as awesome as it is being in Chongqing, I'm not quite penetrating into the language and culture as much as I'd like to be. Chongqing is one of the biggest cities in the world. It's modernized and westernized. As such, it's almost indistinguishable from any other big city in the west or east, jettisoning traditional culture to adopt a universal metropolitan one.
Part of it is urban culture, and part of it is my own debilitating shyness, but it's difficult striking up conversations with the local fauna. They're about what you'd expect from city folk: busy, pushy, disinterested, and completely disenchanted by the novelty of the presence of foreigners. Of course, it's not that I expect some special treatment because I'm American, but it makes things a bit more difficult to get to know people.
My students are also at such a high English proficiency level that I sometimes wonder what I really have to offer them. I provide them with an environment in which they can practice conversation. But in order for them to really learn something new, I feel they would need a real professional TEFL instrutor.
As a result, i feel caught in this kind of no man's land. I'm neither contributing a great service nor being immersed in the culture. I'm somewhat of a curiosity, but largely left alone.
I may have mentioned before that I'm considering extending already (and I'm not even a quarter through my 2 years) and spending a year in a more rural site like in Gansu. The way things are going, it just doesn't seem like I'll experience as much as I want to experience during the 2 years I'm in Chongqing. I don't know if I'll really get another chance to do something like that unless I do it with Peace Corps.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Sunday, December 11, 2011
semester ending, dropping tourism english, chinese progress, martial arts, gym, tasty food, poop, iPod, weekends
The semester is in its last death throes. This week I'll be giving the exam to the Tourism English students, next week Oral English for English as a second major, and 2 weeks later for Oral English for the freshmen.
I feel burnt out. Commuting is a pain, trying to think of stuff to teach the Tourism English students who meet twice a week for 2 semesters is ridiculous. I asked the Humanities department to drop Tourism from my schedule next semester. It's still not clear if they're going to do it, but apparently someone approached the chinese woman who teaches the other section of Tourism English students. She told her class one day that she might be taking over my class. A few of my more motivated students were observing her class at the time. Crystal, my best student in both Oral English and Tourism, texted me "I heard you're abandoning us??" She had me meet her to talk about it. She was pretty upset, but I explained my schedule and that I just don't think I can keep it up for another semester.
That conversation with her had an effect on me. My mind was set on dropping the class, but the students apparently like me a lot, even though I can't get them engaged like i can with the Oral English students. They stare at me with glazed eyes. I know that if I drop the class, the 25 students in Ms. Leeta's class will become 50, and those students won't have much chance to speak out. On the other hand, I think they'll learn more. Leeta knows their English levels and she knows tourism. She'll be able to teach them vocabulary they can use... I mostly just treat the class as an oral English class. In the end, I will drop it if they let me. I feel a little bad about it, but I don't think it's worth being stressed out at the end of my week and missing out on things I've been wanting to get involved in here.
There are two other Americans who teach here besides my sitemate and me. They are both pretty strange. Honestly, i try to stay away from them. I want to spend more time with Chinese people. I hardly speak much Chinese as it is: everyone here knows enough English that they would rather talk with me in English than listen to me fumble around trying to get my ideas across in their language.
I had hoped that i would be better with my Chinese than I am by now.
I started taking intermediate Chinese classes with the international students who are Chinese majors (they're all from Kazakhstan), but I can't keep up with the class. I don't have time to do the homework, the class meets 4 days a week for 2 hours and i have to miss one of them to go to the new campus to teach, the textbook recently switched to being exclusively in hanzi. It takes some time for me to translate it. Next semester, I will probably join the second semester of the beginners.
I still haven't found a kung fu school. No one seems to be able to help me. Whenever I ask someone, they laugh. When they realize I'm being serious, they say "oh, there has to be a lot of schools around here." And when I ask where specifically, no one knows and no one finds out. The internet isn't any help on the issue either.
On the other hand, I did find a Taekwondo school (it seems to be far more popular in China than kung fu now ironically). I want to learn a Chinese martial art, and I'm already a black belt in TKD. But if this is all there is, I'll do it. I might start that next semester.
I've been going to this gym across the street for students. It's pretty dingy and unremarkable, but the most important things are there: some adjustable free weights, barbells, and benches. A couple students in my Oral English class found out I go there and they meet me there twice a week. Some of the other guys like to practice their English with me when I'm there. Someone always puts on Michael Jackson, Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, and Lady Gaga on the speakers. I find it hilarious.
I've been eating a lot more lately since i started going to the gym. I think I'm gaining wait. I feel fatter. It's probably because of all the noodles and oil. I usually eat at the cafeteria because it's super cheap, but the hours are all weird. When it's closed, I go across the street to the Xinjiang restaurants. They're little holes in the wall run by Uyghurs. I really love Xinjiang food. I have to go there one of these days. The food is much less oily than the local food. It's very simple: noodles/rice, sauce, meat, vegetables, spices. Potatoes, mutton, beef, bell peppers, onions, carrots. All the noodles are made by hand right there in front of you before they're put in your dish. The best part is, they have picture menues because the fare is so different from local food that the locals aren't sure what the dishes are called.
EDIT: I was wrong. They're actually Lanzhou restaurants, not Xinjiang. Lanzhou is the capital of Gansu province, which shares a border with Xinjiang and also contains a large Muslim population.
Not that I don't love the local food. I love wai po cai (pickled chopped vegetables), hot pot, xiao bai (super tender slices of fatty pork belly over a bed of wai po cai), the noodles (xiao mian, za jiang mian), jiaozi, chao shou (wanton), anything with pumpkin, anything with sweet potatoes... The only problem is that a lot of these foods have so much oil that they wreak havoc on my intestines... I have to plan accordingly if I'm going to eat hot pot and make sure I can get to a toilet within a few hours after eating it. In Chongqing and Sichuan, "la duzi" (loose bowels, just short of diarrhea), isn't a term that people find inappropriate or embarrassing. It's a fairly regular affliction like catching a cold. "where's so and so?" "oh, he has la duzi" "oh yeah, i had that yesterday." "me too, i get it all the time." and i'm like "then why does everyone use so much damn oil??"
I finally got an iPod touch. It revolutionized everything. I can go down the street, go to the supermarket, go to the bus station and actually understand what's written using Pleco. I'm learning a lot of new characters every day. It's still not as good at translating phrases and sentences as Google translate, but if I can get wifi, i can use Google as well.
Every weekend or so I meet with Brianne and/or Imogen, the British girl who also teaches at Brianne's school. I feel very fortunate that those two are closest to me. They're great peoples.
I had hoped that I would do more with my weekends. I thought I would travel and see more things. I'm not sure why I don't. I'm terrible at making plans. Part of it is that I'm lazy and/or I'm just ready to sit and vege out after my week. It's not that I don't do stuff. I always end up doing something with people, but I just don't feel like I'm experiencing as much as I can.
Hopefully next semester will be better. Without tourism english, I've gained a good full day or two of free time in my week. In fact, without tourism, I'll only have to prepare one lesson per week (and then teach it 6 times). That's a good deal.
I feel burnt out. Commuting is a pain, trying to think of stuff to teach the Tourism English students who meet twice a week for 2 semesters is ridiculous. I asked the Humanities department to drop Tourism from my schedule next semester. It's still not clear if they're going to do it, but apparently someone approached the chinese woman who teaches the other section of Tourism English students. She told her class one day that she might be taking over my class. A few of my more motivated students were observing her class at the time. Crystal, my best student in both Oral English and Tourism, texted me "I heard you're abandoning us??" She had me meet her to talk about it. She was pretty upset, but I explained my schedule and that I just don't think I can keep it up for another semester.
That conversation with her had an effect on me. My mind was set on dropping the class, but the students apparently like me a lot, even though I can't get them engaged like i can with the Oral English students. They stare at me with glazed eyes. I know that if I drop the class, the 25 students in Ms. Leeta's class will become 50, and those students won't have much chance to speak out. On the other hand, I think they'll learn more. Leeta knows their English levels and she knows tourism. She'll be able to teach them vocabulary they can use... I mostly just treat the class as an oral English class. In the end, I will drop it if they let me. I feel a little bad about it, but I don't think it's worth being stressed out at the end of my week and missing out on things I've been wanting to get involved in here.
There are two other Americans who teach here besides my sitemate and me. They are both pretty strange. Honestly, i try to stay away from them. I want to spend more time with Chinese people. I hardly speak much Chinese as it is: everyone here knows enough English that they would rather talk with me in English than listen to me fumble around trying to get my ideas across in their language.
I had hoped that i would be better with my Chinese than I am by now.
I started taking intermediate Chinese classes with the international students who are Chinese majors (they're all from Kazakhstan), but I can't keep up with the class. I don't have time to do the homework, the class meets 4 days a week for 2 hours and i have to miss one of them to go to the new campus to teach, the textbook recently switched to being exclusively in hanzi. It takes some time for me to translate it. Next semester, I will probably join the second semester of the beginners.
I still haven't found a kung fu school. No one seems to be able to help me. Whenever I ask someone, they laugh. When they realize I'm being serious, they say "oh, there has to be a lot of schools around here." And when I ask where specifically, no one knows and no one finds out. The internet isn't any help on the issue either.
On the other hand, I did find a Taekwondo school (it seems to be far more popular in China than kung fu now ironically). I want to learn a Chinese martial art, and I'm already a black belt in TKD. But if this is all there is, I'll do it. I might start that next semester.
I've been going to this gym across the street for students. It's pretty dingy and unremarkable, but the most important things are there: some adjustable free weights, barbells, and benches. A couple students in my Oral English class found out I go there and they meet me there twice a week. Some of the other guys like to practice their English with me when I'm there. Someone always puts on Michael Jackson, Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, and Lady Gaga on the speakers. I find it hilarious.
I've been eating a lot more lately since i started going to the gym. I think I'm gaining wait. I feel fatter. It's probably because of all the noodles and oil. I usually eat at the cafeteria because it's super cheap, but the hours are all weird. When it's closed, I go across the street to the Xinjiang restaurants. They're little holes in the wall run by Uyghurs. I really love Xinjiang food. I have to go there one of these days. The food is much less oily than the local food. It's very simple: noodles/rice, sauce, meat, vegetables, spices. Potatoes, mutton, beef, bell peppers, onions, carrots. All the noodles are made by hand right there in front of you before they're put in your dish. The best part is, they have picture menues because the fare is so different from local food that the locals aren't sure what the dishes are called.
EDIT: I was wrong. They're actually Lanzhou restaurants, not Xinjiang. Lanzhou is the capital of Gansu province, which shares a border with Xinjiang and also contains a large Muslim population.
Not that I don't love the local food. I love wai po cai (pickled chopped vegetables), hot pot, xiao bai (super tender slices of fatty pork belly over a bed of wai po cai), the noodles (xiao mian, za jiang mian), jiaozi, chao shou (wanton), anything with pumpkin, anything with sweet potatoes... The only problem is that a lot of these foods have so much oil that they wreak havoc on my intestines... I have to plan accordingly if I'm going to eat hot pot and make sure I can get to a toilet within a few hours after eating it. In Chongqing and Sichuan, "la duzi" (loose bowels, just short of diarrhea), isn't a term that people find inappropriate or embarrassing. It's a fairly regular affliction like catching a cold. "where's so and so?" "oh, he has la duzi" "oh yeah, i had that yesterday." "me too, i get it all the time." and i'm like "then why does everyone use so much damn oil??"
I finally got an iPod touch. It revolutionized everything. I can go down the street, go to the supermarket, go to the bus station and actually understand what's written using Pleco. I'm learning a lot of new characters every day. It's still not as good at translating phrases and sentences as Google translate, but if I can get wifi, i can use Google as well.
Every weekend or so I meet with Brianne and/or Imogen, the British girl who also teaches at Brianne's school. I feel very fortunate that those two are closest to me. They're great peoples.
I had hoped that I would do more with my weekends. I thought I would travel and see more things. I'm not sure why I don't. I'm terrible at making plans. Part of it is that I'm lazy and/or I'm just ready to sit and vege out after my week. It's not that I don't do stuff. I always end up doing something with people, but I just don't feel like I'm experiencing as much as I can.
Hopefully next semester will be better. Without tourism english, I've gained a good full day or two of free time in my week. In fact, without tourism, I'll only have to prepare one lesson per week (and then teach it 6 times). That's a good deal.
Monday, October 31, 2011
"Joys and Challenges"
For an essay I had to write for my Program Manager who is coming to visit my site. I edited this down a lot before I sent it, but I figured I'd keep the original for this blog.
Joys and Challenges
I have been very happy to be working in China. For many years I’ve been wanting to come here and I’m glad that Peace Corps has given me the opportunity. It has been exciting learning about Chinese culture and learning about the daily lives and conditions of regular people in Chongqing. Many preconceptions I had have been shattered and some confirmed. The students I have met have impressed me with their enthusiasm and determination to learn and succeed in their studies and careers. With China developing at such an incredible pace, I have gotten the feeling that all the students that I meet everyday will have great futures. Jiaotong University specializes in engineering and urban development, and I feel that most of these students will go on to join as well as create their own companies that will build bridges, roads, buildings, ships, and trains, transforming the landscape of China. In America, I’m afraid I can’t say the same for recent graduates because of the economic recession. For the last few years, I’ve watched so many friends, as well as myself, struggle to find employment after graduating, so these students give me a lot of hope.
The challenges I’ve faced in Chongqing have been mostly occupational. Having never taught before, it has been difficult getting the hang of teaching. It’s a constant process of trial and error. The students are very good, and I feel bad that I haven’t been able to do more for them yet. My lesson plans aren’t as good as they could be. The school has given me a difficult schedule. I was able to handle it pretty well before the freshmen started. Once I started commuting to the new campus to teach freshmen, I had much less time to prepare lessons. I had planned to begin taking Chinese classes and martial arts classes by now, but I’ve been stressed out. Hopefully next semester I will have a more manageable schedule.
The commute sometimes takes an hour and a half. Almost 6 hours of my week go to commuting at inconvenient times on top of teaching 16 hours and lesson planning. The bus schedule to the new campus is a little weird. When I get to campus, I have to wait for an hour and a half before class starts, and after class I have to wait for the bus to leave. Meanwhile the students are in class, so I can’t meet with them.
There have been problems on the new campus. The keys to the classrooms are kept at a desk in a building that is a 10 minute walk from the building I teach in. There is only a 10 minute break between classes. I start some classes 20-30 minutes late because I have to shut down the computers and the power and close up the computer cabinets and doors, then walk to the other building to return the key, fill out a form, and sign for keys for my next class, then walk back to the same building to a classroom just down the hall from my previous class. I’m not allowed to have more than one key at a time because other teachers teach in those classrooms. This has especially angered me because it is not fair to the students that a large part of class time is wasted.
I have been trying to build a better relationship with the dean of the English department. I feel that he has been reluctant to address my concerns. I often feel that I am associated with every other foreign teacher. I have tried to convey the idea that I am not like every other paid teacher. My position goes beyond just teaching, and I want to connect with the community and help with other projects. I have asked the dean to lessen my course load for next semester, but he says I can’t drop any classes on the new campus. They don’t have enough English teachers and he isn’t in charge of hiring more.
I’ve tried talking to other English teachers at the school, but they don’t seem to ever be available. On one occasion I talked to one teacher who told me how difficult her course load is. All the teachers are overloaded. They say their lesson plans have suffered because they are just too busy. One of the teachers I talked to said she wouldn’t have worked here if she knew it would be like this, but she has a contract that she has to fulfill. All of these teachers are commuting to the new campus. They get paid extra to commute, but I do not. I have felt a little frustrated because I feel like they are taking advantage of this fact.
Another minor difficulty I’ve had since getting here is that hardly anyone speaks Putonghua unless I ask them to. I can’t understand Chongqinghua and even the Chongqing accent in Mandarin is hard to understand. People can understand when I speak Putonghua, but I can’t understand them. Though I haven’t started with my Chinese learning, I’ve resolved to focus more on reading and writing. I’m still excited to learn more Chinese.
Besides this, I have no complaints. My living conditions are great, and I enjoy a lot of conveniences I wasn’t expecting. I’m slowly working through the difficulties with the school and I think next semester will be better.
Coworkers
I haven’t had much interaction with my coworkers. As I said before, they are overloaded with classes. The dean also teaches, and he says that he feels sorry for his students because he spends so much time on departmental management that his lesson planning suffers. I’ve asked him about how the other teachers are doing, and he said they are all tired from their workloads. All the teachers I have talked to have expressed frustration with the new campus situation. No one seems happy about it. I heard that the government has required that many universities expand by building new campuses, so the decision is not entirely the school’s to make. I have passed by a few English classes, and I see that teachers often spend the whole class sitting at the desk in front of class lecturing through a headset while reading off of their notes or the screen. In some classrooms, all the students have headsets and monitors at their desks, and they sit and listen in silence. Some teachers are more engaging and have some speaking activities for their students, but the classes are almost entirely in Chinese. The English department dean mentioned that he wished to hire more teachers, but it wasn’t up to him. The school decides how many teachers to hire. I went to a meeting once where they showed videos from different companies competing to build the community for teachers at the new campus. The teachers voted on which company they wanted to build the project. I suppose this is an indication of the decision making process, but I assume the administration has the final say.
Joys and Challenges
I have been very happy to be working in China. For many years I’ve been wanting to come here and I’m glad that Peace Corps has given me the opportunity. It has been exciting learning about Chinese culture and learning about the daily lives and conditions of regular people in Chongqing. Many preconceptions I had have been shattered and some confirmed. The students I have met have impressed me with their enthusiasm and determination to learn and succeed in their studies and careers. With China developing at such an incredible pace, I have gotten the feeling that all the students that I meet everyday will have great futures. Jiaotong University specializes in engineering and urban development, and I feel that most of these students will go on to join as well as create their own companies that will build bridges, roads, buildings, ships, and trains, transforming the landscape of China. In America, I’m afraid I can’t say the same for recent graduates because of the economic recession. For the last few years, I’ve watched so many friends, as well as myself, struggle to find employment after graduating, so these students give me a lot of hope.
The challenges I’ve faced in Chongqing have been mostly occupational. Having never taught before, it has been difficult getting the hang of teaching. It’s a constant process of trial and error. The students are very good, and I feel bad that I haven’t been able to do more for them yet. My lesson plans aren’t as good as they could be. The school has given me a difficult schedule. I was able to handle it pretty well before the freshmen started. Once I started commuting to the new campus to teach freshmen, I had much less time to prepare lessons. I had planned to begin taking Chinese classes and martial arts classes by now, but I’ve been stressed out. Hopefully next semester I will have a more manageable schedule.
The commute sometimes takes an hour and a half. Almost 6 hours of my week go to commuting at inconvenient times on top of teaching 16 hours and lesson planning. The bus schedule to the new campus is a little weird. When I get to campus, I have to wait for an hour and a half before class starts, and after class I have to wait for the bus to leave. Meanwhile the students are in class, so I can’t meet with them.
There have been problems on the new campus. The keys to the classrooms are kept at a desk in a building that is a 10 minute walk from the building I teach in. There is only a 10 minute break between classes. I start some classes 20-30 minutes late because I have to shut down the computers and the power and close up the computer cabinets and doors, then walk to the other building to return the key, fill out a form, and sign for keys for my next class, then walk back to the same building to a classroom just down the hall from my previous class. I’m not allowed to have more than one key at a time because other teachers teach in those classrooms. This has especially angered me because it is not fair to the students that a large part of class time is wasted.
I have been trying to build a better relationship with the dean of the English department. I feel that he has been reluctant to address my concerns. I often feel that I am associated with every other foreign teacher. I have tried to convey the idea that I am not like every other paid teacher. My position goes beyond just teaching, and I want to connect with the community and help with other projects. I have asked the dean to lessen my course load for next semester, but he says I can’t drop any classes on the new campus. They don’t have enough English teachers and he isn’t in charge of hiring more.
I’ve tried talking to other English teachers at the school, but they don’t seem to ever be available. On one occasion I talked to one teacher who told me how difficult her course load is. All the teachers are overloaded. They say their lesson plans have suffered because they are just too busy. One of the teachers I talked to said she wouldn’t have worked here if she knew it would be like this, but she has a contract that she has to fulfill. All of these teachers are commuting to the new campus. They get paid extra to commute, but I do not. I have felt a little frustrated because I feel like they are taking advantage of this fact.
Another minor difficulty I’ve had since getting here is that hardly anyone speaks Putonghua unless I ask them to. I can’t understand Chongqinghua and even the Chongqing accent in Mandarin is hard to understand. People can understand when I speak Putonghua, but I can’t understand them. Though I haven’t started with my Chinese learning, I’ve resolved to focus more on reading and writing. I’m still excited to learn more Chinese.
Besides this, I have no complaints. My living conditions are great, and I enjoy a lot of conveniences I wasn’t expecting. I’m slowly working through the difficulties with the school and I think next semester will be better.
Coworkers
I haven’t had much interaction with my coworkers. As I said before, they are overloaded with classes. The dean also teaches, and he says that he feels sorry for his students because he spends so much time on departmental management that his lesson planning suffers. I’ve asked him about how the other teachers are doing, and he said they are all tired from their workloads. All the teachers I have talked to have expressed frustration with the new campus situation. No one seems happy about it. I heard that the government has required that many universities expand by building new campuses, so the decision is not entirely the school’s to make. I have passed by a few English classes, and I see that teachers often spend the whole class sitting at the desk in front of class lecturing through a headset while reading off of their notes or the screen. In some classrooms, all the students have headsets and monitors at their desks, and they sit and listen in silence. Some teachers are more engaging and have some speaking activities for their students, but the classes are almost entirely in Chinese. The English department dean mentioned that he wished to hire more teachers, but it wasn’t up to him. The school decides how many teachers to hire. I went to a meeting once where they showed videos from different companies competing to build the community for teachers at the new campus. The teachers voted on which company they wanted to build the project. I suppose this is an indication of the decision making process, but I assume the administration has the final say.
Friday, September 23, 2011
End of Training, Seeing Biden, Swearing In with Ambassador Locke, Moving to Chongqing
Good lord. I haven't updated this in a month and there's way too much that has happened to try to write about here. I'll give some highlights
The last few weeks of pre service training were super busy.
We went to Sichuan University to see Vice President Biden give a speech. He shook hands with a few volunteers.
The next day we were sworn in by Ambassador Gary Locke. I got to shake his hand. We got group pictures, he gave a speech, and he talked to the press.
Later we were all on national TV. I saw myself on TV, which was pretty cool.
We all moved out of our host family houses and went to an extremely nice hotel for a few days before leaving for our permanent sites. It was nice to have everyone together one last time. We had some final training sessions. Usually this is when volunteers have their swearing in ceremony, but we had ours early. Because of Biden's visit and coordinating with the Ambassador, the schedule got shifted around. It worked out well to have it it like that. It seemed like it would have been more stressful if we had swearing in at the hotel.
Then we all went off to our sites. I was lucky, a guy from my Wai Ban office at Jiaotong University came to pick me up with a driver. Having to take the train would not have been fun. Peace Corps gave me a water distiller and an air purifier in these huge boxes. Combined with my other luggage, it would have been impossible to carry around myself.
I arrived in Chongqing at my apartment after a 4 hour car ride. I met my site mate, who was really helpful.
I had a good week before my classes started. It was nice of them not to make me teach as soon as I got there. I spent the time setting up my apartment, meeting people, hanging out with some volunteers in Chongqing, exploring a bit.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Site Visit - Thursday, Friday, Saturday
On Thursday, my counterpart/boss? took me downtown and showed me around. I had met "Eric" Chen the day before briefly when Jason had me come back to campus to show me my teaching schedule. The power went out and he wasn't able to.
Mr. Chen is a small, skinny guy who looks kind of young, so I thought he was just my counterpart. But he told me he was in charge of the English department or something. I asked if he was my boss and he said "maybe." He was just appointed to this position a month ago.
He took me to the warf on the very tip of the peninsula where the two rivers meet. That was pretty cool. It would be a pretty sweet hang out spot. Then he took me to Jeifangbei, the heart of the city on the peninsula. Then to the Great Hall and the 3 Gorges Dam Museum.
He took me home and took a nap. Then he met me close to my host family's house to give me my class schedule and text books. I was very happy to receive those. I was starting to think that I wouldn't get them.
I'm teaching Oral English, Tourism English, and a class on American and British News Articles. To my dismay, most of my classes are Oral English that meet on the new campus, and on Thursdays I have to get to that campus at 8am. I asked Mr. Chen if he could change it so I wouldn't have to spend the night on the other campus. I also asked to remove the Articles class because there are 63 students in that class I feel like it might be a bit too much for me to handle in addition to teaching Oral and Tourism. He said he would try.
After looking more closely at the schedule, I found that I unfortunately have an 8am class on the new campus and then a 7pm class on the new campus with a 7 hour break in between. With nothing much to do on the new campus, I'm not sure what to do with myself except go back to main campus, then commute back at night, then once class is over, commute back to main campus... I may not get home until 10 or 11 at night.
That night, Mr. Mao wanted to have dinner with me and my host family at a very nice restaurant. It must have been expensive.
Jason informed me that my host family was going on vacation Friday and I wouldn't be able to stay with them Friday night, so he was going to let me into my apartment on campus and let me spend the night there.
I thought it was weird that my host family didn't tell me about leaving earlier for vacation, but i didn't mind because I'd get to see my apartment and have a night to myself finally.
Around 1pm on Friday I said goodbye to my host family. Foy wanted me to give her some of my photography so i left her a USB drive that I loaded up with my stuff. I gave her my email in case she ever needed help with English homework or whatever else.
Jason let me into my apartment and I was very happy with it. It hadn't been cleaned out, which was good and bad. I didn't mind much because it meant I could keep all of my predecessor's furniture and things. On the other hand, there was a lot of trash and cleaning to do. Jason tried to help me get online, but my macbook wouldn't connect. That concerned me, but I heard that lots of volunteers have had macs and had trouble connecting but were able to one way or another.
Jason left me and said he pick me up the next day to take me to the train station.
I immediately got to work cleaning and fixing. I went to the supermarket and bought 200 kuai worth of stuff. There was only one working lightbulb in each of the chandeliers in the living room and bedroom. I got the impression my predecessor was just too lazy to replace them as they went out. I bought 11 lightbulbs, a mop, a broom, clothes hangers, instant coffee, a cup, and some other thing.
I spent the rest of the day sweeping, mopping, replacing lights, wiping things down, throwing away junk.
He left me a lot of books that didn't didn't interest me, some music that was actually pretty good taste, a stack of papers, a lot of maps that were taped to the wall, a paper cup with filthy brown water where he put out his cigarettes, etc.
But the most interesting relic was a love letter written by another volunteer to him. This girl had left China before him and sent this letter to tell him how she had felt about him. Apparently he had been dating another girl and she was jealous.
I'm very pleased with my apartment. It has an airconditioned bedroom and living room, a small kitchen and bathroom with a western toilet (so crucial). My predecessor left me an HD TV (pretty sweet). I have a desk, fridge, couch, coffee table, dining table with chairs, bigger-than-twin size bed, microwave, stove device, a shower with very decent pressure. The living room is a little dark because there's only one window that looks into the kitchen, which has plenty of windows, but I'm not complaining.
I'm sure some other volunteers have nicer setups, but for Peace Corps standards, this is incredible.
I slept in my own bed. In the morning, I left my big suitcase, and Jason picked me up and took me to the train station.
I worked on my Semester Plans for my Oral and Tourism English classes during the 2 hour train ride.
Mr. Chen is a small, skinny guy who looks kind of young, so I thought he was just my counterpart. But he told me he was in charge of the English department or something. I asked if he was my boss and he said "maybe." He was just appointed to this position a month ago.
He took me to the warf on the very tip of the peninsula where the two rivers meet. That was pretty cool. It would be a pretty sweet hang out spot. Then he took me to Jeifangbei, the heart of the city on the peninsula. Then to the Great Hall and the 3 Gorges Dam Museum.
He took me home and took a nap. Then he met me close to my host family's house to give me my class schedule and text books. I was very happy to receive those. I was starting to think that I wouldn't get them.
I'm teaching Oral English, Tourism English, and a class on American and British News Articles. To my dismay, most of my classes are Oral English that meet on the new campus, and on Thursdays I have to get to that campus at 8am. I asked Mr. Chen if he could change it so I wouldn't have to spend the night on the other campus. I also asked to remove the Articles class because there are 63 students in that class I feel like it might be a bit too much for me to handle in addition to teaching Oral and Tourism. He said he would try.
After looking more closely at the schedule, I found that I unfortunately have an 8am class on the new campus and then a 7pm class on the new campus with a 7 hour break in between. With nothing much to do on the new campus, I'm not sure what to do with myself except go back to main campus, then commute back at night, then once class is over, commute back to main campus... I may not get home until 10 or 11 at night.
That night, Mr. Mao wanted to have dinner with me and my host family at a very nice restaurant. It must have been expensive.
Jason informed me that my host family was going on vacation Friday and I wouldn't be able to stay with them Friday night, so he was going to let me into my apartment on campus and let me spend the night there.
I thought it was weird that my host family didn't tell me about leaving earlier for vacation, but i didn't mind because I'd get to see my apartment and have a night to myself finally.
Around 1pm on Friday I said goodbye to my host family. Foy wanted me to give her some of my photography so i left her a USB drive that I loaded up with my stuff. I gave her my email in case she ever needed help with English homework or whatever else.
Jason let me into my apartment and I was very happy with it. It hadn't been cleaned out, which was good and bad. I didn't mind much because it meant I could keep all of my predecessor's furniture and things. On the other hand, there was a lot of trash and cleaning to do. Jason tried to help me get online, but my macbook wouldn't connect. That concerned me, but I heard that lots of volunteers have had macs and had trouble connecting but were able to one way or another.
Jason left me and said he pick me up the next day to take me to the train station.
I immediately got to work cleaning and fixing. I went to the supermarket and bought 200 kuai worth of stuff. There was only one working lightbulb in each of the chandeliers in the living room and bedroom. I got the impression my predecessor was just too lazy to replace them as they went out. I bought 11 lightbulbs, a mop, a broom, clothes hangers, instant coffee, a cup, and some other thing.
I spent the rest of the day sweeping, mopping, replacing lights, wiping things down, throwing away junk.
He left me a lot of books that didn't didn't interest me, some music that was actually pretty good taste, a stack of papers, a lot of maps that were taped to the wall, a paper cup with filthy brown water where he put out his cigarettes, etc.
But the most interesting relic was a love letter written by another volunteer to him. This girl had left China before him and sent this letter to tell him how she had felt about him. Apparently he had been dating another girl and she was jealous.
I'm very pleased with my apartment. It has an airconditioned bedroom and living room, a small kitchen and bathroom with a western toilet (so crucial). My predecessor left me an HD TV (pretty sweet). I have a desk, fridge, couch, coffee table, dining table with chairs, bigger-than-twin size bed, microwave, stove device, a shower with very decent pressure. The living room is a little dark because there's only one window that looks into the kitchen, which has plenty of windows, but I'm not complaining.
I'm sure some other volunteers have nicer setups, but for Peace Corps standards, this is incredible.
I slept in my own bed. In the morning, I left my big suitcase, and Jason picked me up and took me to the train station.
I worked on my Semester Plans for my Oral and Tourism English classes during the 2 hour train ride.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Site Visit - Wednesday
Today Jason took me to see the new campus. We picked up a girl who works for the school. I don't know who she was. Without any coffee, I was a limp noodle sloshing about in the car. I fell asleep and bobbled about like a buffoon. It took an hour to get there.
When we reached the campus, we drove through all this construction.
"All of this is the campus." The girl said. "In 22 days, this will all be complete and the students will start school."
I really couldn't believe that, honestly. The campus was huge and the construction on it was far from finished. Nothing looked closed to completion.
We went to look at a student dormitory and the girl talked to this lady there for a long time in Chinese, while i sat and did nothing. Finally, she said "So if you have class here in the morning, you are expected to stay here the night before because traffic may be bad in the morning and you won't get to class on time. The school provides a hotel for the teachers to stay in."
Then I started to get kind of angry. I've been super flexible about everything up to this point, but this just seemed ridiculous.
"This just seems really impractical. Is there any way for me to avoid that? If i have classes here 2-3 times a week, that means I have to spend 2-3 nights here? All of my stuff will be on the main campus. It will be difficult for me to do lesson plans. And I will have projects to do on the main campus that will be difficult for me to organize if I have to come over here every other night."
"This is only if you have class in the morning. We'll have to see your schedule." This frustrated me even more because I have been asking about this schedule for several days. It supposedly exists and is ready for me, but everyone keeps forgetting to show it to me.
"But still. The commute is long enough as it is. I really don't want to have to do this if I can avoid it. I really need to see that class schedule. When do classes start?"
"End of August. I think we also have some books for you."
"I don't get here until the first of September. I have to start immediately when I get here? I need to get those textbooks as soon as possible. I need to start preparing for these classes."
This is the first time I've gotten remotely upset or frustrated at anything since coming to China. From what I saw today, I felt like nothing was well organized or thought through concerning my position at this school on the part of the school. I feel like I was just haphazardly thrown into the class schedule and shifted around to wherever there was any space. In order to get what I need I'm going to have to push people to get it, which I'm well aware is not the cultural norm in China. I have avoided that kind of attitude because it's not well received here and doesn't leave a good impression on my colleagues. But I felt slightly taken advantage of. Those feelings grew when I finally did get to see my schedule and saw that most of my classes were on the new campus, an hour away, at very inconvenient times. I'll get into the schedule later.
Jason, that girl, and the driver took me home. I didn't have much to do, so I took a walk by myself. I went to the grocery store in front of the school and looked around to see what they have. I bought some instant coffee.
After dinner, my host parents invited me to san bu (take a walk) again. It was hot, so i wore shorts and a t-shirt. I had no idea we were going to meet up with the Executive Director of the new campus, Mr. Mao. I had briefly run into him earlier that day at the new campus, but only said hi. That evening we spent an hour walking through this community. His English is really good, and he constantly reminded me that we were going to be "close friends" over the next two years. He did all of the talking, so it wasn't that awkward. I felt underdressed though and I was soaked with sweat. But, like all Chinese men do here, he kept his shirt lifted up above his chest to keep his belly cool. It's kind of an awkward sight to most of us I think, but it's normal here and I'm getting used to it.
What was awkward though was how intimate he wanted to get with me right off the bat. He wanted to be best friends with me, talk to me every day so he could practice his English, invited me to come to his office anytime and expected me to drop in whenever I'm on the new campus. He loved the fact that I studied philosophy, and he wanted me to teach him about philosophy whenever I can. He said he would set me up with a Chinese girl. I said "whoa whoa, no. Don't do that." "I insist. We are close friends. It's what we do for each other. What kind of girl do you like? I will find one for you." He also asked questions about my religion, which caught me off guard. I told him I'm not religious and he seemed to like that answer. But I felt like I was in dangerous territory.
It's nice that I can consult Mr. Mao when I need help and the fact that someone with his influence in the school has taken a particular liking to me.
The problem with this kind of relationship, which is common in Chinese culture, is the concept of guanxi. The more someone does for you, the more it's kind of expected that you reciprocate those favors, even though that expectation will never be expressed. This is why I've always been uncomfortable with people doing things for me. I don't know what or how much they expect me to reciprocate. (I feel as though I'm intimately and inherently familiar with this and other Chinese cultural norms, but I'm not entirely sure where I got them from... More on this later). You can make it work for you, but I'm not yet bold enough. The Chinese do expect you to exchange guanxi with them. When they do things for you, they expect you to do things for them and then feel comfortable asking for favors. But asking for favors has never come naturally to me.
When we reached the campus, we drove through all this construction.
"All of this is the campus." The girl said. "In 22 days, this will all be complete and the students will start school."
I really couldn't believe that, honestly. The campus was huge and the construction on it was far from finished. Nothing looked closed to completion.
We went to look at a student dormitory and the girl talked to this lady there for a long time in Chinese, while i sat and did nothing. Finally, she said "So if you have class here in the morning, you are expected to stay here the night before because traffic may be bad in the morning and you won't get to class on time. The school provides a hotel for the teachers to stay in."
Then I started to get kind of angry. I've been super flexible about everything up to this point, but this just seemed ridiculous.
"This just seems really impractical. Is there any way for me to avoid that? If i have classes here 2-3 times a week, that means I have to spend 2-3 nights here? All of my stuff will be on the main campus. It will be difficult for me to do lesson plans. And I will have projects to do on the main campus that will be difficult for me to organize if I have to come over here every other night."
"This is only if you have class in the morning. We'll have to see your schedule." This frustrated me even more because I have been asking about this schedule for several days. It supposedly exists and is ready for me, but everyone keeps forgetting to show it to me.
"But still. The commute is long enough as it is. I really don't want to have to do this if I can avoid it. I really need to see that class schedule. When do classes start?"
"End of August. I think we also have some books for you."
"I don't get here until the first of September. I have to start immediately when I get here? I need to get those textbooks as soon as possible. I need to start preparing for these classes."
This is the first time I've gotten remotely upset or frustrated at anything since coming to China. From what I saw today, I felt like nothing was well organized or thought through concerning my position at this school on the part of the school. I feel like I was just haphazardly thrown into the class schedule and shifted around to wherever there was any space. In order to get what I need I'm going to have to push people to get it, which I'm well aware is not the cultural norm in China. I have avoided that kind of attitude because it's not well received here and doesn't leave a good impression on my colleagues. But I felt slightly taken advantage of. Those feelings grew when I finally did get to see my schedule and saw that most of my classes were on the new campus, an hour away, at very inconvenient times. I'll get into the schedule later.
Jason, that girl, and the driver took me home. I didn't have much to do, so I took a walk by myself. I went to the grocery store in front of the school and looked around to see what they have. I bought some instant coffee.
After dinner, my host parents invited me to san bu (take a walk) again. It was hot, so i wore shorts and a t-shirt. I had no idea we were going to meet up with the Executive Director of the new campus, Mr. Mao. I had briefly run into him earlier that day at the new campus, but only said hi. That evening we spent an hour walking through this community. His English is really good, and he constantly reminded me that we were going to be "close friends" over the next two years. He did all of the talking, so it wasn't that awkward. I felt underdressed though and I was soaked with sweat. But, like all Chinese men do here, he kept his shirt lifted up above his chest to keep his belly cool. It's kind of an awkward sight to most of us I think, but it's normal here and I'm getting used to it.
What was awkward though was how intimate he wanted to get with me right off the bat. He wanted to be best friends with me, talk to me every day so he could practice his English, invited me to come to his office anytime and expected me to drop in whenever I'm on the new campus. He loved the fact that I studied philosophy, and he wanted me to teach him about philosophy whenever I can. He said he would set me up with a Chinese girl. I said "whoa whoa, no. Don't do that." "I insist. We are close friends. It's what we do for each other. What kind of girl do you like? I will find one for you." He also asked questions about my religion, which caught me off guard. I told him I'm not religious and he seemed to like that answer. But I felt like I was in dangerous territory.
It's nice that I can consult Mr. Mao when I need help and the fact that someone with his influence in the school has taken a particular liking to me.
The problem with this kind of relationship, which is common in Chinese culture, is the concept of guanxi. The more someone does for you, the more it's kind of expected that you reciprocate those favors, even though that expectation will never be expressed. This is why I've always been uncomfortable with people doing things for me. I don't know what or how much they expect me to reciprocate. (I feel as though I'm intimately and inherently familiar with this and other Chinese cultural norms, but I'm not entirely sure where I got them from... More on this later). You can make it work for you, but I'm not yet bold enough. The Chinese do expect you to exchange guanxi with them. When they do things for you, they expect you to do things for them and then feel comfortable asking for favors. But asking for favors has never come naturally to me.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Site Visit - Tuesday
The next day I got up early and it hit me like a ton of bricks that I forgot about coffee. I should have bought some instant or something. I staggered around my host family's house looking for something caffeinated. I failed.
After breakfast, my host father drove me down hill to meet Jason. Jason showed me around campus, took me to open a bank account, bought a train ticket for Saturday to go back to Chengdu, registered me at the local police station, and showed me how to use the buses.
He showed me where my apartment is. It's right on campus. We couldn't go in because the guy who has the key is on vacation until Thursday. He showed me where the "shuttle" is to go the new campus where I will have some classes. I asked him where the damn campus is on a map and he laughed. It's been kind of frustrating that every time I ask anybody about how far away this new campus is and where it is, all I get is a laugh and no information. I bought a map of Chongqing and I asked him again "where is it?"
"it's on this side, but it's off the map." On the map, my campus is on the east side of the city, on the far right side of the map. What he pointed to was the far left side of the map.
"So, I have to commute across the entire city of Chongqing to get to work?"
"Yes. It will take an hour. Probably more because of traffic"
Great.
He walked me around to all these places and then back to my host family's house, which was pretty arduous. Chongqing is extremely hilly and walking around is not easy. I probably wouldn't have minded much if I was walking on my own, but following this guy around and not knowing where, how far, or how long we were walking was extremely tiring.
At home I sat and did nothing for several hours.
Then my host father knocked on the door and spoke in Chongqing dialect, gesturing that we were leaving now. "oh, okay."
We drove through the city, and I looked out the window the whole time saying "jesus… holy shit… god…" looking at all the buildings.
We met up with the rest of the family and ate hot pot… Then we went to see Harry Potter! In 3D IMAX!
The cost was 100 freaking kuai… which just seemed insanely expensive to me. In China especially, that's a LOT of money. My host father paid for it and I felt uncomfortable about it. But… IT WAS THE LAST HARRY FUCKIN POTTER IN 3D IMAX… So i wasn't complaining.
And it was awesome. Everything was just spectacular. Then at that moment when Harry and Voldemort were dueling at Hogwarts and Voldemort's Avada Kedavra just rebounded and was about to kill him… The screen went black and the lights came on like the movie was over. I was so angry. So so angry. Everybody was yelling and standing up and stomping about. Somebody came in and started saying something in Chinese. Finally, Foy translated for me and said the power just went out in this district.
After 10 or 15 minutes, the power came back on and the screen came on again. Then everyone shouted until they rewound to the part that was interrupted… Then Voldemort died… but the moment was lost. I will never regain that moment when I got to see the end of Voldemort for the first time on screen. I'll watch this movie again, but it won't be the same.
After the movie, my host father returned all our 3D glasses and he got a bunch of money back, so I'm assuming he got refunded for the tickets. I'm happy for that at least.
After breakfast, my host father drove me down hill to meet Jason. Jason showed me around campus, took me to open a bank account, bought a train ticket for Saturday to go back to Chengdu, registered me at the local police station, and showed me how to use the buses.
He showed me where my apartment is. It's right on campus. We couldn't go in because the guy who has the key is on vacation until Thursday. He showed me where the "shuttle" is to go the new campus where I will have some classes. I asked him where the damn campus is on a map and he laughed. It's been kind of frustrating that every time I ask anybody about how far away this new campus is and where it is, all I get is a laugh and no information. I bought a map of Chongqing and I asked him again "where is it?"
"it's on this side, but it's off the map." On the map, my campus is on the east side of the city, on the far right side of the map. What he pointed to was the far left side of the map.
"So, I have to commute across the entire city of Chongqing to get to work?"
"Yes. It will take an hour. Probably more because of traffic"
Great.
He walked me around to all these places and then back to my host family's house, which was pretty arduous. Chongqing is extremely hilly and walking around is not easy. I probably wouldn't have minded much if I was walking on my own, but following this guy around and not knowing where, how far, or how long we were walking was extremely tiring.
At home I sat and did nothing for several hours.
Then my host father knocked on the door and spoke in Chongqing dialect, gesturing that we were leaving now. "oh, okay."
We drove through the city, and I looked out the window the whole time saying "jesus… holy shit… god…" looking at all the buildings.
We met up with the rest of the family and ate hot pot… Then we went to see Harry Potter! In 3D IMAX!
The cost was 100 freaking kuai… which just seemed insanely expensive to me. In China especially, that's a LOT of money. My host father paid for it and I felt uncomfortable about it. But… IT WAS THE LAST HARRY FUCKIN POTTER IN 3D IMAX… So i wasn't complaining.
And it was awesome. Everything was just spectacular. Then at that moment when Harry and Voldemort were dueling at Hogwarts and Voldemort's Avada Kedavra just rebounded and was about to kill him… The screen went black and the lights came on like the movie was over. I was so angry. So so angry. Everybody was yelling and standing up and stomping about. Somebody came in and started saying something in Chinese. Finally, Foy translated for me and said the power just went out in this district.
After 10 or 15 minutes, the power came back on and the screen came on again. Then everyone shouted until they rewound to the part that was interrupted… Then Voldemort died… but the moment was lost. I will never regain that moment when I got to see the end of Voldemort for the first time on screen. I'll watch this movie again, but it won't be the same.
After the movie, my host father returned all our 3D glasses and he got a bunch of money back, so I'm assuming he got refunded for the tickets. I'm happy for that at least.
Site Visit - Monday
On Monday everyone going to Sichuan and Chongqing met at the East train station. It was only a two hour ride to Chongqing. I did my best to stay away from some people, but we were assigned to seats close to each other. Sure enough, there were confrontations.
When we entered Chongqing, I was immediately struck by the contrast in landscape. There were mountains and hills everywhere. After passing through some mountains, we emerged into Chongqing city. It was incredible. It's just hills, mountains, and rivers, all of which were completely populated with skyscrapers, houses, and bridges. What struck me the most was that the whole area is just filled with skyscrapers. All of them are apartments.
I found out that Chongqing city lies in a bowl surrounded by mountains. Two rivers cut through it and where they meet forms a mountain on a peninsula where the heart of the city is. It's one of the hottest cities in China because the air doesn't circulate well. The mountains prevent the hot air from escaping.
I met Jason, my Wai Ban liaison. He's 27 and dresses like I do. He's pretty cool. He took me out for lunch and then took me to my host family. Their daughter is 16 and speaks pretty good English. They showed me around the house, which is a pretty amazing house. Their community was built into the hillside that leads up to the mountains. From this house, you can look out and theoretically see the entire city… but it's never clear enough. The house has 4 stories, but it's a very thin house. At the top there is a small garden with fish and turtles. That was my favorite part. They use 3G internet instead of having a modem, which caused problems for me because their USB 3G receiver wouldn't work on my macbook. I couldn't figure out how to install it on my Parallels Windows XP because it's all in Chinese.
After they showed me around the house, I didn't have anything to do for the rest of the day. My host mom could tell I was bored, so she gave me her laptop to use to get on the internet and then gave me her Ipad to play games on… So Posh Corps.
During dinner, I told my host sister that I like photography. She said she did too and she wanted to see my photos. So we sat on the couch and I showed her my photos. She was enthralled by them. For each photo I showed she would gasp and go "OH WOOOOW" and grab the monitor to get a better look. She showed me her photography too, which was actually pretty good.
It made me think more and more about this photography club I'm thinking about organizing at the school for the kids. The area seems affluent enough that the kids would be able to afford cameras and would be interested.
Afterward, my host parents took me out for a walk. My Wai Ban lives right next door and they are friends. So that was convenient. The Wai Ban joined us and we walked down the enormous hill, through the community, and across the street to Jiaotong University.
This neighborhood is really amazing. there are bridges where you wouldn't think bridges would go connecting hill to hill, serving as a walk way between rows of houses and apartments. The winding road allows cars to get to and from their houses. If you look out in any direction, you can't see the ground. Just tons of apartments.
We walked around the school. There's a big soccer field and a track around it. There are two swimming pools, basketball courts, and little shops. There are lots of trees everywhere. It's a nice campus, though undoubtedly a little old.
When we got home, I went to bed on a hard bamboo mat.
When we entered Chongqing, I was immediately struck by the contrast in landscape. There were mountains and hills everywhere. After passing through some mountains, we emerged into Chongqing city. It was incredible. It's just hills, mountains, and rivers, all of which were completely populated with skyscrapers, houses, and bridges. What struck me the most was that the whole area is just filled with skyscrapers. All of them are apartments.
I found out that Chongqing city lies in a bowl surrounded by mountains. Two rivers cut through it and where they meet forms a mountain on a peninsula where the heart of the city is. It's one of the hottest cities in China because the air doesn't circulate well. The mountains prevent the hot air from escaping.
I met Jason, my Wai Ban liaison. He's 27 and dresses like I do. He's pretty cool. He took me out for lunch and then took me to my host family. Their daughter is 16 and speaks pretty good English. They showed me around the house, which is a pretty amazing house. Their community was built into the hillside that leads up to the mountains. From this house, you can look out and theoretically see the entire city… but it's never clear enough. The house has 4 stories, but it's a very thin house. At the top there is a small garden with fish and turtles. That was my favorite part. They use 3G internet instead of having a modem, which caused problems for me because their USB 3G receiver wouldn't work on my macbook. I couldn't figure out how to install it on my Parallels Windows XP because it's all in Chinese.
After they showed me around the house, I didn't have anything to do for the rest of the day. My host mom could tell I was bored, so she gave me her laptop to use to get on the internet and then gave me her Ipad to play games on… So Posh Corps.
During dinner, I told my host sister that I like photography. She said she did too and she wanted to see my photos. So we sat on the couch and I showed her my photos. She was enthralled by them. For each photo I showed she would gasp and go "OH WOOOOW" and grab the monitor to get a better look. She showed me her photography too, which was actually pretty good.
It made me think more and more about this photography club I'm thinking about organizing at the school for the kids. The area seems affluent enough that the kids would be able to afford cameras and would be interested.
Afterward, my host parents took me out for a walk. My Wai Ban lives right next door and they are friends. So that was convenient. The Wai Ban joined us and we walked down the enormous hill, through the community, and across the street to Jiaotong University.
This neighborhood is really amazing. there are bridges where you wouldn't think bridges would go connecting hill to hill, serving as a walk way between rows of houses and apartments. The winding road allows cars to get to and from their houses. If you look out in any direction, you can't see the ground. Just tons of apartments.
We walked around the school. There's a big soccer field and a track around it. There are two swimming pools, basketball courts, and little shops. There are lots of trees everywhere. It's a nice campus, though undoubtedly a little old.
When we got home, I went to bed on a hard bamboo mat.
Weekend after Site Announcement
On Friday we had a somewhat frustrating language simulation. The Chinese teachers gave us situations and role played and we had to respond to them correctly to pass. These included being robbed with a knife, telling a taxi where to go, being approached on a train by a stranger who may have wanted to sleep with you and/or steal your train ticket.
On Saturday our Chinese teachers and Site Manager took us out to a banquet, which included a simulation where the teachers pretended they were our bosses and we had to act appropriately. Afterward, we found an automatic Mahjong table in the same room, much to my delight. When you turn it on, it mixes up the tiles inside where you can't see and organizes them into neat rows. then it raises them up to the playing table and you can start playing. In the middle are a pair of dice in a glass container. When you push a button, some air or something blows them around and they roll. When you're done, you push some buttons and the middle opens up. You push all the tiles in there and it falls inside where they get mixed up again… I really need one of these.
Later, some of us went downtown to the really affluent part of Chengdu where there are huge shopping malls with extremely expensive brand name stores. The clothes and stuff at these stores are way more expensive than in the US. We sat by the huge Mao statue in the center of Chengdu city. There's a museum of Technology and Science behind him. We walked around and it took forever to find something affordable to eat.
Then we went to club called Jellyfish where the drinks were way too expensive. We bought baijiu and beer at a WoWo next door and drank before going in. I drank too much and danced… Later that night there was an awkward episode involving me hugging the western style toilet upstairs and my host family being worried about me.
Sunday my host mom/sister took me to Jinsha, which was really interesting. It's an archeological site where they found tons of artifacts from before the Shang Dynasty. We got an English tour guide to help me out. This was the first time since getting to China that I really learned something about Chinese history. I really need to do more research.
There was a strange "4D" movie in a little theater there. It was all computer animated and you had to wear 3D glasses. It was one of those theaters that blow air and water at you, shake you, and poke at you. It was all completely superfluous to the documentary, which was about the Shang Dynasty told in an epic story form. When someone shot somebody with an arrow, a peg in the chair would shoot into your back. For some reason they had to show snakes running around during a flood, and in the seat something moved across your butt. Then you were flying with a bird and air was blown at your face. When the emperor handed down his crown to his son, he ascended into the sky and turned into a bird, which flew around for a bit and pooped in your face for some reason. Water droplets fell from the ceiling simulating being pooped on.
I went home and packed for site visit.
On Saturday our Chinese teachers and Site Manager took us out to a banquet, which included a simulation where the teachers pretended they were our bosses and we had to act appropriately. Afterward, we found an automatic Mahjong table in the same room, much to my delight. When you turn it on, it mixes up the tiles inside where you can't see and organizes them into neat rows. then it raises them up to the playing table and you can start playing. In the middle are a pair of dice in a glass container. When you push a button, some air or something blows them around and they roll. When you're done, you push some buttons and the middle opens up. You push all the tiles in there and it falls inside where they get mixed up again… I really need one of these.
Later, some of us went downtown to the really affluent part of Chengdu where there are huge shopping malls with extremely expensive brand name stores. The clothes and stuff at these stores are way more expensive than in the US. We sat by the huge Mao statue in the center of Chengdu city. There's a museum of Technology and Science behind him. We walked around and it took forever to find something affordable to eat.
Then we went to club called Jellyfish where the drinks were way too expensive. We bought baijiu and beer at a WoWo next door and drank before going in. I drank too much and danced… Later that night there was an awkward episode involving me hugging the western style toilet upstairs and my host family being worried about me.
Sunday my host mom/sister took me to Jinsha, which was really interesting. It's an archeological site where they found tons of artifacts from before the Shang Dynasty. We got an English tour guide to help me out. This was the first time since getting to China that I really learned something about Chinese history. I really need to do more research.
There was a strange "4D" movie in a little theater there. It was all computer animated and you had to wear 3D glasses. It was one of those theaters that blow air and water at you, shake you, and poke at you. It was all completely superfluous to the documentary, which was about the Shang Dynasty told in an epic story form. When someone shot somebody with an arrow, a peg in the chair would shoot into your back. For some reason they had to show snakes running around during a flood, and in the seat something moved across your butt. Then you were flying with a bird and air was blown at your face. When the emperor handed down his crown to his son, he ascended into the sky and turned into a bird, which flew around for a bit and pooped in your face for some reason. Water droplets fell from the ceiling simulating being pooped on.
I went home and packed for site visit.
Site announcements
Been really busy since model school ended. I was finally able to catch up on updates while on site visit. I couldn't get good internet access at my Chongqing host family's house and there wasn't a whole lot to do, so I had some time to write. So here are a bunch of posts...
On wednesday (August 3rd, 2 weeks ago), I felt abnormally tired. My muscles hurt and I could barely walk or get up stairs. I skipped out on the ultimate frisbee and played a little ping pong. I went to bed really early and I was fine the next day.
I think I had been pushing myself too hard. We've been playing ping pong and ultimate frisbee every day during lunch and after school. It wouldn't normally be a big deal, but considering I've spent the last 2 years or so being pretty sedentary, i suppose it was kind of a shock to my body.
Thursday was site placement. We went to the hotel in Chengdu where we stayed when we first got to China. In the conference room, everybody sat with their training sites. Then the Site Managers handed out the envelopes. Pink for Chongqing, Yellow for Sichuan, Green for Gansu, Blue for Guizhou (i think. I might have gotten the green and blue mixed up).
i got a pink envelope. I'm going to Chongqing Jiaotong University. I got up and looked around for other Chongqing people. It's interesting to see who went where. Most of my friends and cool people are going to Sichuan. There are people in Chongqing I know I'm going to want to stay away from. But I have some good friends going there too at least.
Max and Antonia are at the same school in a more remote area of Sichuan. Both of them are good friends of mine. I plan to visit them when I can.
When i got my assignment, I really didn't know what to think. I had never been to Chongqing. All i knew about it was that it was a big city. I found my university on the map. It looked like it was out of the city.
In my site placement packet it said i was going to live on the main campus and commute to the new campus… an hour away. This is the only thing that really bugged me about my placement. Everything else sounded great. I get my own apartment with a bed, couch, air conditioning, kitchen, etc. My predecessor left me some helpful comments.
It also said I would be teaching Oral English and Tourism English… whatever that means.
We were given a to-do list for our site visit the next week, which included opening a bank account. We were given vitamins and calcium pills.
Peace Corps gives each volunteer a ton of stuff to take with them to site after swearing in, so most of us were anxious to find a way to avoid hauling ridiculous amounts of stuff to our site. We were told that we couldn't bring stuff to leave at our apartments when we visit our sites. But unofficially everyone said it probably wouldn't be a problem to ask your host family if you can leave it with them or even in your apartment. The problem is that sometimes the school will clean out the apartments and indiscriminately throw things out.
I called my Wai Ban who told me it wouldn't be a problem. They already cleaned out my apartment, so they won't do it again.
I overpacked my big suitcase full of stuff i knew I wouldn't need for the last 3 weeks of training.
On wednesday (August 3rd, 2 weeks ago), I felt abnormally tired. My muscles hurt and I could barely walk or get up stairs. I skipped out on the ultimate frisbee and played a little ping pong. I went to bed really early and I was fine the next day.
I think I had been pushing myself too hard. We've been playing ping pong and ultimate frisbee every day during lunch and after school. It wouldn't normally be a big deal, but considering I've spent the last 2 years or so being pretty sedentary, i suppose it was kind of a shock to my body.
Thursday was site placement. We went to the hotel in Chengdu where we stayed when we first got to China. In the conference room, everybody sat with their training sites. Then the Site Managers handed out the envelopes. Pink for Chongqing, Yellow for Sichuan, Green for Gansu, Blue for Guizhou (i think. I might have gotten the green and blue mixed up).
i got a pink envelope. I'm going to Chongqing Jiaotong University. I got up and looked around for other Chongqing people. It's interesting to see who went where. Most of my friends and cool people are going to Sichuan. There are people in Chongqing I know I'm going to want to stay away from. But I have some good friends going there too at least.
Max and Antonia are at the same school in a more remote area of Sichuan. Both of them are good friends of mine. I plan to visit them when I can.
When i got my assignment, I really didn't know what to think. I had never been to Chongqing. All i knew about it was that it was a big city. I found my university on the map. It looked like it was out of the city.
In my site placement packet it said i was going to live on the main campus and commute to the new campus… an hour away. This is the only thing that really bugged me about my placement. Everything else sounded great. I get my own apartment with a bed, couch, air conditioning, kitchen, etc. My predecessor left me some helpful comments.
It also said I would be teaching Oral English and Tourism English… whatever that means.
We were given a to-do list for our site visit the next week, which included opening a bank account. We were given vitamins and calcium pills.
Peace Corps gives each volunteer a ton of stuff to take with them to site after swearing in, so most of us were anxious to find a way to avoid hauling ridiculous amounts of stuff to our site. We were told that we couldn't bring stuff to leave at our apartments when we visit our sites. But unofficially everyone said it probably wouldn't be a problem to ask your host family if you can leave it with them or even in your apartment. The problem is that sometimes the school will clean out the apartments and indiscriminately throw things out.
I called my Wai Ban who told me it wouldn't be a problem. They already cleaned out my apartment, so they won't do it again.
I overpacked my big suitcase full of stuff i knew I wouldn't need for the last 3 weeks of training.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Site Interview, last day of Model School
Same day:
We had site placement interviews and it was the last day for Model School, which meant we were testing our students on what we taught.
I wore my Crocs around until it was time for my interview. I put on my socks and dress shoes, tucked in my shirt, and I was ready to go.
Alissa and several Site Managers were there to interview everyone. Gansu, Sichuan, and Guizhou were there. They asked these questions:
What is your greatest strength in teaching?
What did you enjoy most about model school?
What was the most challenging aspect of model school?
What expectations do you have about teaching in China?
Besides teaching, what other activities do you think you might like to implement?
What are 2 ways in which you hope to characterize your Peace Corps experience?
Anything else you want us to know?
I knew that the answers to these questions would determine, in a large part, where I would be placed for the next two years, thought it wasn't transparent. I had a good idea of what I could say to steer me toward one area or another. I could have really influenced them to put me at an urban site (which was my preference), but I decided not to. I was honest with my answers and left them open. I told them I was flexible.
When it comes down to it, I could do either rural or urban. I would adapt to either environment and there are pros and cons to both. Every area is different. I would rather be in a bigger city, but I know i would be giving up a more intimate community.
Nick and I collaborated again for the final day of Model School. Our class gave two group presentations. Dave watched and advised us that we should have had a rubric and written down our assessments while watching the groups present.
To be honest, I had kind of given up on that with this class. Throughout the two weeks, the students came and went as they felt like it. We had to constantly reshuffle the groups, the syllabus, and the lesson plans every day. We didn't know what to expect that last day. We seriously thought no one would show up at all. 5 students came, out of the 14 we started with.
At the very least, they presented with an introduction, body, and conclusion, like i taught them, and they split up the speaking parts fairly evenly. I suppose that's all I could ask for.
We handed out certificates of completion to the students, had some snacks and drinks, and we played hang man. Our site manager came in to watch and she even joined in on the hang man. All the students had to get pictures of us and tried to get us to go out with them to see pandas. We respectfully declined. And that was that.
It was Antoinette's birthday, so Sandor (her model school partner) bought her a little cake. She had had a rough week teaching for the first time. The candle was a complicated contraption in the shape of a lotus that spewed fire viciously at your face when you lit it. Then it played Happy Birthday apologetically and indefinitely until you smashed it to pieces to get it to shut up. Max had gotten Claire the same thing the week before for her birthday. a big group of us went to get drinks down the street to celebrate the end of Model School and Antoinette's birthday.
The rain continued to pour and the streets became rivers. It rained the entire day.
We had site placement interviews and it was the last day for Model School, which meant we were testing our students on what we taught.
I wore my Crocs around until it was time for my interview. I put on my socks and dress shoes, tucked in my shirt, and I was ready to go.
Alissa and several Site Managers were there to interview everyone. Gansu, Sichuan, and Guizhou were there. They asked these questions:
What is your greatest strength in teaching?
What did you enjoy most about model school?
What was the most challenging aspect of model school?
What expectations do you have about teaching in China?
Besides teaching, what other activities do you think you might like to implement?
What are 2 ways in which you hope to characterize your Peace Corps experience?
Anything else you want us to know?
I knew that the answers to these questions would determine, in a large part, where I would be placed for the next two years, thought it wasn't transparent. I had a good idea of what I could say to steer me toward one area or another. I could have really influenced them to put me at an urban site (which was my preference), but I decided not to. I was honest with my answers and left them open. I told them I was flexible.
When it comes down to it, I could do either rural or urban. I would adapt to either environment and there are pros and cons to both. Every area is different. I would rather be in a bigger city, but I know i would be giving up a more intimate community.
Nick and I collaborated again for the final day of Model School. Our class gave two group presentations. Dave watched and advised us that we should have had a rubric and written down our assessments while watching the groups present.
To be honest, I had kind of given up on that with this class. Throughout the two weeks, the students came and went as they felt like it. We had to constantly reshuffle the groups, the syllabus, and the lesson plans every day. We didn't know what to expect that last day. We seriously thought no one would show up at all. 5 students came, out of the 14 we started with.
At the very least, they presented with an introduction, body, and conclusion, like i taught them, and they split up the speaking parts fairly evenly. I suppose that's all I could ask for.
We handed out certificates of completion to the students, had some snacks and drinks, and we played hang man. Our site manager came in to watch and she even joined in on the hang man. All the students had to get pictures of us and tried to get us to go out with them to see pandas. We respectfully declined. And that was that.
It was Antoinette's birthday, so Sandor (her model school partner) bought her a little cake. She had had a rough week teaching for the first time. The candle was a complicated contraption in the shape of a lotus that spewed fire viciously at your face when you lit it. Then it played Happy Birthday apologetically and indefinitely until you smashed it to pieces to get it to shut up. Max had gotten Claire the same thing the week before for her birthday. a big group of us went to get drinks down the street to celebrate the end of Model School and Antoinette's birthday.
The rain continued to pour and the streets became rivers. It rained the entire day.
Flood
This week has been unbearably "menre" (hot-humid). Temps in the 90s and humidity you can choke on. Finally, it started to rain. then it rained more and more. It started to flood thursday and we had to take off our shoes and socks to get to and from class. The sewers overflowed and gushed up, pushing up the concrete and metal manhole covers.
yesterday was a big day, so I wore my nicer khakis and a dress shirt. I decided to roll up my khakis and wear the crocs my host father got me (beyond nice of him). It turned out to be an excellent decision.
I got on the bus and the bus driver was saying something. I just thought he was cursing the rain. A minute or so later, there was yelling on the bus and some people demanded to get off. Then I noticed we had passed the place the bus was supposed to turn at. The bus just kept going. I wanted to ask what was going on but knew I wouldn't be able to understand the driver's answer. I figured I'd ride it out. I thought maybe he was going to take a detour because of the rain and we'd go to the other side of campus. But the bus just kept going. It didn't make a stop until it got downtown and I knew I was screwed. I got my phone out to call Max to tell Luo Xin (our Chinese teacher) what the deal was, but my phone said "Invalid SIM." I couldn't make any calls or texts. I freaked a little then because I realized I couldn't call anyone to help me. I was lost. I couldn't read enough Chinese or speak enough.
I didn't want to take my chances getting off the bus without a decent plan, and I didn't want to get off somewhere and find a bus station that didn't have the 336 going back the where I came. I could get off and ask to borrow someone's phone and just look in my contacts on my phone. I could call Max and have Luo Xin tell me where to go... But I really didn't know where I was, so that would be hard to explain. For a minute I thought the bus was going to take me all the way to Sichuan University. I could just go to the Peace Corps office and ask for some help. Then I realized the bus was going in the opposite direction... so I just kept riding. I thought maybe I'd just ride the bus until it turned around and went the other way. After a while, I realized that would take all day, and today was too important to spend on a bus. Finally I decided I'd just get off at a station where I could physically see the other station on the other side of the road, so I knew where it was and I knew the 336 was going in the opposite direction.
I got off at a station downtown about half an hour away. I read the bus routes, but none of it made any sense to me. BUT I remembered that the station where my host family is at is Shang Dong. I know the character for Shang, and it just so happened it's the only station on the 336 route that has Shang in its name. So i went to the other side, found Shang, and took the 336 back in the opposite direction.
I finally got to school an hour late.
During class, it rained even harder and the streets flooded completely. We waded through shit and dirt and rotten vegetables. Later I found out someone somewhere in Sichuan died from this flood.
yesterday was a big day, so I wore my nicer khakis and a dress shirt. I decided to roll up my khakis and wear the crocs my host father got me (beyond nice of him). It turned out to be an excellent decision.
I got on the bus and the bus driver was saying something. I just thought he was cursing the rain. A minute or so later, there was yelling on the bus and some people demanded to get off. Then I noticed we had passed the place the bus was supposed to turn at. The bus just kept going. I wanted to ask what was going on but knew I wouldn't be able to understand the driver's answer. I figured I'd ride it out. I thought maybe he was going to take a detour because of the rain and we'd go to the other side of campus. But the bus just kept going. It didn't make a stop until it got downtown and I knew I was screwed. I got my phone out to call Max to tell Luo Xin (our Chinese teacher) what the deal was, but my phone said "Invalid SIM." I couldn't make any calls or texts. I freaked a little then because I realized I couldn't call anyone to help me. I was lost. I couldn't read enough Chinese or speak enough.
I didn't want to take my chances getting off the bus without a decent plan, and I didn't want to get off somewhere and find a bus station that didn't have the 336 going back the where I came. I could get off and ask to borrow someone's phone and just look in my contacts on my phone. I could call Max and have Luo Xin tell me where to go... But I really didn't know where I was, so that would be hard to explain. For a minute I thought the bus was going to take me all the way to Sichuan University. I could just go to the Peace Corps office and ask for some help. Then I realized the bus was going in the opposite direction... so I just kept riding. I thought maybe I'd just ride the bus until it turned around and went the other way. After a while, I realized that would take all day, and today was too important to spend on a bus. Finally I decided I'd just get off at a station where I could physically see the other station on the other side of the road, so I knew where it was and I knew the 336 was going in the opposite direction.
I got off at a station downtown about half an hour away. I read the bus routes, but none of it made any sense to me. BUT I remembered that the station where my host family is at is Shang Dong. I know the character for Shang, and it just so happened it's the only station on the 336 route that has Shang in its name. So i went to the other side, found Shang, and took the 336 back in the opposite direction.
I finally got to school an hour late.
During class, it rained even harder and the streets flooded completely. We waded through shit and dirt and rotten vegetables. Later I found out someone somewhere in Sichuan died from this flood.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
On friday, I will be interviewed about site placement. They will ask me questions about my skills and abilities and will decide where to put me by the end of next week. Rural and urban sites have their pros and cons, and ultimately I wouldn't mind either, but I have a preference for being in a bigger city.
It is very hot and humid in Chengdu. I'm convinced it never gets this bad in Bangkok. Chengdu lies in a basin where the pollution can't escape because the cooler air sinks into the basin and warmer air stays on top. The pollution clouds the air and makes it much more humid. Fortunately, Chengdu does have seasons, so it cools down in fall and winter, but pollution gets worse in the winter because more people are burning fuel for heat. We've been advised not to do much strenuous activity outside in the middle of the day. Exercise in the morning instead because the pollution has settled a bit over night.
It is very hot and humid in Chengdu. I'm convinced it never gets this bad in Bangkok. Chengdu lies in a basin where the pollution can't escape because the cooler air sinks into the basin and warmer air stays on top. The pollution clouds the air and makes it much more humid. Fortunately, Chengdu does have seasons, so it cools down in fall and winter, but pollution gets worse in the winter because more people are burning fuel for heat. We've been advised not to do much strenuous activity outside in the middle of the day. Exercise in the morning instead because the pollution has settled a bit over night.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
End of Model School
My teaching days for Model School are over. It was a stressful week and i got less sleep because of lesson planning. I still need to work with my partner to help him with his teaching for the last half of model school. And we need to collaborate on the final exam.
I have a lot of work to do on my teaching abilities. I really have to work on everything.
Many of us went out to celebrate the end of the week. I drank and danced.
I'm really looking forward to this week and next. I have a lot of reading i want to do, and sports I want to play.
We started playing ultimate frisbee after school. Probably the most exercise i've gotten in months. It would be great to play some soccer and ping pong. I've never been big on basketball, but the Chinese love it so much, I may have to learn to like it.
I have a lot of work to do on my teaching abilities. I really have to work on everything.
Many of us went out to celebrate the end of the week. I drank and danced.
I'm really looking forward to this week and next. I have a lot of reading i want to do, and sports I want to play.
We started playing ultimate frisbee after school. Probably the most exercise i've gotten in months. It would be great to play some soccer and ping pong. I've never been big on basketball, but the Chinese love it so much, I may have to learn to like it.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Model School
Things have just gotten busier and busier. I've hardly caught a break since arriving in China. I thought it would calm down once we got to our host families, but it just got more intense. TEFL training became overwhelming as they tried to prepare us for Model School. There's just so much more information being thrown at us than we can possibly absorb right now, and we're supposed to use it within a few days to create a syllabus, write lesson plans, make homework assignments, a rubric, and a final assessment for a 2 week long course that we're supposed to just pull out of nowhere. Real students sign up for these and we get evaluated by several people while we teach. How we perform partially determines where we will get placed for our entire 2 years of service so... no pressure.
I've gotten pretty stressed out about it, even though the general message from our TEFL trainer is "don't stress out about it. just do your best. we know you're not going to know exactly what you're doing." The hard part is finding time to work on lesson plans and stuff. We are at the school from 8:30 (sometimes earlier) until 5:30 (sometimes later). If I go home, I'm bombarded with host family attention, which is really difficult to tear away from. By 10:00 I'm usually too tired to function anymore and I just go to sleep. I feel constantly behind in TEFL. It's kind of nice that Chinese isn't a challenge right now because it has completely taken a backseat to TEFL... as has everything else.
We partnered up to create the course and teach it. The first lesson, the two of us collaborate. Then the next 4 days one of us teaches. The next 4 days, the other teaches, and we collaborate again for the final. I opted to teach first so I could get all my stressing out of the way early.
After Model School, things will finally start to ease up. I'll actually have time to enjoy being here.
I've gotten pretty stressed out about it, even though the general message from our TEFL trainer is "don't stress out about it. just do your best. we know you're not going to know exactly what you're doing." The hard part is finding time to work on lesson plans and stuff. We are at the school from 8:30 (sometimes earlier) until 5:30 (sometimes later). If I go home, I'm bombarded with host family attention, which is really difficult to tear away from. By 10:00 I'm usually too tired to function anymore and I just go to sleep. I feel constantly behind in TEFL. It's kind of nice that Chinese isn't a challenge right now because it has completely taken a backseat to TEFL... as has everything else.
We partnered up to create the course and teach it. The first lesson, the two of us collaborate. Then the next 4 days one of us teaches. The next 4 days, the other teaches, and we collaborate again for the final. I opted to teach first so I could get all my stressing out of the way early.
After Model School, things will finally start to ease up. I'll actually have time to enjoy being here.
Friday, July 8, 2011
First Week in Chengdu
Things have been very busy. Between Chicago on June 29th and when I
moved to my host family's house, I've been dragging all my luggage
everywhere around hotels and airports. When we got to Chengdu there
were training events every day and we started language training. We'd
have to get up at 7 and finish everything by 4pm. I caught a pretty
bad cold on the second day I was at the hotel after getting several
vaccination shots, so I wasn't as alert and focused as I wanted to be.
And I didn't get to go out and explore Chengdu much. I'm just about
over my cold now, but I got another round of vaccinations yesterday,
so i'm afraid I might get sick again.
The whole group split up in to 4 groups and went to 4 different
universities in the area for training. I'm now at Sichuan Normal
University East, which is a bit further away from the center of
Chengdu where the hotel was. Moved in with my host family on Tuesday.
They're a nice young couple with a very nice apartment. I have air
conditioning in my room and wifi. The school is about a 15 minute
walk. I have to get there early to do language training and TEFL
English teacher training. I'm there from 8:00 to 6:00 and I've been
falling asleep around 10 because of the jet lag and just sheer
exhaustion. When I get back to my host family's apartment, they are
constantly talking to me. The woman speaks a little english but her
husband doesn't speak any. He has a very heavy Sichuan accent when he
speaks Mandarin, so I can't really understand him even when he's using
words I understand. We have been relying on Google Translate, which is
remarkably accurate. The woman speaks much clearer Mandarin, but
usually they just speak in the Sichuanese dialect, which I can't
understand at all.
Today is the first day off I've gotten from training. I think I'm
going somewhere later with my hosts. Not sure where.
The climate here is extremely humid. It's usually around 80 degrees,
but the humidity is almost unbearable when you're wearing dress
clothes. It feels about as bad as Bangkok, if not worse. The skies are
constantly cloudy from pollution, but we saw the sun yesterday for the
first time.
So far the language training has been easy. I haven't learned anything
new yet, but the training focuses on actively using the language
rather than studying it. And being forced to speaking Chinese at home,
wherever I go, and learning with the group has helped a lot.
I have a very good group. They are very interesting people. Most of
them are around my age. Many have the same ambitions as me and I feel like we can work together to prepare ourselves for what we're doing after Peace Corps.
Some are having more difficulty than others. Two people have already
decided to go home. Now there are 81 of us.
moved to my host family's house, I've been dragging all my luggage
everywhere around hotels and airports. When we got to Chengdu there
were training events every day and we started language training. We'd
have to get up at 7 and finish everything by 4pm. I caught a pretty
bad cold on the second day I was at the hotel after getting several
vaccination shots, so I wasn't as alert and focused as I wanted to be.
And I didn't get to go out and explore Chengdu much. I'm just about
over my cold now, but I got another round of vaccinations yesterday,
so i'm afraid I might get sick again.
The whole group split up in to 4 groups and went to 4 different
universities in the area for training. I'm now at Sichuan Normal
University East, which is a bit further away from the center of
Chengdu where the hotel was. Moved in with my host family on Tuesday.
They're a nice young couple with a very nice apartment. I have air
conditioning in my room and wifi. The school is about a 15 minute
walk. I have to get there early to do language training and TEFL
English teacher training. I'm there from 8:00 to 6:00 and I've been
falling asleep around 10 because of the jet lag and just sheer
exhaustion. When I get back to my host family's apartment, they are
constantly talking to me. The woman speaks a little english but her
husband doesn't speak any. He has a very heavy Sichuan accent when he
speaks Mandarin, so I can't really understand him even when he's using
words I understand. We have been relying on Google Translate, which is
remarkably accurate. The woman speaks much clearer Mandarin, but
usually they just speak in the Sichuanese dialect, which I can't
understand at all.
Today is the first day off I've gotten from training. I think I'm
going somewhere later with my hosts. Not sure where.
The climate here is extremely humid. It's usually around 80 degrees,
but the humidity is almost unbearable when you're wearing dress
clothes. It feels about as bad as Bangkok, if not worse. The skies are
constantly cloudy from pollution, but we saw the sun yesterday for the
first time.
So far the language training has been easy. I haven't learned anything
new yet, but the training focuses on actively using the language
rather than studying it. And being forced to speaking Chinese at home,
wherever I go, and learning with the group has helped a lot.
I have a very good group. They are very interesting people. Most of
them are around my age. Many have the same ambitions as me and I feel like we can work together to prepare ourselves for what we're doing after Peace Corps.
Some are having more difficulty than others. Two people have already
decided to go home. Now there are 81 of us.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
intense training
between the training, language learning, limited internet access, entertaining host family, jet lag, sickness, and sleeping, I haven't had time to make a serious update on here. Sooner or later things will calm down a bit and i'll have time to reflect and write, but right now i'm struggling just to get enough sleep, get up in time, make it to my next meeting/training session/language class.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Antsy
Getting antsy. I think I've almost finished everything i really need to get done for China, but I'm used to procrastinating and getting everything done last minute, so having all this time to think excessively is unnerving.
Every summer when I went to Thailand, it was always at the end of the academic year right after finals, so I never had time to think about it. I just threw everything in my suitcases, settled some things and left. No anticipation involved.
There's just too much waiting this time around. I feel like I'm forgetting something constantly.
I downloaded Henry Kissinger's new book, On China. That's bound to be a good read. I also have on my Kindle:
- A Game of Thrones
- The Hunger Games trilogy
- Oxford History of the US: From Colony to Superpower - US Foreign Relations since 1776.
- Princeton Review's Cracking the New GRE 2012
Some DS games I might want for the plane ride:
- Pokemon Black/White
- Animal Crossing
- Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Every summer when I went to Thailand, it was always at the end of the academic year right after finals, so I never had time to think about it. I just threw everything in my suitcases, settled some things and left. No anticipation involved.
There's just too much waiting this time around. I feel like I'm forgetting something constantly.
I downloaded Henry Kissinger's new book, On China. That's bound to be a good read. I also have on my Kindle:
- A Game of Thrones
- The Hunger Games trilogy
- Oxford History of the US: From Colony to Superpower - US Foreign Relations since 1776.
- Princeton Review's Cracking the New GRE 2012
Some DS games I might want for the plane ride:
- Pokemon Black/White
- Animal Crossing
- Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Preparations
I've been gradually gathering all the stuff i need. I've simplified my wardrobe by buying stuff that will go with most things and donating things that will only go with one outfit or whatever (i'm so stylish). Like i had million pairs of jeans that all fit differently because I bought some cheap while i was in thailand. I went out and bought a dark pair and lighter pair of bootcut Lee's, which is all i need. I bought one pair of kahkis and one pair of black dress pants. That's all i need. I have a lot of good plaid shirts and a handful of dress shirts. 2 pairs of shorts. A handful of tee shirts. I'm packing my suit. I've got running shoes, dress shoes, sandals, and sneakers. I'm packing one good jacket, but I'm just going to buy the warm clothes i need there because they're just going to be too heavy and take up too much room in my luggage right now.
I bought new luggage because I had been toting around this huge hard case suitcase for years. I got it when you were allowed like 70 lbs, but like a year later they changed it to 50 and it weighed 15 lbs on its own. I wasn't able to fill it up anymore and it was a pain to drag around.
I got a kindle, which will be an awesome space saver for books. My DSLR and lens and the bag i have for them is going to take up a lot of space, but I think it's worth it. I'm bringing my laptop and DS Lite. I also got a voice recorder. I thought it might come in handy for language learning and keeping a kind of journal.
I opened a USAA checking account and transferred my M&T funds into it. USAA apparently only charges 1% for ATM withdrawals overseas. M&T charges 3%. It was best to transfer out of a regional bank and into a national one.
I changed my USAA car insurance to a storage-only policy. I was paying almost $400/6 mos with my car insurance. In storage, I only pay $70. It was going to be $100, but if you increase your deductible, you can save an extra $30 per 6 months.
I called Verizon to cancel my cell phone service, but they offered me a "military suspension." I can suspend my account for 24 months and when I get back, I call them and they reactivate it. So I get to keep my phone number and all my contacts. Problem is that 24 months is the max. Peace Corps service is 27 months, so I've authorized my dad to call them and extend the suspension before the 24 months is up.
Filled out a stack of forms for staging which included trainee/volunteer registration form, eligibility verification form, pay method selection (check or direct deposit for my readjustment allowance after service), privacy act waiver (so my dad can see my financial information if i need help), and life insurance. I'm still not sure if I want to do the personal property insurance yet.
I made copies of a lot of important paperwork that i might need. Like my diploma, immunizations record, glasses prescription.
I was going to get new glasses before I left, but my eyes are really bad and getting high index lenses is super expensive. I need them if I don't want my glasses to weigh a pound and look like i'm wearing bulletproof glass. I don't need them that badly and I'm thinking it might be cheaper to get in China anyway.
The facebook group has been really helpful as China 16s, the Peace Corps China group that is in China now, are members and they post on the wall giving us advice. There were a lot of things they mentioned that I hadn't thought of. I was also convinced to pack much lighter than I intended to and buy most of what I need for the 2 years there in China.
Only 8 more days to go.
I bought new luggage because I had been toting around this huge hard case suitcase for years. I got it when you were allowed like 70 lbs, but like a year later they changed it to 50 and it weighed 15 lbs on its own. I wasn't able to fill it up anymore and it was a pain to drag around.
I got a kindle, which will be an awesome space saver for books. My DSLR and lens and the bag i have for them is going to take up a lot of space, but I think it's worth it. I'm bringing my laptop and DS Lite. I also got a voice recorder. I thought it might come in handy for language learning and keeping a kind of journal.
I opened a USAA checking account and transferred my M&T funds into it. USAA apparently only charges 1% for ATM withdrawals overseas. M&T charges 3%. It was best to transfer out of a regional bank and into a national one.
I changed my USAA car insurance to a storage-only policy. I was paying almost $400/6 mos with my car insurance. In storage, I only pay $70. It was going to be $100, but if you increase your deductible, you can save an extra $30 per 6 months.
I called Verizon to cancel my cell phone service, but they offered me a "military suspension." I can suspend my account for 24 months and when I get back, I call them and they reactivate it. So I get to keep my phone number and all my contacts. Problem is that 24 months is the max. Peace Corps service is 27 months, so I've authorized my dad to call them and extend the suspension before the 24 months is up.
Filled out a stack of forms for staging which included trainee/volunteer registration form, eligibility verification form, pay method selection (check or direct deposit for my readjustment allowance after service), privacy act waiver (so my dad can see my financial information if i need help), and life insurance. I'm still not sure if I want to do the personal property insurance yet.
I made copies of a lot of important paperwork that i might need. Like my diploma, immunizations record, glasses prescription.
I was going to get new glasses before I left, but my eyes are really bad and getting high index lenses is super expensive. I need them if I don't want my glasses to weigh a pound and look like i'm wearing bulletproof glass. I don't need them that badly and I'm thinking it might be cheaper to get in China anyway.
The facebook group has been really helpful as China 16s, the Peace Corps China group that is in China now, are members and they post on the wall giving us advice. There were a lot of things they mentioned that I hadn't thought of. I was also convinced to pack much lighter than I intended to and buy most of what I need for the 2 years there in China.
Only 8 more days to go.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
I had a pretty sweet Birthday/Farewell party on my birthday. A few days later I drove to Alabama to see my grandmother and then Florida to my parents'. I'm kind of amazed that everything that I care about keeping fit in my Honda Civic. My life fits in a car.
Mostly been bored down here. I'm helping my parents with their new house on the water.
Today, my dad had a property manager come look at the house they're moving out of. Turns out she went to Peace Corps in Africa in the 90s.
Mostly been bored down here. I'm helping my parents with their new house on the water.
Today, my dad had a property manager come look at the house they're moving out of. Turns out she went to Peace Corps in Africa in the 90s.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
and more waiting...
I'm supposed to be waiting for an email that will give me details for Staging. Until then I can't really do much. I've been canceling and transferring my accounts to my roommate, tying up loose ends in many ways, hanging out with people i may not see before I leave. I started putting stuff in boxes.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Getting stuff done
I went to Howard General to see about getting these tests done. I really didn't know what to do. A receptionist looked in a directory and directed me across the street to the medical pavilion. I went there and the receptionist there gave me some numbers and addresses of physicians. One was next door to my apartment, so I went there. I explained everything I needed and filled out some paperwork and wrote a check.
The physician was a sarcastic old Indian woman who had a lot to say about China and how the Chinese were dangerous and taking over the world. I took my shirt off to do the EKG and lay down on the bed and she commented on my lack of chest hair while sticking the EKG tabs on me. "Makes my job easier... You know my husband? He's like a BEAR. We went on a cruise and there was a hairy chest contest... first place!" It was an interesting conversation to have while laying topless in a stranger's office while being poked all over. The device she hooked up to me was like some alien parasite and I half expected to feel electric shocks pulsing through my body. Then she ripped the tabs off of me "Imagine what that's like with chest har!" I didn't want to.
She referred me out to a radiologist and a blood lab. I read about good parenting habits in the waiting room for the x-ray. I got a CD... I was considering getting both the CD and the film, but the CD is just so much more portable. I got blood drawn at another office 10 minutes away. I've never had any issue with seeing blood, but for some reason I'm surprised every time to watch the blood squirt so forcefully up the tube. "Jesus..." I said as I watched. It's kind of impressive.
Today I looked at glasses... There are just too many frames to choose from. Feeling overwhelmed, I gave up to try again another day.
I created an event on Facebook for my Birthday/Farewell party. I'm considering sushi.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Hunxue
I went looking for a term that means half-blooded in the sense of being half-Chinese.
In Thailand, everyone refers to me as a Luk Kreung. Actually I usually introduce myself as such when Thais are caught off guard by my ability to speak almost accent-less Thai (and the fact that at first glance I look mostly caucasian). They usually use the word "chat" when describing how well I speak, which has a meaning somewhere in the middle between "fluently" and "clearly." In Thailand, at least where I lived in Bangkok, luk kreungs are well accepted, sometimes even idolized. I'm sure this wasn't the case decades ago, and may not be the case in less developed areas or with more conservative Thais. But these days, foreign presence, especially American, is growing, widely embraced, and simply part of every day life in Bangkok. I've never had any issues being half Thai in the country. In fact, it has been a huge asset and I'm proud of it.
Technically, however, I'm half-Chinese. I don't have a drop of Thai blood in me. My ancestors are from China, somewhere around Fujian. My mother's grandparents on both sides immigrated to Thailand, and her parents lived and met in Thailand. She considers herself full Thai because of how little connection she has had to her roots in China. She was born and lived in Thailand her whole life before she met my American father. Thai is her native language, she is fluent in English, but knows very little Mandarin. Her mother, however knows Thai, Mandarin, and Cantonese.
I have no idea what Chinese attitudes toward Hunxue er (literally mixed-blood child) are where I will be serving. Until I get a good idea of what connotations come with the term, I'll refrain from openly referring to myself as one to Chinese people. I am, however, proud of it, and excited to learn more about my Chinese heritage that I know so little about. I am aware that the area around Sichuan where I'll be serving is in a completely different region than where my ancestors came from. And the turbulent history of China has churned up the social and cultural construct of Chinese society so that even if I were to visit Fujian, it would not be quite the Fujian of my great grandparents.
For now I'll use the word Hunxue because I like it.
In Thailand, everyone refers to me as a Luk Kreung. Actually I usually introduce myself as such when Thais are caught off guard by my ability to speak almost accent-less Thai (and the fact that at first glance I look mostly caucasian). They usually use the word "chat" when describing how well I speak, which has a meaning somewhere in the middle between "fluently" and "clearly." In Thailand, at least where I lived in Bangkok, luk kreungs are well accepted, sometimes even idolized. I'm sure this wasn't the case decades ago, and may not be the case in less developed areas or with more conservative Thais. But these days, foreign presence, especially American, is growing, widely embraced, and simply part of every day life in Bangkok. I've never had any issues being half Thai in the country. In fact, it has been a huge asset and I'm proud of it.
Technically, however, I'm half-Chinese. I don't have a drop of Thai blood in me. My ancestors are from China, somewhere around Fujian. My mother's grandparents on both sides immigrated to Thailand, and her parents lived and met in Thailand. She considers herself full Thai because of how little connection she has had to her roots in China. She was born and lived in Thailand her whole life before she met my American father. Thai is her native language, she is fluent in English, but knows very little Mandarin. Her mother, however knows Thai, Mandarin, and Cantonese.
I have no idea what Chinese attitudes toward Hunxue er (literally mixed-blood child) are where I will be serving. Until I get a good idea of what connotations come with the term, I'll refrain from openly referring to myself as one to Chinese people. I am, however, proud of it, and excited to learn more about my Chinese heritage that I know so little about. I am aware that the area around Sichuan where I'll be serving is in a completely different region than where my ancestors came from. And the turbulent history of China has churned up the social and cultural construct of Chinese society so that even if I were to visit Fujian, it would not be quite the Fujian of my great grandparents.
For now I'll use the word Hunxue because I like it.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
More Medical exams?
This morning, bright and early, I went out to get some cough syrup for an annoying affliction i've developed in the last few days. I stepped on a UPS envelope that was under my doormat. "WHEN DID THIS GET HERE?" I'm amazed by the speed of these packages.
Inside there were more medical forms, which I had no idea I would have to go through post-invitation until last night while reading posts on the Peace Corps China 2011 Facebook group.
Required exams:
- Chest X-Ray (interestingly enough, you're required to keep the X-Rays and present them at Staging and have them on you when you arrive in China or they won't let you in)
- EKG
- Blood test for syphilis
- HIV-1 and HIV-2
And I have to include 2 more passport pictures.
These costs will be reimbursed by Peace Corps.
Inside there were more medical forms, which I had no idea I would have to go through post-invitation until last night while reading posts on the Peace Corps China 2011 Facebook group.
Required exams:
- Chest X-Ray (interestingly enough, you're required to keep the X-Rays and present them at Staging and have them on you when you arrive in China or they won't let you in)
- EKG
- Blood test for syphilis
- HIV-1 and HIV-2
And I have to include 2 more passport pictures.
These costs will be reimbursed by Peace Corps.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Sinking in
Visa Application and Passport Renewal Application have been mailed and delivered. I'm curious to see if the Peace Corps passport is going to look any different.
Working on my Aspiration Statement and updating my resume. Should be done by tomorrow if I don't get lazy.
I donated my first load of clothes today. Afterward was the first time I said to myself "this is actually happening." The fact that I'm leaving has been sinking in very gradually. I'm getting more and more excited. It also hit me the other day that I only have two months left in the US. Only one solid month in Maryland before I pack up my junk and move stuff to my parents' house in Florida. So much to do.
Working on my Aspiration Statement and updating my resume. Should be done by tomorrow if I don't get lazy.
I donated my first load of clothes today. Afterward was the first time I said to myself "this is actually happening." The fact that I'm leaving has been sinking in very gradually. I'm getting more and more excited. It also hit me the other day that I only have two months left in the US. Only one solid month in Maryland before I pack up my junk and move stuff to my parents' house in Florida. So much to do.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Invitation Paperwork
Invitation Kit contains the following paperwork:
Visa Application
Passport Application
Resume
Aspiration Statement
Copy of Diploma
Trainee/Volunteer Registration Form
Instructions are labyrinthine. I spent several hours wading through the visa and passport apps, making sure I followed all the instructions and double checking the section on "Common Mistakes." The apps themselves are only 2 pages each, but if you get anything wrong it could cost a lot of time because they have to send you new applications.
Doing the passport app online was good. I had to call and make sure I actually needed to fill out a passport renewal app. I've been traveling since I was 2 years old. I used to have a diplomatic passport. The one I have now is good until 2016, but everyone has to renew because Peace Corps issues you a special passport. Suits me just fine. The picture in my current passport was taken right after a terrible haircut. I look like I'm going to stab someone.
I took my own passport pictures at home and got them printed at Wal-Mart. Way cheaper than getting them taken by a photographer. Requires some basic photo editing and math skills. Tutorial here: http://www.dpchallenge.com/tutorial.php?TUTORIAL_ID=22
Visa Application
Passport Application
Resume
Aspiration Statement
Copy of Diploma
Trainee/Volunteer Registration Form
Instructions are labyrinthine. I spent several hours wading through the visa and passport apps, making sure I followed all the instructions and double checking the section on "Common Mistakes." The apps themselves are only 2 pages each, but if you get anything wrong it could cost a lot of time because they have to send you new applications.
Doing the passport app online was good. I had to call and make sure I actually needed to fill out a passport renewal app. I've been traveling since I was 2 years old. I used to have a diplomatic passport. The one I have now is good until 2016, but everyone has to renew because Peace Corps issues you a special passport. Suits me just fine. The picture in my current passport was taken right after a terrible haircut. I look like I'm going to stab someone.
I took my own passport pictures at home and got them printed at Wal-Mart. Way cheaper than getting them taken by a photographer. Requires some basic photo editing and math skills. Tutorial here: http://www.dpchallenge.com/tutorial.php?TUTORIAL_ID=22
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Successful Appeal and Invitation
My nurse got back from vacation today. I called her as soon as I could. She had me send my appeal to her again. Within two hours she sent me an email that said my medical disqualification was lifted.
After attempting to call my Placement person several times, she answered and was clearly annoyed at me for how many times I called. She said she saw the updated status and had already sent me an email. An invitation is on its way in the mail.
I was pretty blown away by how quickly this went through once they actually looked at my appeal.
The placement officer called me out on how many times I tried calling (which I do feel bad about because I didn't know my calls would be logged), but in my experience with other administrations, nothing seems to get done on time unless you talk to someone directly and periodically check up on the status. For example, If I hadn't called the nurse today, she wouldn't have processed my appeal. She said she couldn't find the email, even though 2 weeks ago I called her to confirm that she had received it. She said she did, then went on vacation.
I also feel that if I hadn't been persistent today, I would have had to wait much longer for my appeal and invitation to get processed. My Placement officer had said the program I was trying to get into was expected to fill up within the next few days, so I clearly didn't have the luxury of time. I didn't want to miss the window so I pushed hard for it and annoyed some people. But it worked. Even my Placement officer told me she was surprised at how quickly my appeal was processed.
Anyway, moral of the story:
Be persistent, be polite, be patient... and btw your calls are logged.
After attempting to call my Placement person several times, she answered and was clearly annoyed at me for how many times I called. She said she saw the updated status and had already sent me an email. An invitation is on its way in the mail.
I was pretty blown away by how quickly this went through once they actually looked at my appeal.
The placement officer called me out on how many times I tried calling (which I do feel bad about because I didn't know my calls would be logged), but in my experience with other administrations, nothing seems to get done on time unless you talk to someone directly and periodically check up on the status. For example, If I hadn't called the nurse today, she wouldn't have processed my appeal. She said she couldn't find the email, even though 2 weeks ago I called her to confirm that she had received it. She said she did, then went on vacation.
I also feel that if I hadn't been persistent today, I would have had to wait much longer for my appeal and invitation to get processed. My Placement officer had said the program I was trying to get into was expected to fill up within the next few days, so I clearly didn't have the luxury of time. I didn't want to miss the window so I pushed hard for it and annoyed some people. But it worked. Even my Placement officer told me she was surprised at how quickly my appeal was processed.
Anyway, moral of the story:
Be persistent, be polite, be patient... and btw your calls are logged.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Helpful info on Placement
From my Placement contact:
My original email:
We do not reserve spots for applicants. Even your nomination is not really a concrete reservation. Like all hiring agencies we recruit more individuals than we have positions for, to account for the various factors that arise, and ensure that we can fill our programs. While I can make no promises about holding a spot for you, I can share that I anticipate this program will be filled in the couple weeks. I know you have a strong desire to serve in Asia, and should your site specific support guidelines be reevaluated to open up this regions to you, and if we have a position available in this region-I will consider you for it. We expect all applicants to demonstrate flexibility and a willingness to serve where they can be best utilized. It is good that you are geographically flexible.
My original email:
I am currently working with Medical on appealing my disqualification for the Asia region. I apologize for the inconvenience this must be causing. I am aware that the invitation deadline for my original nomination, University English teaching in China, is approaching and seats are filling up. I wanted to know if there is any way I can make it in time. Would it be possible to reserve my nomination seat until I get the results back for my appeal? Or at least for another week or two? I feel as though I have a pretty good case because I have lived, worked, and traveled in Asia for over half of my life, and the allergy for which I'm being disqualified is so mild that I've never had any problems with it. It wouldn't interfere with my service at all.
I want to clarify that I'm not opposed to serving in another region such as Eastern Europe, as you mentioned. I would be happy to serve there and learn a new culture. I am excited to serve for Peace Corps regardless of the region, and I am particularly adept at adjusting to new cultures. I have worked very hard to get this nomination in Asia, and it would be an ideal fit for me because all my experiences and career interests are aligned with it. I am also familiar with the language and the culture already and have worked, studied, and volunteered with people from and in the region. I feel that I could really do a lot of good in that country to foster a spirit of understanding and cooperation because of my unique qualifications.
Any information you can give me will be helpful. I look forward to working with you through the Placement phase.
Thank you so much for your patience.
I had already assumed that that is the way it works. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try. It was sort of a last ditch effort to do something about it.
Nurse on Vacation
I called Medical to check up on my appeal status. Unexpectedly to me, the nurse assigned to my file is out of the office until April 25 (a whole week) and the number she says to call in her message is a wrong number. I tried calling my Placement officer. She wasn't in the office. I called Peace Corps headquarters and a guy forwarded me to a message machine telling me to email all medical questions to a particular email address. I called headquarters again telling the same guy I wanted to talk to an actual person in Medical. He forwarded me to the Office of Medical Services. I explained that I wanted to check up on the status of my appeal and that my original nurse is out of the office until next Monday. I got forwarded again to another nurse. I explained everything again. She essentially told me there was nothing she could do. She called up my file and said there was no note saying anything about an appeal. She told me all I could do was wait until the nurse assigned to my file got back from vacation. I told her I just wanted to check and see if she had forwarded my personal statement to the physicians like she said she would by the end of the week last week. She said, "I can't find that out. She may have or she may not have gotten around to it."
Then she said, "when is the program you're trying to get cleared for leaving?"
"June 29."
"Oh you've got plenty of time then. You just have to wait until she gets back to the office. I'll tell her you called. Don't get excited about this. Don't try to rush anything."
Then I got an email back from my Placement contact telling me she expects the program I'm trying to get cleared for to be filled "in a couple weeks." From my perspective, it seems like there will be very little time for my appeal to go through after my nurse gets back from vacation.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Medically Disqualified from serving in Asia on the basis of nut allergy
In November 2010 I interviewed with my recruiter and he nominated me for University English Teaching in Asia, which he told me would probably be in China. I was pretty ecstatic because I am interested in working in China as a career, possibly with State Dept. I have learned some Chinese, I am half Chinese/Thai, and I have lived, traveled, gone to school and worked in Asia half of my life. So I was thinking this was a perfect fit. Of course, I knew this wasn't certain, so I took great pains not to get too attached to the idea of going to China. I purposefully kept myself in the dark. I didn't do any research because I didn't want to develop any expectations for where I was going to be serving.
On Monday this week, Placement called ready to offer me an invitation. The officer started off by telling me I was medically disqualified from my original nomination and from serving anywhere in Asia. I knew exactly what the problem was and I voluntarily brought it up with her as I don't think it's an embarrassing medical issue. I asked if there was any way i could appeal that disqualification. She said I could call Medical and appeal it with them. I asked how long that would take and she didn't really answer, but "if you do go through with this appeal, you will likely miss your original nomination date."
I have a very mild allergy to cashews and pistachios. I've never had any serious issues with it. I've never had to be hospitalized or carry around an epinephrine injector (Epi-pen) or antihistamines for it. When I eat these nuts, all I get is a stomach ache that goes away within an hour. Worst case scenario is vomiting, but I haven't vomited since I was around 5 years old. I know some people with nut allergies have horrible, life threatening respiratory reactions. Mine is not of that nature and nowhere near as severe. As I said, I have lived in Asia, specifically Thailand, for half of my life, and it has never been a problem for me. I always eat the local food on a daily basis, which does include cashews sometimes. I felt that I had a good case for an appeal considering this.
I called the nurse assigned to my application and discussed this with her. She told me to submit a personal statement including everything I had just told her and she would forward it to the physicians in Medical. I asked her how long the appeal might take. All she said was that she would forward my statement by the end of the week and "if you do go through with this appeal, you will likely miss your original nomination date." She wanted me to fax the personal statement, but I don't have a fax machine. I asked if I could email it because I thought that would be faster, and she agreed. I did that within an hour.
The next day, I called to confirm that she received my statement. She said she did. I asked if there was anything else I could do. Should I see an allergist? Is there any more information she needed? She told me to wait until the physicians retrieved my medical paperwork and looked at it. I asked again how long that would take. All she said was that she would forward my statement to them by the end of the week.
Yesterday, Friday, feeling antsy, I emailed my Placement officer thanking her for her patience and apologizing for the inconvenience. As a last ditch effort, I asked if there was any way I could reserve my nomination seat until I got the results of my appeal back, at least maybe another week or two. I'm not even sure that's the way it works. It was toward the end of the day, so I figure I won't get a response until Monday.
I also clarified that I am not opposed to going to another region like Eastern Europe as she mentioned. And I mean this 100%. I'm really excited that I'm going to be serving in Peace Corps. I know I will be happy wherever I go, and I will work hard. I have a history of adapting to new cultures easily. I just think Asia would be best suited to my experiences, career interests, and unique qualifications. It's kind of disappointing that the only reason I won't be able to go there is because of such a minor medical issue. It feels like they are saying I can't go home. I have also worked so hard for this nomination. I've done everything I can to try to secure it. I even sacrificed an opportunity with AmeriCorps because they wanted me to serve until a date that was after my PC nomination date. The one thing I didn't think of was how significant my allergy was in Placement.
It's Saturday now. I plan to call the nurse on Monday to confirm that my statement has been forwarded. This is all I can really do at this point.
The officers I've talked to about my appeal keep repeating "If you go through with this appeal, you will likely miss your original nomination date." I feel as though this is an attempt at discouraging me. But if I'm disqualified from my original nomination, then I've already missed it haven't I? I have to try. It's not like it's going to disqualify me from Peace Corps altogether. I can only gain from it. Even if I miss the nomination for China, and I succeed with the appeal, I will have opened up the rest of Asia (indeed all regions of the world) for service.
I also want to clarify, that I'm not criticizing Peace Corps. They have a good reason for being careful about medical issues, specifically allergies. It's not just a liability issue. Peace Corps has a responsibility for the safety of its volunteers since we are putting a lot of trust in their support. I don't blame them for their caution. I do wish I had been informed about the issue earlier. Maybe I could have resolved it much sooner.
Since Monday, I have been frantically researching this issue online. A Google search of "Peace Corps medical disqualification appeal" and similar search terms kept yielding a particular applicant's blog in Peace Corps Journals, Facebook, and other blogs. She has the same allergy to cashews and pistachios as me except more severe. She managed to successfully appeal her medical disqualification and get medically cleared for service. I managed to get in touch with her through Facebook and she gave me some very encouraging advice and showed me her appeal letter. I'm very thankful for her help.
I'm writing about this in detail in case someone now or in the future has the same difficulty with medical disqualification for certain regions. It helps to know what you can do about it.
On Monday this week, Placement called ready to offer me an invitation. The officer started off by telling me I was medically disqualified from my original nomination and from serving anywhere in Asia. I knew exactly what the problem was and I voluntarily brought it up with her as I don't think it's an embarrassing medical issue. I asked if there was any way i could appeal that disqualification. She said I could call Medical and appeal it with them. I asked how long that would take and she didn't really answer, but "if you do go through with this appeal, you will likely miss your original nomination date."
I have a very mild allergy to cashews and pistachios. I've never had any serious issues with it. I've never had to be hospitalized or carry around an epinephrine injector (Epi-pen) or antihistamines for it. When I eat these nuts, all I get is a stomach ache that goes away within an hour. Worst case scenario is vomiting, but I haven't vomited since I was around 5 years old. I know some people with nut allergies have horrible, life threatening respiratory reactions. Mine is not of that nature and nowhere near as severe. As I said, I have lived in Asia, specifically Thailand, for half of my life, and it has never been a problem for me. I always eat the local food on a daily basis, which does include cashews sometimes. I felt that I had a good case for an appeal considering this.
I called the nurse assigned to my application and discussed this with her. She told me to submit a personal statement including everything I had just told her and she would forward it to the physicians in Medical. I asked her how long the appeal might take. All she said was that she would forward my statement by the end of the week and "if you do go through with this appeal, you will likely miss your original nomination date." She wanted me to fax the personal statement, but I don't have a fax machine. I asked if I could email it because I thought that would be faster, and she agreed. I did that within an hour.
The next day, I called to confirm that she received my statement. She said she did. I asked if there was anything else I could do. Should I see an allergist? Is there any more information she needed? She told me to wait until the physicians retrieved my medical paperwork and looked at it. I asked again how long that would take. All she said was that she would forward my statement to them by the end of the week.
Yesterday, Friday, feeling antsy, I emailed my Placement officer thanking her for her patience and apologizing for the inconvenience. As a last ditch effort, I asked if there was any way I could reserve my nomination seat until I got the results of my appeal back, at least maybe another week or two. I'm not even sure that's the way it works. It was toward the end of the day, so I figure I won't get a response until Monday.
I also clarified that I am not opposed to going to another region like Eastern Europe as she mentioned. And I mean this 100%. I'm really excited that I'm going to be serving in Peace Corps. I know I will be happy wherever I go, and I will work hard. I have a history of adapting to new cultures easily. I just think Asia would be best suited to my experiences, career interests, and unique qualifications. It's kind of disappointing that the only reason I won't be able to go there is because of such a minor medical issue. It feels like they are saying I can't go home. I have also worked so hard for this nomination. I've done everything I can to try to secure it. I even sacrificed an opportunity with AmeriCorps because they wanted me to serve until a date that was after my PC nomination date. The one thing I didn't think of was how significant my allergy was in Placement.
It's Saturday now. I plan to call the nurse on Monday to confirm that my statement has been forwarded. This is all I can really do at this point.
The officers I've talked to about my appeal keep repeating "If you go through with this appeal, you will likely miss your original nomination date." I feel as though this is an attempt at discouraging me. But if I'm disqualified from my original nomination, then I've already missed it haven't I? I have to try. It's not like it's going to disqualify me from Peace Corps altogether. I can only gain from it. Even if I miss the nomination for China, and I succeed with the appeal, I will have opened up the rest of Asia (indeed all regions of the world) for service.
I also want to clarify, that I'm not criticizing Peace Corps. They have a good reason for being careful about medical issues, specifically allergies. It's not just a liability issue. Peace Corps has a responsibility for the safety of its volunteers since we are putting a lot of trust in their support. I don't blame them for their caution. I do wish I had been informed about the issue earlier. Maybe I could have resolved it much sooner.
Since Monday, I have been frantically researching this issue online. A Google search of "Peace Corps medical disqualification appeal" and similar search terms kept yielding a particular applicant's blog in Peace Corps Journals, Facebook, and other blogs. She has the same allergy to cashews and pistachios as me except more severe. She managed to successfully appeal her medical disqualification and get medically cleared for service. I managed to get in touch with her through Facebook and she gave me some very encouraging advice and showed me her appeal letter. I'm very thankful for her help.
I'm writing about this in detail in case someone now or in the future has the same difficulty with medical disqualification for certain regions. It helps to know what you can do about it.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
A Peace Corps Journal
Starting a blog seems to be the thing to do among today's hip, young, tech-savy PCVs and PCAs, and with good reason. Today I join the fold.
It occurred to me that it would be a very beneficial thing to do not really for me, but for others who are interested in PC, who are applying to PC, who are serving now, and friends and family. I decided to start one when I directly benefited from the Peace Corps Journals. I recently encountered a complication in my application process and doing a google search lead me to the blog of an applicant who had the same issue. I managed to get in contact with her and she has given me hope that I can resolve it like she did. I will write about this extensively in a following post.
It occurred to me that it would be a very beneficial thing to do not really for me, but for others who are interested in PC, who are applying to PC, who are serving now, and friends and family. I decided to start one when I directly benefited from the Peace Corps Journals. I recently encountered a complication in my application process and doing a google search lead me to the blog of an applicant who had the same issue. I managed to get in contact with her and she has given me hope that I can resolve it like she did. I will write about this extensively in a following post.
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