Out on the Town!

Today is our first day out of quarantine. I am sitting in an internet cafe in downtown Beijing. Being in the city is a WHOLE different experience. It is crazy! It is really fun trying to maneuver around without knowing Chinese. I am trying to use many of the phrases that we've learned, but most of the time they just laugh at me :) I was walking through the city a few minutes ago with a group, and a man came up to me and said in his broken English, "Excuse me..." and then he turned to his friend and they walked off snickering and looking back at me. They try to practice their English any time that they get a chance. I am amazed that there are many of the same stores and brand names in China as in America. In the city, it is very civilized, but where we are staying, right on the outskirts of the city, I am amazed at all of the trash and dirt everywhere. I would like to see the country, because I hear that it is like nothing we have ever seen. The ladies here all walk around with umbrellas, because to them, the whiter skin is more beautiful. Too bad I wasn't born here! ;) I'd be all set. On our campus and the surrounding area, everywhere I go I am stared at because of my blonde and curly hair (I am wearing it curly because it is so humid). It is very hot here. Not many places are air conditioned. Tomorrow we will go to the Great Wall! That will be fun :)
I will be using the following email address while in China : sarahornback@gmail.com

Free at last!

The internet situation is a little frustrating. The connection is bad, so right now we can only use one computer for all 40 of us. They are trying to hook up a system in which 6 people will be able to get on at once. On Chinese internet, there are only two american sites that you can get on, gmail and google. So I had to create a gmail account. Today we practice teaching to each other. Things are going well. Tomorrow ends our quarintine, so a lot of us are going to go running in the morning into the city. On Wednesday we get to go site seeing for the first time!

A Day of Rest

Today was Sunday. Because we are in quarantine for another few days, we were not able to go to a church. Thankfully, we have a pastor on the trip! We made our own little church service. I am amazed at the variety of people on the team. The balance of young and old people is great! We are really learning so much from each other. It’s funny how easily they mix in with the young folks. It’s cool to think that in some cases there can be even 50 years difference between us (the oldest lady is 74!) and still have meaningful and deep conversations with each other about life, goals, experiences, and relationships. It seems like every meal, I get to talk to someone different about their life. Everyone here is so interested in really getting to know you, not just “surfacy” things. Today the pastor in our group baptized one of our team in a shower! How cool! One of the Chinese staff talked to him a lot today and he made the decision.

The same God!

Today I became fluent in Chinese Mandarin. Hah, yeah right! We learned 10 phrases in Chinese, although it is almost impossible to make their sounds, so I will probably never be understood. It’s funny because each phrase means something different if you use a different tone. Today I learned the word “ma” can mean 5 different things, including horse, mom, etc. I am getting so excited to teach. Today we learned about lesson planning. It turns out that all of the lesson plans are written for us, it is just up to us how we want to implement them in our classrooms. I am still not sure how the classrooms work. I think there may be two teachers to each room. They talked about how eager the Chinese students are to learn. They will be very motivated and will love Americans. Yesterday we talked about some of the misconceptions about what Chinese people think about Americans. Apparently they all think that we are white with blonde hair and blue eyes. There are a few Asian-Americans on my team that are Americans, and they will not believe that these people are actually Americans. They also think that all Americans are rich, fat, and loud. Boy, what a reputation! The food is getting much better. There is a little more than just rice and noodles now. The food is very flavorful. Tonight we had an awesome worship time! Man, it’s so cool to sing songs with some of the Chinese staff. We are half way around the world, singing to the same God! Very cool. I am having SUCH a good time. This is going to be such a good summer ?

Arrived!

I have safely arrived in Beijing. After a 13 hour flight, I was pretty exhausted. There were two doctors who came onto the plane after we arrived to take our temperature. When we got off the plane, we had to go through 3 checkpoints to make sure that we did not have the swine flu. China is completely obsessed with the swine flu virus. All Americans are quarantined for 7 days upon arrival. One of the boys on my team did get the virus, so he was taken straight from the plane to the hospital. There were 5 others on my trip who rode in the plane with him, so they were all taken to isolation with a hotel for 7 days. So my whole team can only stay in two hallways for the next 7 days in order to stay 5 feet away from Chinese people. We had to wear masks, but they recently told us that we could take them off. We are just doing training right now. My group seems very good. I am already making friends and getting to know all sorts of people. The living conditions are pretty primitive, but it is kind of fun. I will write back later when I get more time.

Getting Close!

Well it's just about 10 days until I leave for Beijing now! I am getting VERY excited. There was a change in campuses earlier in the month due to construction. Now I will be at Yuan Ming Yuan campus, right in Beijing the whole time. It will be more fun and populated being in the big city. They say there will be more things for us to do. But...I guess the conditions are a bit worse. There are concrete floors, not much furniture, and no western style toilets. This actually makes me kind of excited. It will definitely be an adventure! Next time I write I will be in China!