chinamegan's Xanga

Going on year two...

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 14:58:56 GMT

I am sitting at home right now with laundry in the washing machine and dryer, clothes and other supplies spread all over my sister's bed and so much more to do before leaving. I head out tomorrow morning around 6 or so am to drive to little rock, fly to chicago and then from chicago straight to beijing. I'll arrive around 3 pm China time into the Beijing airport on Friday.

I'm really excited about heading back to China and am really ready. I have had a great time this summer seeing friends and catching up on everyone's lives. It was so good to see friends yet it is still very hard to say the goodbyes again for another year, knowing how I will miss my friends. Everyone has been great this summer. I am excited to see my friends in China though. I will be in Beijing for about 4 days with my organization doing some training and team building and that will be good to see some of my friends in the organization who live in other parts of China. I will then fly out to Harbin on the 28th to return to my home there. I am so excited to see all of my Chinese friends there and spend time with them again. I am also so excited to get back into the regular flow of life. I feel like I have been living out of a suitcase for the last 2 months and it will be great to feel like I am back in my home again.

I know this year is going to be a very different year. I wont be having to do as much adjusting as I did last year and will really be able to pour time into my friendships there and teaching. I know there will be different things to adjust to about living in China-coming from a different culture, I am always learning and needing to learn more. It will also be a different year having a totally different team. My team will consist of 3 girls this year: myself, my returning team leader, and a new teacher to China. Please be thinking about this and asking the father that we will be able to work together well. I am also planning on spending a lot of time studying Chinese this year. I think it is so important to learn the language of the culture one lives in so I am going to be making language a top priority (other than teaching, of course!)

That's about all for now. Be sure to check out my flickr site (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chinamegan) to see pictures-I updated them the other day of pictures from the spring and will have some more up soon as well as pictures from this summer. Let me know if you have a change in address/email or would like to receive my newsletters and do not. Thanks for remembering me as I am traveling tomorrow.

Back in America

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 18:13:07 GMT

Hey friends!

I am back! (also meaning I can access this site!) I returned back to Arkansas on June 25 after about 30+ hours of traveling. It was a long trip home, but of course ending well. I had some college friends come and meet me at the airport and then also drop in throughout the week last week and visit so it reall made the time special. It's so nice to be around friends who I am so comfortable with!

I then made the 9 hour drive over to Cleveland, TN on Sunday to take my graduate classes at Lee University. I am taking two courses for the next month: School Law and Research Methods, working on my MA in Teaching. We are in class 3 hours per class, so 6 hours a day plus homework each night. Needless to say, we are staying busy! All of us teachers from China are living in the same area of a dorm and so have been hanging out together during free time and eating our meals together. Last night we all went over to the main teacher in the Graduate Educational Department's house for hamburgers for the 4th of July. It was really nice to be able to go to a home to celebrate this American holiday.

I am excited to hopefully be able to see people in August when I return to Arkansas. I will return the last weekend of July to Russellville. Tentative plans are to go to Kansas for first weekend in Aug to see some friends, go to Siloam Springs second weekend in August and then home the third weekend. I will fly back to China on August 23. I will have my same email account over the summer of course and if you would like to give me a call, I have my sister's cell phone for this month at least. To get that number you can email me or talk to my parents! Hope to hear from you all soon!

New Blog...

Wed, 02 May 2007 13:44:45 GMT

Hello everyone!

Well, I am no longer able to access xanga from China, so I have made a new blog spot. Sorry it has been so long in coming-I was just hoping for it to start working again, but alas, it did not. The new site is:

http://chinamegan.blogspot.com/

I am currently in S. Korea visiting a good friend of mine from college, Kendall. We have been having a great time and I have really enjoyed having a short break and feel I will be really rejuvinated after this trip! (i have also realy been enjoying some of the AMAZING western things they have here in seoul!) I will return to Harbin on next Monday. Remember to add my new site (above) to your favorites and keep up! Flickr is still the same!

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:20:29 GMT

Hello my long lost friends!

So sorry I have been not able to write on here for so long. My computer has been broken (but is now fixed-yea) and so I have not been able to get online very often. I will try to give a summary of my life the last few weeks!

It has been so great to be back in Harbin. I loved traveling throughout Southeast Asia and it was so great to see so many things, however, my home now is China and I was feeling homesick (and tired of living out of a suitcase!!) For the first week and a half back, I did not have many responsibilities so I was able to spend time resting and hanging out with my team. It was fun to be back together with my team and start talking about what we want to do this semester. We went bowling a lot last week (it’s so cheap!) and that was fun. It is one of the few things we know to do outside of our dorm and sometimes, we just need to get out!! My scores haven’t been too great this semester (averaging about 100), but I am trying a new spinning technique so it takes time!!! J

One of my big goals for this semester is to study Chinese more and really make that a priority. I think it is so vital to learn to speak the language. I will never understand the culture if I do not learn the language and my work here will not be as effective if I am speaking only in English. I had a tutor last semester whom I met with for 4 hours a week, however she is very busy this semester and did not have a lot of free time to meet. So, when I got my schedule and found out I am only teaching 12 hours and they are on Wed, Thur, Fri afternoons and nights, I had a great idea. I am going to try to start taking Chinese classes here at my university. I attended 5 classes (10 hrs) this week and REALLY enjoyed them. It is great to be in a more formal setting, to have accountability to be studying, and classmates to learn with. (My classmates are mostly from Korea and Russia and live in my dorm so it is also good to build relationships with them as well.) I am in the lowest level right now and so a lot of it is review (except for the character learning!) I am excited though and am really enjoying learning.

I have taught 2 afternoon/nights this semester and one more day to go. They have been going well so far. My students are fun and I am excited to start to get to know them. I am going to have to find new ways to challenge them this semester in different aspects of English, but I think it will be fun and I will have fun finding things to teach them. More information on my classes in my next post!

I am going to also start volunteering at an English center on the northern part of Harbin on Saturdays. I will be teaching English to 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th graders. They are children that are brought in on buses from a small village outside of Harbin. I think this will be really fun and it will be good to work with people from different backgrounds than that of my students who are at this prestigious university. Also, we will be teaching with a few Chinese teaching assistants who are students at universities in Harbin. The couple who runs the center has already started building relationships with these students and I hope to continue to build these relationships and also do some studying with them in the future.

Be sure to check out my Flickr!!! I have pictures from Thailand, Cambodia, and a few from this semester up. (Especially look at pictures from Angkor Wat in Cambodia-amazing!)

Back in China!! Home sweet home!

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 10:18:04 GMT

It is so great to be back in China. I didnt realize how much I missed it here. I have been back for a few days and have been enjoying having not much to do and being able to relax and spend time with my team. I have not been able to send many emails or update because my computer is currently broken. So if you are wondering why I have not been in communication, that is why. Hopefully I will get someone to look at it soon-everything has been closed lately because of the Chinese New Year. It has been fun with the new year because everyone has been setting off fireworks all the time. Its great.

Cambodia was a great time. We got to see some truly incredible things (Angkor Wat) and had some very strange traveling experiences. We spent over 22 hours on buses, 3 days traveling back to China from Cambodia (way too much time in airports) and learned about some of the unbelievable history of Cambodia. It was an amazing time but also challenging-definitely the most third world country I have ever been to. There was so much poverty and victims of land mines and just the effects of the economy. I dont really have the time to write a ton on here but if you want to know more, send me an email or give me a call! (There are free minutes on skype right now to china-check it out and give me a call on my landline or cell phone).

Happy Chinese New Year!

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 13:32:57 GMT

I am sitting here in an internet cafe here on the beach in Cambodia with fireworks going off in the distance and Black Eyed Peas in Cambodian playing in the background on the eve of Chinese New Year. Who knew it would be such a big deal in Cambodia as well! All day we ahve been hearing about parties to celebrate, tho we are just going to go back and enjoy the skittles and Dr. Pepper we found and watching tv in English.

Cambodia has definitely been a crazy, amazing, and at times stressful trip but we have had fun. Angkor Wat in Siem Reap was indescribable. Just wait til pictures are up on my blog. We felt like we were in a movie (and actually watched the movie Tomb Raider because she goes to Angkor Wat in the movie-if you watch it-we went to those temples in the movie and they are even more amazing in real life!) We next took a 5 hr bus to Phnoem Pehn went to the killing fields and learned a lot and definitely were moved at the building full of bones from the victims and the mass burial holes surrounding the bones and hearing the stories of how these innocent people were killed. Our tour guide described it as worst than the holocaust because they were killing their own people for almost no reason at all and the torturing was so intense. We then headed down to the beach here in Cambodia where we are getting our last few days of vacation filled with sun, sleeping in, English TV (we couldnt believe it!), Khmer (cambodian) food and a very different beach experience than I've ever had. In two days we start our journey home-busing to Phneom Pehn, flying to Bangkok, spending a day in airport, flying to Beijing and spending a day there then back to Harbin!

We have been very blessed to not be getting sick and having safe travels the last few weeks. Please continue to remember us as we head back in the next few days and start preparing for this next semester. I am growing more and more anxious to be back in Harbin and getting back into normal life and in communication with many of you as it has been hard to keep in touch over the last few months.

safe and sound in cambodia...

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 08:30:08 GMT

We are here in siem reap, cambodia using internet-very exciting. Here is a little summary of our adventures so far...

We payed for a bus to border of Cambodia and then minivan to Siem Reap, bus to leave at 8 am. We get to the train station and around 9.30 get on the bus, we then go around teh block a few times to then finally depart. We get to the border adn go through Thailand customs and head to get our Cambodia visas. Many others on our tour had paid extra a ways back to get visas but we were not going to be cheated, so we got ours at the border. After we got our visas and went thru customs, we took a little bus thing to another bus station. When we got there, we were informed out bus had left without us. They told us we had to pay for taxi to Siem Reap. They would not give us money back and the only other options they gave us was to spend the night until tomorrow or to walk to Siem Reap. After much avail, we paid the money and took the taxi. It turned out to be much nicer since we were able to get there in half the time (3.5 hrs instead of 7-on a VERY VERY bad road-dirt with massive potholes) and we saw our bus we were supposed to take broken down on the side of the road on our way. Upon arriving, we got into our guest house "Home Sweet Home"-yes that was the name and went across the street to get our $3 pizza and fresh fruit shake. That's right-everything is labeled in dollars here, but they also take their own money, riels, or thai baht. It is crazy to be able to pay in 3 different kinds of currency. This morning we went out and got breakfast (including fresh baguetes-very common here in cambodia) and then found a new guest home to stay in (cheaper-we are now staying in 1 3person room and 1 2person room for a total of $12 a night. We went down and went shopping around and are now arranging the remaining travel plans for the rest of our trip. Tomorrow we are heading out early to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat-it will be very exciting. Continue to keep us in your thoughts as we travel around.

Cambodia bound

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 07:39:44 GMT

Hey friends.

Sorry it has been awhile for any communication. I have been busy adn without much internet availability. The last few weeks I have finished 2 weeks of Graduate courses, gone to my organization's conference, and now tomorrow I will head to Cambodia for a little less than 2 weeks. I will be returning to Harbin on February 22. I will probably not have a lot of opportunities for internet before then so if you dont hear from me, dont worry! No news is good news! Please remember me and my friends I am traveling with as we are doing all kinds of exciting bus rides all around Cambodia, flying back to Bangkok then Beijing then finally Harbin.

Safe and sound in Thailand

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 12:54:40 GMT

I am sitting here in "Buddy's Internet" in Chiang Mai, Thailand as we speak, enjoying the warm weather and in just a little pain from my new sunburn. Susanna, Erika and I arrived safely in Bangkok on Monday night, stayed the night in a real fun guest home that night, then spent the next day wandering around Bangkok and getting tickets That night we loaded up on a bus for our 15+ hour bus ride down to Krabi. Since the bus made repeated 40 minute "breaks" we missed the early ferry to the island, so we had to wait until 3 pm to take a ferry to Phi Phi island. Upon arriving, we realized there were no open housing except in the 2nd floor of a Thai massage place. We spent the night there for our cheap 200 baht a person fee and the next morning went on a search for more hospitable accomodations. We got a cheap, but nice room at Don Chukit's Resort and headed to Long Island beach. The first time we ran into the water made those 24 hours traveling and the last 2 days worth it. It was beautiful water and all around and so refreshing. We spent the next few days there and came back to Bangkok last night (via the cheap, slightly strange airline (1 2 Go Airlines) though much better alternative to the bus. Since we got in late that night and left early that morning, we decided to save money and sleep at the airport. So 12 hours later in baggage claims, we headed off to check in. We made it safely to Chiang Mai this afternoon, got our rooms and some food, took the much needed showers and have been welcoming in all of our friends we met in training in August back in Beijing. It has been a fun and adventure filled week-more than can even fit in this post. I will share more stories in person if you ask next summer! I start my Masters classes tomorrow at 8 AM so you can be remembering me in that as we havent slept much this last week.

Happy New Year!

Sun, 07 Jan 2007 09:08:33 GMT

Well, it has been longer than expected for this update. Because of an earthquake near Taiwan, we have had major internet problems. And now that we have internet back, it has been terribly slow. These last few weeks have been a blur as we have been finishing up classes and preparing for our break. I am leaving tomorrow for Thailand and have a ton still to do so this will be an abbreviated post. Here is a short summary of the last few weeks.

Christmas
We had a great Christmas. My friend, Susanna, from Hohhot, China came to visit for the weekend and that was fun to see her and hang out. Her and my friend, Erika at a different university in Harbin came to spend the night on Christmas Eve. (After our big banquet our team went to with all of the Foreign Language (foreign and Chinese) and Foreign Language students). Christmas morning was great as Erika, Susanna, and my team cooked a spectacular brunch (omelets, pancakes, bacon, bananna bread, fruit, toast-wonderful). We all got each other presents so after eating we opened all of those and gifts from our family. That afternoon we worked on lesson plans as we all had to teach the next day and give finals. That night we went and ate pizza and saw snow statues downtown and came back to watch a Christmas movie and eat cheese dip we got sent from america. It was a really fun day and great to have team to celebrate with.

FINALS!!!
The next two weeks were filled with giving finals, compiling and typing in grades, filling out tons of forms for classes, printing lesson plans, etc. I never knew how much work it is for the teacher too to give finals! They were a fun few weeks, but busy. The week before finals in my Masters Oral classes we talked about Christmas and the classes did a whole class role play to find out about the Christmas story. It was fun for them to act out adn try to find out what all happened on the first Christmas! Many students had really great questions and have expressed interest to learn more so that has been really encouraging! This last week was fun in my oral classes as they just watched the movie Elf for the last week and then took pictures all together!

Ice Festival!
Earlier this week we were able to go to the Harbin Ice Festival. It was so fun to finally get to see. We bundled all up in all our warm clothes (or in my case, also my teammates' warm stuff-monica's coat and preston's gloves and neck warmer!). It was spectacular. Huge buildings and structures made of ice. Definitely not for those who arent good at walking on ice-part of it is all ice steps up to the top of this structure-a little slick! It was fun though. Check out pictures on my flickr in Ice Festival folder!

I know this is real short, but it is hard to go back and pinpoint everything that has happened in the last month since the last time I posted. It is incredible how fast the weeks have flown by! I can't believe that it is already time for me to head out for our Winter Holiday and my first semester in China is completed. I have really enjoyed it and really know this is where I am supposed to be. I love my students and the Chinese friends I have made. I am also really excited for next semester. I feel like I have gotten a hang of schedules and teaching prep so that will be easier and I hope to continue to develop friendships I have begun this semester. I also really hope to continue my study of Chinese. I have an INCREDIBLE Chinese tutor who is really driven and she is doing a great job of teaching and I hope to really study a lot more next semester to really improve and become more confident.

I am leaving for Thailand tomorrow morning. I will be sightseeing for the first week and then taking 2 weeks of Masters classes in ChiangMai and then a week of conference with all teachers in China and then traveling around Cambodia before heading back to cold Harbin! I am really looking forward to this chance to rest, warm up, and get renewed for the upcoming semester. I will be returning to Harbin around February 22 so it will be a long holiday. Classes start back March 5. Thank you all for your thoughts for me as I travel and try to keep in touch with students I have been studying with.

Make sure to check out my Flikr!!! Internet is too slow to upload pictures on here. I have updated many new pictures and you can see better what all I have been up to!! New pictures are in the December 2006 and Ice Festival folders!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chinamegan/