Daily Life

It has been almost 2 months since I first arrived in China.

This is the longest amount of time I've ever spent in another country before, and I am so glad that I chose China. I really didn't know much about this country and the culture before I arrived, and I am learning so much everyday. Some things still baffle and confuse me (a lot), but I am starting to get the hang of everyday life here and am feeling less like a stupid American tourist everyday.

There are situations that are frustrating and challenging, and times when I feel a bit lonely and unable to communicate, but there are too many amazing things here that make up for all of that.

When you take 10 Americans and bring them to a foreign country and give them a small stipend and a bit of responsibility, there are bound to be some problems along the way. But, as much as personalities might clash sometimes, and people don't agree, it is so nice knowing that there are other people here who are going through the same cultural experience as I am.

I have noticed that being in China has changed the way I think about communication and many other things, and I find myself being more emotional and aware of certain things than I ever was back in the states. To be honest, as much as I miss everyone back home, I don't really feel homesick at all. I feel like I may be able to fit in here, and once I learn the language, this may be the perfect place for me to pursue a career as a tour guide or some other job related to the travel industry.

In other news, I found out last Friday (a couple days after the McDonald's fiasco), that our school's contract with the Kindergarten was up, so I didn't have to teach this past week like I thought I was going to. What a relief!

Over the past weekend, we had a Mexican night at our apartment here and invited all the other interns and some of our other friends over for dinner. Thanks to the spice packages that Mollie and I received from our families, we were able to make fajitas...Mexican food is unheard of here, and very expensive to buy ingredients for since everything is imported. Mollie made awesome tortillas using the recipe that we acquired from our chun bing dinner with our students' family.

I bought (fake) converse the other day at a shopping market near my apartment for 100 Kuai, which is the equivalent of about $15. Shopping here is so much fun, especially since you are able to bargain for the price of many things. Sometimes it works out and sometimes they don't give in (especially since I'm an American and they just assume I'm rich...haha if only they knew). It is a good feeling though when we can manage to use the little Chinese we know to try to get the price down...it also requires a lot of hand signals and laughing and smiling.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well back home, and thanks for keeping in touch. As much as I love it here, it is still nice to be reminded of home once in a while.

I miss and love you all.