Home sweet home!

I'm home!!  Home in Taiyuan, Shanxi, China, that is!  We traveled by fast train and arrived Monday afternoon.  Since then, we've been cleaning like crazy and getting our apartments set up.  (On Monday night we all watched Disney's Mulan and it was totally epic watching it in China after having been to some of the places in the movie!)  My roomie is Lauren and she's awesome!  We're a lot alike and we're having a great time figuring out our new place together!  Here's a picture of us at our school:

Taiyuan is SO different from Beijing- it's definitely not even remotely westernized: no one speaks English, all signs/menus are in Mandarin, the food is hardcore Chinese, everyone stops what they're doing (even driving) to stare and take pictures, and kids run up to watch the foreigners.  So far we've only seen 1 other foreigner, so we're a huge anomaly here!  Beijing almost felt like we were still in America, just in a Chinese-ish area; Taiyuan is 100% China!  It'll take some getting used to, but I already love it!  OH!  There's a Walmart here... but it's pretty different, too.  Here's a picture from the food section:

Yup... that's some kind of bird, beak and feet and all! Yummy...

Shanxi is the most polluted province in the entire world!  There are multiple reasons for that, but it's mostly due to the immense amount of coal mining.  Even with all of the pollution, I still love this place!  It's actually kind of amusing, because it's impossible to keep anything clean; this will definitely get me over being a clean freak!  After dusting or mopping the floor one day, it'll be just as filthy the next day; there's this thick layer of dust that covers absolutely everything:

A car parked outside of our school.

The pollution makes washing clothes a really interesting experience
     (this is the water after washing my clothes from the 1st day here).

Even though I know it's going to provide lots of learning experiences and I'll definitely be challenged in ways I never would in the States, I'm SO excited to live here!!  YAY Taiyuan!!
Oh- I still haven't found out what grades or English levels I'll be teaching, but I start teaching on Friday!  Wish me luck!!

Last night in Beijing!

Lots of exciting things to tell you all, so I'll try to keep it short and sweet (partially for your benefit, but also because I need to pack!):

• It's official: I'm TEFL certified!!!  After a month of super intensive training, I've received certification in Teaching English as a Foreign Language!
• I taught Chinese kids for the first time on Wednesday (part of our practicum)! They weren't my actual students, so I was told it didn't matter too much if my lesson was a complete failure and I traumatized the kids, since I'd never see them again!  It was such an incredible experience and it made me even more excited to get to my school and start teaching my real students!  (My lesson involved a puppet- it was pretty stellar.)
• I went to a legit Pizza Hut on Thursday, and it's so different from the States! Pizza Hut here is actually a fine dining experience, where people dress up, using your hands to eat is super offensive, they sell champagne and bread pudding, everything is ridiculously expensive (by China standards), they put weird stuff on the pizzas, they use actual utensils instead of chopsticks, and they actually serve ice water (they don't do that here- they only serve boiled water)! 
• On Friday, our organization held a send-off ceremony for us.  It was such a meaningful night, and was the perfect way to end training and begin this new section of our journeys.  I'd love to tell you more about it via Skype (rachel.mauck87)!
• We were finally able to put all of that "cultural etiquette" training to good use tonight; we had an impromptu dinner with our school's Foreign Affairs Officer and he's awesome!  He's the guy that's in charge of us, so it was incredibly important that we made a good impression- which we did!
• I leave in less than 7 hours to head to Taiyuan!  I can't wait to finally get to my placement, settle in at my school, find out what grades I'll be teaching, and meet my students!!  I'm so excited that I don't even know if I'll be able to sleep- I've been waiting for this for the past 9ish months since I committed with this organization!  Once we get settled in I'll let you know all about my new home!

Chinglish and Surprises

On Saturday (8/13), some of us went to the Beijing Zoo, where we saw the cutest baby giant pandas!  We found a Chinglish example (many more to come) at the Beijing Zoo that perfectly demonstrates why we're here teaching English:

                    "Lift me up & you will know how weight I am!"

Then we went to this marketplace that had multiple floors with dozens of rows of wholesale clothing and accessories (it took us 1.5 hours to get through 1 row); it was the size of a mall, but filled with clothing that cost less than 100 Yuan (about $15)!  It was pretty ridiculous- and most women's dreams come true.  After that, we went to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City.  The Forbidden City was absolutely breathtaking!  It was built in 1406; 24 emperors ruled the country from it; and it's comprised of 19 palaces and 15 halls with over 9,000 rooms!  China has so many amazing natural and man-made landmarks- if you ever get the opportunity to come here, definitely take it!

On Tuesday we found out that in order to work here we had to take/pass a residency-type test... the next day.  SURPRISE!!!  So we all basically had a 24-hour panic attack about that.  But China is full of surprises, and I'm quickly learning to give up on being a control freak!  On Wednesday, an official came and trained us on all things China; right after training, we took the test, and guess what??  WE ALL PASSED!!  Yay for being allowed to stay and work here :-)  Wouldn't that have been fun to explain to all of my supporters?  "Uh... I went to China, but then I failed an exam in week 3 and couldn't stay.. so I'm back!"  But thankfully that isn't going to happen... because, guess what?!  This picture perfectly describes my feelings about this place:

I love China!!!

It's not bad, it's just different.

Every hour of every day in Beijing brings a totally new experience!  I literally can't take a single step outside without already having a dozen questions about what's in front of me.  For instance, while walking around the city yesterday we noticed that people were burning little piles of something on the streets.  I learned that yesterday was the Lunar Calendar Ghost Festival; to celebrate, people burn money on the streets as a means of sending it to their dead ancestors.  There's so much about this amazing place that I don't get, but that's ok!  As everyone keeps telling us, "It's not bad, it's just different." 

We're taking all of these cultural training courses to learn about different facets of China and Chinese life and there's SO much to learn!  One of our professors has a description about China entitled "Theory of the Three Ambiguities: 1) Nothing is as it seems; 2) Plans can't keep up with changes; and 3) If you're not confused you're not paying attention."  She's so right! 

One of the most confusing facets is the language!  Mandarin Chinese is the hardest language in the world to learn!  There are over 40,000 characters!  The word "yu" has 235 entirely different meanings mostly depending on the character, context and sentence structure.  Then there are the 4.5 different intonations, which create entirely different meanings depending on the way you pronounce each word!  Here's a fun example: ma= question marker; mā= mother; má= numb; mă= horse; mà=scold. SO  mā mà má mă ma= "Is mother scolding the numb horse?"  How cool is that?!

I'm now able to hold a very basic introductory conversation, ask for directions, order food, discuss proficiency of English and Mandarin languages, haggle with yuan currency, and count up to 99 all in Mandarin!  BUT I still can't get myself out of tricky situations.  I had my first, "Oh my goodness- I'm in CHINA" moment yesterday while shopping.  I was purchasing a hair straightener (because this weather is doing some pretty amusing things to my hair) and when I got up to the cashier, she opened the box and the straightener wasn't in it.  She began questioning me about it and called over 2 other staff people and they started questioning/pointing/raising their voices; I finally figured out that they thought I'd taken it!  Obviously, I don't speak enough Mandarin to have any idea what they were saying, so I was terrified!  I seriously started having visions of being on that show "Locked Up Abroad"!  Thankfully, my team leader is fairly fluent and was able to come over and explain the situation (I'd accidentally grabbed the "sample" box) after about 20 minutes; but what would I have done without her there?

What's interesting is that all of the cultural and moral differences, immense confusion and frustrations, scary situations... it all makes me love this place and these people even more.  He keeps making it more and more apparent that this is exactly where He wants me.  I haven't really had time to reflect on what that really means, but I know it's profound, and I know it's something that some people spend their whole lives searching for...a Calling, a purpose.  He's given me this incredible opportunity, and I don't know how long He'll use me here (it could be just this year or for the next 50 years), but I do know this is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing and exactly where I'm supposed to be right now.  I'm so unbelievably thrilled about that!

Livin' it up Beijing-style!

So just in case you were wondering.... China is freaking AWESOME!!!  Today marks 1 week in Beijing (less than it should be, due to traveling ridiculousness).  I've honestly loved every minute of it!  I only have a quick minute to write, so here's a short recap since August 1st:

8/1-8/4: 1st flight at BWI cancelled/moved to IAD airport; shuttled to IAD; 2nd flight at IAD delayed 3 hours; a friend missed the LAX flight so I stayed behind with him so he wouldn't have to navigate to China by himself; spent 10 hours on a bench at LAX; 3rd flight to Tokyo re-scheduled 24 hours later; arrived 24 hours late to orientation in Beijing. BUT due to all of those delays and changes and missed flights, I met some super awesome people and made several new pen-pals! I even met a fellowship leader in Tokyo and we were able to study the Word together- it was so amazing!

8/5: training, ate legit Chinese food (I'll need to work on actually liking the food here), spent time with all my awesome teammates getting to know each other :-) Here's a picture of me and my teammates:

                                (from left to right: Abby, Sam, Lauren, me, Erin, Jamie, and Susie)

8/6: more training, went to our Beijing headquarters, and went to downtown Beijing to do some sight-seeing and shopping.

8/7: Chinese fellowship! It was pretty similar to American fellowships and we all felt right at home- it was so great to see how much He's working in China! We also went to Pagoda Park and it was so beautiful! Here's a picture of the Pagoda:

8/8-8/9: first couple days of classes to learn how to be a teacher and how to survive in China! It's so weird being a student again after having graduated from college 2 years ago!

8/10: THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA!!!! We all hiked the Great Wall and it was so incredible! We were even able to toboggan down the mountain, which was so fun! At the market place I learned how horrible I am at haggling, but by the end of the market lane (and quite a few purchases later) I'd finally picked it up! Here's a picture of the Great Wall:

I absolutely love Beijing and am enjoying every bit of it! Now that I'm in training I don't have much time for posting blogs so these will be pretty short, but I'll still post updates as often as I can! Thank you all for your support and encouragement- this is really going to be an incredible year!