Olympics are awesome. Summer is awesome. My birthday is awesome. And China, so far, so awesome. :)
That line was written about a month and a half ago and it is still completely true, although the Olympics are over and my birthday is another 10 months away. Summer is still strong here in beautiful Dongguan, China but that is even starting to fade away with slightly cooler temperatures.
As my last post alluded, I am now living and teaching in China! I know that I kept mentioning DC or New York but this just worked out in so many ways. I applied to quite a few places, interviewed with some and found my home with International School Dongguan. Dongguan is a pretty big city (average size in China) and is about an hours drive outside of Hong Kong. It is a factory-based city with a large immigrant and foreign population so it doesnt always feel authentically China but there are still aspects to my life where I think "oh my, I'm in China" (because I am).
I didnt really have a long chance to digest or ponder or rethink my choice, I was interviewed on July 24th and flew out on August 4th, arrived on the night of the 5th and started working at 7am the morning of the 6th. So out the window went jet lag, nerves, and even thinking really. It was just go-go-go and I think that worked out for the best. When you cant think to be nervous or scared or worried, you arent.
My life so far has been work, work, and more work. I have joined a team of 15 or so teachers in a brand new international school. Because it is brand new, we have had to do a lot more work than the average beginning of the school year, i.e. get everything from desks and bookshelves to pencils and paper to curriculum materials and books. It has been a lot of extra work and a lot of running around but it has been so rewarding and so worth it! School started on August 16th with a bang and has been non stop ever since! It feels great to throw yourself in to a project and because this school, the people I work with, and the resources are available, I am really only limited by myself.
Enough about school for now, I want to explain more of my time here. My coworkers are awesome and such a mix of people- families to single people, the ages and backgrounds are very diverse- but we all come together with a focus on the school and work towards that! It is a lot of fun and I know I made the right decision to come to China! They also celebrated my birthday with me and made me feel special, which is of course the true test of friendship! Hehe. I half kid, half am serious about that! It was memorable to say the least and this makes the last 6 birthdays out of the country. Belize-23, Barcelona 24, Armenia- 25, 26 and 27, China 28. On my long bucket list is "spend my birthday in a new country." It might need to be amended and say "spend my birthday in a country other than America." So far, so great!
I will be honest here and say that it has been a little weird living abroad and not living the Peace Corps life. I mean the school I work for set up my apartment and it is nice. Check out pictures: My Apartment. I am definitely not in Peace Corps anymore and this has kind of given me a complex. Its like I keep expecting my water to turn off or to have to struggle to get things done. It hasnt happened yet. Sure I have had challenges and my water wasnt *as* hot as I wanted it to be, but none of them compare to walking up and down 5 flights of stairs to get enough water to flush your toilet... perspective. But I cant continue to compare my life in Dongguan to my life in Armenia (although it is very hard not to).
My life in China hasnt been the rough and tough life that I kind of thought it would be but instead it is kind of posh and fancy. There are 3 major supermarkets within a 10 minute walking distance, a Starbucks, 2 McDonalds, a KFC, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, and quite a few others that I cant think of. I have found just about everything I need. There might be brands I would prefer but really cant get picky about that stuff. The main thing I have been "limited" on are my spices and I couldnt even get all of those in America so it is not a China thing, it is a not-being-in-Malaysia thing. And then with American products, I can just pay a little extra and I can get Cinnamon Toast Crunch if I wanted (I havent yet, but it is an option). I try to buy mostly Chinese products but it doesnt always work out like that.
I have had a few adventures in cooking and eating! On my birthday we had a dumpling making cooking lesson! It wasnt specifically for my birthday but I dont let those facts determine my beliefs. It was a lot of fun and an experience for all of the staff. I wasnt too bad at folding the dumplings but it took me probably three minutes to make a dumpling look presentable. In that same time, the person who was showing me how to make them had completed probably 10-12....
Another adventure was at this hotel/banquet place. The school bosses wanted to give the teachers and staff a thank you because of Teacher Appreciation Day in China. They took us to a dinner where it was family style eating and they kept bringing food. It was great and I enjoyed most of the food! The unusual food I tried was fried pig ears, chicken feet, a seafood dish and this tofu dessert thing. The dessert thing wasnt my favorite but that was mainly texture. They had the best pork buns though! Oh my goodness, I need to learn how to make those! I have yet to find the food stalls I imagined China to have and it is surprisingly difficult to find the 'local' cuisine. I will make it work though. I also have wanted to take cooking classes but havent found any yet. I have made a few friends on staff who are locals and we have discussed cooking together so we will see if something comes from that!
I think that is it for now. There are many other experiences and fun times to write about but for now that will be it. Im not sure how this blog will play in to my life in Dongguan but for now it will be a forum to share a few of the things I have experienced and a way to keep family and friends updated about my life.
I hope you have enjoyed!
Love.
That line was written about a month and a half ago and it is still completely true, although the Olympics are over and my birthday is another 10 months away. Summer is still strong here in beautiful Dongguan, China but that is even starting to fade away with slightly cooler temperatures.
As my last post alluded, I am now living and teaching in China! I know that I kept mentioning DC or New York but this just worked out in so many ways. I applied to quite a few places, interviewed with some and found my home with International School Dongguan. Dongguan is a pretty big city (average size in China) and is about an hours drive outside of Hong Kong. It is a factory-based city with a large immigrant and foreign population so it doesnt always feel authentically China but there are still aspects to my life where I think "oh my, I'm in China" (because I am).
I didnt really have a long chance to digest or ponder or rethink my choice, I was interviewed on July 24th and flew out on August 4th, arrived on the night of the 5th and started working at 7am the morning of the 6th. So out the window went jet lag, nerves, and even thinking really. It was just go-go-go and I think that worked out for the best. When you cant think to be nervous or scared or worried, you arent.
My life so far has been work, work, and more work. I have joined a team of 15 or so teachers in a brand new international school. Because it is brand new, we have had to do a lot more work than the average beginning of the school year, i.e. get everything from desks and bookshelves to pencils and paper to curriculum materials and books. It has been a lot of extra work and a lot of running around but it has been so rewarding and so worth it! School started on August 16th with a bang and has been non stop ever since! It feels great to throw yourself in to a project and because this school, the people I work with, and the resources are available, I am really only limited by myself.
Enough about school for now, I want to explain more of my time here. My coworkers are awesome and such a mix of people- families to single people, the ages and backgrounds are very diverse- but we all come together with a focus on the school and work towards that! It is a lot of fun and I know I made the right decision to come to China! They also celebrated my birthday with me and made me feel special, which is of course the true test of friendship! Hehe. I half kid, half am serious about that! It was memorable to say the least and this makes the last 6 birthdays out of the country. Belize-23, Barcelona 24, Armenia- 25, 26 and 27, China 28. On my long bucket list is "spend my birthday in a new country." It might need to be amended and say "spend my birthday in a country other than America." So far, so great!
I will be honest here and say that it has been a little weird living abroad and not living the Peace Corps life. I mean the school I work for set up my apartment and it is nice. Check out pictures: My Apartment. I am definitely not in Peace Corps anymore and this has kind of given me a complex. Its like I keep expecting my water to turn off or to have to struggle to get things done. It hasnt happened yet. Sure I have had challenges and my water wasnt *as* hot as I wanted it to be, but none of them compare to walking up and down 5 flights of stairs to get enough water to flush your toilet... perspective. But I cant continue to compare my life in Dongguan to my life in Armenia (although it is very hard not to).
My life in China hasnt been the rough and tough life that I kind of thought it would be but instead it is kind of posh and fancy. There are 3 major supermarkets within a 10 minute walking distance, a Starbucks, 2 McDonalds, a KFC, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, and quite a few others that I cant think of. I have found just about everything I need. There might be brands I would prefer but really cant get picky about that stuff. The main thing I have been "limited" on are my spices and I couldnt even get all of those in America so it is not a China thing, it is a not-being-in-Malaysia thing. And then with American products, I can just pay a little extra and I can get Cinnamon Toast Crunch if I wanted (I havent yet, but it is an option). I try to buy mostly Chinese products but it doesnt always work out like that.
I have had a few adventures in cooking and eating! On my birthday we had a dumpling making cooking lesson! It wasnt specifically for my birthday but I dont let those facts determine my beliefs. It was a lot of fun and an experience for all of the staff. I wasnt too bad at folding the dumplings but it took me probably three minutes to make a dumpling look presentable. In that same time, the person who was showing me how to make them had completed probably 10-12....
Another adventure was at this hotel/banquet place. The school bosses wanted to give the teachers and staff a thank you because of Teacher Appreciation Day in China. They took us to a dinner where it was family style eating and they kept bringing food. It was great and I enjoyed most of the food! The unusual food I tried was fried pig ears, chicken feet, a seafood dish and this tofu dessert thing. The dessert thing wasnt my favorite but that was mainly texture. They had the best pork buns though! Oh my goodness, I need to learn how to make those! I have yet to find the food stalls I imagined China to have and it is surprisingly difficult to find the 'local' cuisine. I will make it work though. I also have wanted to take cooking classes but havent found any yet. I have made a few friends on staff who are locals and we have discussed cooking together so we will see if something comes from that!
I think that is it for now. There are many other experiences and fun times to write about but for now that will be it. Im not sure how this blog will play in to my life in Dongguan but for now it will be a forum to share a few of the things I have experienced and a way to keep family and friends updated about my life.
I hope you have enjoyed!
Love.
