarious! Today they played the Mickey Mouse song, but that’s the first semi-normal one I’ve heard! The rest are like: “May I have a cookie” “Yes here’s a cookie” “MMMM! May I have some more?” “No. That’s all there is. There’s no more.” “No more?” “No more.” “No more?” “No more!” ... then they repeat that with like every food possible. It’s great when that gets stuck in your head.... haha! :)
Well, that’s all I have time for! We’re way busy here, but I’m having fun! I really love my group- it’s like we all bonded right when we met each other! I hope to hear from all of you! Email me at jennislagowski@hotmail.com! Love you all! BYE!!! :)
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