The Changing Life

...New Year...

2011-12-31T23:53:00.002-05:00

As I sit and reflect on the past I think about the things I've, done, said, and things I said I wanted to do. I have no big regrets. I'm very happy with decisions I've made in my life, I would not be where I am now if I hadn't made those decisions. But as I reflect I also look to the future and the things that I still want to accomplish. I've always had dreams and goals that I have wanted to accomplish and over the years they have changed slightly, but they are still there even if I don't realize they are there waiting for me to go for them. I am writing this and thinking about what I want in the future as I am about four minutes away from starting 2012 and realizing that I want to live my life differently, I should not be sitting home alone on New Years Eve, but alas I am, mostly because of my own stubbornness. But anyway I have decided that I want to make a bucket list and a goals list, so here is my list and I will add to it as I think of more.

1. Spend New Years Eve in NYC
2. Travel the world
3.

2012 is here!
That's very anticlimactic when you are sitting at home alone...

Well apparently I have a lot of thinking to do because I only came up with two things for my list. I'll return at a later time with more.

Happy New Year!

Readjustment

2010-09-10T10:08:00.003-04:00

Everyone says its going to be hard. They arent lying. I have been back for over a month and i dont think i have readjusted at all. That could possibly be because all i have done is stayed at my aunt's house. I have been working on the whole job thing, but its harder than actually readjustment. I had an interview in NH and it went great, but havent heard back from them, and lately have been thinking more about it. Im not sure what to do. One of the only reason i was even interested in this job was because a great friend from college wanted me to move in with her because her current roommate is moving out and wants someone she knows to move in with her. It would be amazing to live with her, but...

Beginning of 3rd year

2009-09-15T08:32:00.001-04:00

So i have begun my third year at Guiyang Medical University. I teach 16 hours a week, which is the most i have ever taught, usually i only have 14. but i'm excited and i go down to 12 hours after November 13th, then down to 10 hours after Thanksgiving, so the end of the semester will not be too bad. For the first time ever i am teaching a film class! Last year when i told the school that i was official told that i can stay for a third year i asked them if i could teach a culture class or a film class, and i was given a film class. Its been challenging already, because the students are not used to a teacher that actually makes them do work. I've seen Chinese teacher showing movies before, all they have done is put in a movie and walked out of the room. I'm making them watch the movie with English subtitles, answer questions while watching the movie, and do discussions on the movie after we have watched the whole thing. In addition, this class is with seniors, so they are just ready to be done, but this is the class that i only have until November 13th, because after that they go and do their internships. I am still teaching Post grad students, i have three classes with them, and this year they are larger classes than i am used to. Usually my classes have been 30-45 students, this year my classes are 62, 52, and 51, which yeah its not that much more, but in a classroom that only fits 48 students, its s bit tough. Then i have one more Post Grad class and its PhD students there are only 9 students in that class, which is a little intimidating. But the PhD students finish the week of Thanksgiving, so one less class to worry about the last month. Last but not least i am teaching the sophomores, i have them split into two classes, so about 21 students in each class. The last two years my site mate (Jonny) and I each had a class of sophomores and a class of Freshman, well this year the women in charge of the English department decided that she thought it would be fairer for grading if one teacher teaches the whole grade. I happen to think that, that makes perfect sense, therefore i got the sophomores, and my new site mate got the freshman. Originally i was suppose to have all the sophomores at one time, but i asked to have them split into two classes because i was used to teaching only half the class at a time, and also Oral English works better with a smaller class.

So enough about my classes, how about i tell you about my new site mate. Her name is Jenine, she was a PCV in Bulgaria, and she met her Boyfriend there. Last year her BF came to China as a PCV, i met her last Christmas when she came to visit him. But so when she finished last spring she decide to do one more year as a PCV in China. Her BF is in Liupanshui, which is about 4 hours away from Guiyang. She is awesome, we get along great. She is very different from Jonny, but we have a nice relationship, so far. In addition, there is another girl Becca who is right around the corner from our school at the commercial college, this is a new site this year. So its like i have two new site mates. Its been great so far, i have spent a lot time getting to know these two girls and a little time getting to know the other new volunteers in my city. This weekend we are throwing a welcome party for all the new volunteers in our province, so i will get to meet all the ones i dont know and get to better know the ones i already met. In addition on Thursday i am going out to dinner with the all the volunteers and a few friends in Guiyang for my birthday!

I have lots of ideas and plans for things that i want to do this year. I'm still working on my English Language Library, so feel free to send me books and magazines to contribute to it. I'm doing a woman's group with my sophomore girls, and Jenine is thinking about doing one with her freshman, which will be cool cause then we can plan things together. Jonny did a movie night for the past two years, and i really want to continue it and Jenine likes the idea of it, but Jonny went to ever movie night and he ran it. He made this really nice ppt, going over what the movie is, vocabulary that he thought would be difficult, and some discussion questions for after. Jenine and I dont want to do that, we dont want to have to sit at movie night every Friday night. So we decided that we would continue it, but we are going to have the students run it. We would run the first one, and maybe the second, but then have students sign up to run it each week. They could come to out office borrow movies, choose a movie to run, and tey would be in charge of the movie that week. It will probably be nothing like how Jonny did it, but thats okay. I'm trying to study Chinese more, so that when i leave at the end of this year i fee like i actually lived and communicated in China for three years, where as right now i feel like i did after the first few months here. I have improved but i dont use it very often so i dont actually improve.

I'm so excited for this year! I'm still not sure what i am going to do when the year is over, but i have many ideas. I still want to do the Foreign Service, so i will retake that test in June/July. But i need to have other plans because even if i pass this time, the process is very long therefore i will need something to do. I'm thinking about getting a Peace Corps Job when i'm done. Want to go the Grad school, but have to take the GREs. There are so many options, and not a lot, but some time to think about it and figure out what i'm going to do.

I hope all is well with everyone. I miss you all!

Goodbyes

2009-07-19T21:41:00.001-04:00

My fellow Guizhou 13s have left. I unfortunately was not able to be in Chengdu when they left so i did not get to say a proper goodbye to them which makes them leaving that much sadder. The reason i could not be in Chengdu is because i had some visa issues, which meant that i had to stay in Guiyzng until my visa was updated and i get my passport back with the new visa in it. Anyway, i went to the train station on Monday and said good bye to Todd, Jess, Danny, Dave, & Jonny. We stood around gathering and waiting for Danny of course because he is always late, then he showed up and it was a rush a goodbyes and see you laters, with a few tears. Luckly Jonny is returning to Guiyang to teach and then go travelling so i will get to see him and we will get to say a proper goodbye to each other. Then on Wendesday i went to the station again and said bye to Val, when i showed up she was surrounded by lots of students, we stood around talking a little while, then she went into the station and got on the train. It was hard to see all my Guiyang friends leave our Guizhou. However, what was even harder was on Friday night/early Saturday morning they called me. I was not home when they first called as i went to the movies, but when i got home i sent them a message and Jonny called. So i talked to Todd, Kari J, Sigma, Dave, & Jonny, it was espeically hard to talk to them becuase i was sad that they were leaving and very dissappointed that i could not be in Chengdu with them, and disappointed that i missed their calls earlier when they called and everyone was there. I will eventually see them all again back in the states, we will have a reunion someday!

Now with almost all my goodbyes out of the way, i am sitting around waiting to leave to Chengdu, which will be in two days! I am very excited to be in Chengdu for about two weeks helping with Model School! I will get to meet the China 15s, and hopefully my future sitemate and fellow Guizhouren. Then i will head back to the states for a month to visit friends and family. Although for some reason i feel more excited about Chengdu than i do about going home.

Tomorrow night i will have Bean Hot Pot with Jonny as part of our final and proper goodbye. The next day i will board a train and be headed to Chengdu! I'm looking forward to the next few weeks and next year!

FSOT Results

2009-07-02T01:06:00.001-04:00

So at about 2am this morning i received my letter giving me the results of my FSOT. Unfortunately i did not pass this time, but i am requesting the breakdown of how i did on each section and will try again next year. Therefore i am going to look into other things to do when i am done with PC. That does include grad schools and possible jobs. I am leaning more towards grad school at the moment because i think that will be very helpful in my goal of becoming an FSO. So i guess i will not only be studying for the FSOT again but also for the GREs. Anyone got any tips?

Not much going on here, i finish my last Final Exam today at about 4:30. Therefore i will have nothing but grading to do for the next two weeks before i head to Chengdu, and the grading will take one day.

"Hamlet" and more

2009-06-24T22:31:00.001-04:00

This semester is almost over, i have finished my post grads, classes and grades. So thats one less thing that i have to worry about, now i can focus on my freshman and sophomore students, i only have one more week with them. I am pretty sure that i will be teaching my freshman again next year, but i dont think i will have the sophomores again. I've asked to teach an American culture class and hopefully i will get to teach it and it will be with my now sophomore students.

Tuesday night i travelled to GuiDa (Guizhou University), the best school in Guizhou, to watch Dave's student put on their performance of Hamlet. I had seen them practice their show about a month ago, i watched it as a favor to Dave becuase he has never directed a play before and has very little experience with putting on a play or anythign else that has to do with drama. So i watch thier practice and gave them some tips of things that i had saw that they could change/make better. After watching the practice i knew that they would do a good job on the actual performance. I was wrong, they did and AMAZING job performing Hamlet. I could not beleive how great it was, i knew that they students were amazing but i did not realize that they were better than i could have even imagined. I was so proud of those students, it was great to see how much it had changed and transformed since i watched them a month ago during their practice. I was not only proud of the student but also of Dave becuase he did a OUTSTANDING job directing his first play ever. For someone who had never had any experience in drama he was able to block and cheograph Hamlet with very little outside help. He and a fellow teacher of his at Guida directed the play, but both him and his collegue had little or no experience. It was amazing and i am very proud of everyone envolved.

However, it also made me very jealous and sad. Jealous becuase i could not be up on that stage with them or with Dave helping him direct and make sure that everything was running smoothly. Sad because i miss drama so much, i havent realized it becuase i havent been exposed to it in a long time. It also made me really want to do something like this at my school, so i think i may try next year. See if any students are interested, maybe a competition or a whole play. We will see what my students are interested, i can only hope that my students have half the interested that Dave's students have.

The new volunteers will arrive in China in about a week, I'm very excited for the new volunteers but also very sad at the same time becuase all my fellow 13s will be leaving shortly. I'm excited to meet the new volunteers and spend two weeks in Chengdu being a Model School mentor. I will get to spend two weeks with the trainees helping them to adjust to teaching in China and answer any and all their questions they may have. Just before i start Model School Mentoring i will be saying goodbye to my 13s. But it's not goodbye, its c-ya later.

PROM!

2009-06-15T21:12:00.001-04:00

On Saturday June 13, 2009 Jonny (my sitemate) & I held a Prom at our school, Guiyang Medical College. There were many reason we decided to hold this event. Some of those reason are because we wanted to expose our students and the students of the college to more American culture, another was becuase a large number of our students told us that their college life was very boring and they wanted to make it more colorful. So Jonny and I set out to make our students' lives more colorful. We were very successful! The students that came to Prom, as well as our foreign friends enjoyed themselves and wished that it could have been longer. The Prom started at about 8pm and ended at 10pm, the reason that it ended at 10 was because thats when we were told it had to end. Our college is in close proximity to where other people live, so before when events have been held there have been many noise complaints, so to avoid those complaints we had to end early. There were many students that had moaned as we turned on the lights to tell them that it was over, becuase they wanted to continue dancing and having fun!

The idea of Prom came about last semester. Jonny and I were talking about our students journals that they had written for us. We had both noticed how many of our stuents talked about the lack of activities for them to do. We remebered being in college and even high school we went to many events that our schools hosted, mostly dances, so we decided to have a Prom and event all the students of our school. It wasnt until about two weeks before the actual Prom that it really started to seem like a reality. We got all the materials for decorating and advertising, and started to really make plans for this Prom. The Monday before Prom Jonny & I held a lecture to teach students a little more about Prom and why we wanted to hold one at the college. We had about 30-50 students come to the lecture. We talked about the traditions and taught them the Electric Slide. Thursday we had a session to make the decorations as well as corsages and boutonnieres. Then Saturday afternoon we had about 40 students help us decorate for the Prom, it was so stressful and so fun at the same time. I have some control issues so trying to let students decorate was a little difficult at first but eventually i was able to and it turned out amazing.

After finishing decorating I returned home to get ready with Dulce. Dave and Lin hung out at my place while us girls got ready. Jonny & I had planned to have dinner with the other foreigners before the Prom started. When i was ready Dave and I headed over to the cafeteria and ordered our dinner and waited for everyone else to show up. We had a lovely Meatball Hot Pot dinner before Prom, it was very delicious. Then it was time to add teh finsihing touches to the Prom area before the students showed up. We had to set up the corsages and boutonnieres for the stduents to buy, the money went to another volunteer's secondary project, we also had to set up the refreshments and table for the students to put their names into raffle for the possibilty to be Prom King or Queen. When everything was finalized Jonny & I went to let the students in. At first the students were scared to dance, but as the foreigners started to dance and bring the students onto the dance floor it looked more and more like an actual Prom. Throughout the evening we played certain songs that were group cherographed dances (Which we had taught out Freshman and Sophomore students), we played the chicken dance, the hokey pokey, and the Macareana. We also crowned a Prince, Princess, King, and Queen. After crowning we made them dance together, which was a bit weird for the students because in Chinese culture guys and girls do not touch unles they are dating, but they danced together without much argument. It was so much fun! Everyone that attended had fun, and i cannot wait to do this again next year.

Now that i have discribed the evening here are some links to pictures from the evening. http://picasaweb.google.com/GMC.Prom & http://picasaweb.google.com/pcvkim
I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Realizations

2009-06-12T05:38:00.001-04:00

I have come to realize a few things...

The first: I dont write in this blog as often as i had once hoped i would. Therefore i am going to make an effort to do so as i go into my third year of Peace Corps.

The 2nd: I have had a very different experience here in Peace Corps than i every thought i would. I came into Peace Corps with the expectation that i would teach English and travel around (very low expectations if i do say so myself). I never thought that i would ever convince myself to stay for three years and yet i am. I never expect to have to go to Thailand to have my gallbladder remove, yet i was there all by myself for 10 days. I never expected to go home during my service, I went home twice, both times for emergency leave (July 08 & October 08). There are many other things that i never would have expected to happen and yet they did. But i would not want to change my experience for anything.

The 3rd: That i lasted this long and am staying for a third year! There were many points before i came here and when i first got here that i seriously considered staying in NY or returning to NY for various reason. Looking back on all those times i think myself crazy. I would have missed out on so many wonderful things that i have here in China. I have missed a lot of important events back in the states (my two best friends from college getting married, my sister raising her son (i was there for the birth because i happened to be home on emergency leave, otherwise i would have missed that as well) and so many other things) all those things together cannot measure up to the experiences that i have had here. Also i think that it is natural to doubt your own decision especially when so many people you are close to are doing things that are normal, like going to grad school, getting married, and getting jobs. They way i look at it is that they are just different from me and that is the path that their life is taking them down and this is my path.

The 4th: What i thought i would do when i was done with Peace Corps is not the same as when i first graduated college and came to China. When i first came here i said that i was going to return to the US after 2 years go to grad school for special education and become a Special Ed. teacher. Now i dont really want to teach in the states ever again. I want a life abroad, i want to be able to live in other countries for a year or tow then move to another country. I want to be able to travel the world and learn all about other cultures. My dream as alwaays been to travel the world, i dont want to lose that dream. Therefore my dream job has changed, as of this moment my dream job is to become a Foreign Service Officer, if that doesnt work out, then i will keep trying. While i try i will go to grad school study international relations or something along those lines, find another job that is similar and just learn and grow until i am capable to do the job of an FSO!

As my next year progresses i will not only talk about what is happening but i will also reflect on things that have happened over the past 2 years. There are many things that have happened to me that i think i should share because they are things that other current PCVs and future PCVs may find helpful. In addition, i think it may be helpful to myself to write about them. For now...

Peace Out Homeslice ;)

A Year in Review

2008-06-15T09:58:00.000-04:00

Lately i have been looking back and remembering what has happened over the past year. I have been out of college for over a year, i have been in china for almost one year, in exactly 15 days i will have been in China for a year. I cant believe where i have and gone in the past year. I haven't changed much, but i have changed a lot. I miss my family and friends so much, and in the past few weeks i have missed them so much more. Things are so much different than i ever expected them to be, i am so different than i expected myself to be. i thought that i would be more involved in my community, i thought i would be hanging out with my students, i thought i would be making a difference in their English. I thought i would be happy, and yet i sometimes feel happy, but in the end i have realized that i am in fact not happy, i just put a front on and even fool myself. I shouldn't do that anymore, not to myself anyway. I'm not entirely happy, and i am admitting that. Now i just need to realize what i need to do to make myself happy. For one thing i know i need to get out more, i need to exercise, take walks, lost weight, stop eating so much junk food. The junk food is not healthy for me, seeing how i do not have a gallbladder the fat is not being broken down well. I not only need to figure out how to become happy, but i need to figure out what is making me not so happy.

Anyway, there has not been much going on. I am starting to wrap up my semester. I start oral finals with my post grads this week and next week i am giving them their listening/written final. The first week of July i have my finals for my Freshman and Sophomores. I am looking forward to ending the semester, it certainly has been a rough one. I recently got my assignment for summer project. The volunteers of China have a two week summer project, where us volunteers go into different parts of provinces. Here in Guizhou we were split into four groups and are going to four different counties here in Guizhou to teach teachers for two weeks. I am going to Weng'An with Dave for two weeks. We got stuck with just each other for two weeks. We do not know what exactly we are doing yet, but i am the group leader, because Dave is busy, which means i will be traveling in the next few weeks to talk to the people that are in charge of us while we are doing our summer project. I am a little scared about doing this but at the same time i am excited because this gives me a chance to show PC what i can do, i can also show myself what i can do. I doubt myself that i can do it, that i would do a good job, that i wont screw something up and just mess up Dave and my summer project. But i can do it, i just need to believe in myself and trust that i can do it. Anyway i am excited for summer project and i am excited to be working with Dave for two weeks. Although i do wish slightly that there were more of us, but i can do with just Dave for two weeks, you never know what will happen.

All in all i am doing well, and things are good. This past year has been interesting, and i wouldn't change it for a thing. I've learned so much in this past year than i think i ever did in my four years of college. I've changed my mind in the past year at least four times as to what i want to do in the future. I want to be a special education teacher, i want to be a counselor, i want to be a politician, i don't want to go to grad school. I still have one more year here to try and decide what i want to do with my future.

Thailand & more

2008-05-19T09:03:00.001-04:00

Sorry this has taken so long to write, i have been a bit busy getting back into the groove of things, and plain just relaxing. Also i thought i had already updated on Thailand, but apparently i did not. Anyway, i left for Thailand on Sunday April 13th. The next morning i had to go to the hospital to be checked out by the doctors there. I went to the hospital at about 7am, which is when i was told to be there. The doctor that was overseeing my operation and things was out that day so i saw a different doctor. Peace Corps gave me paper work to give to the doctor, he looked at it and said that i needed surgery. Therefore, he sent me off to meet with the surgeon, who poked at my abdomen, said that he could do the surgery that day. I told him that i needed to have Peace Corps approval in order to do that, they called and PC said that it was fine. They then admitted me, and i went for test. They drew blood, and put a thing in my hand for IVs, then it was off to get a chest x-ray and ultrasound. When i was done with those i talked to the doctor that was overseeing my operation. He said that i was not going to have it today because he wanted to make sure that i did not have a gallstone in my bile duct. I then was taken to my room, where i was given clothes to change into and told that i could not eat or drink anything. They came and took more blood to do more test. Later i was told that i could have liquids, so for dinner i brought broth to eat. It was not very tasty. The next morning i met with the doctor and the surgeon, as well as another doctor that was a specialist on gallstones being in the bile duct. They said i would have the surgery that day (tuesday) at about 5 o'clock. Therefore i could eat or drink anything, but they would give me IV fluids for the rest of the day. They came at about 4 to bring me to pre-op to get ready for the surgery.

As i was in pre-op i started to freak out because i realized that i was alone in a foreign country about to have a surgery for the first time ever. When i was little i had tubes put in my ears but that was nothing really. So anyway, my nurse came over to cheer me up. She told me the surgery was nothing and that i would only have four little holes that was it. Then she told me that the guy across from me was there for plastic surgery on his eyes, and then she leaned in and whispered he's old. We both started laughing and the guys asked what the nurse had said. I dont remember what exactly she said but she started to walk away from me and she told him that he should talk to me and be my friend because i had no one. So we started chatting, he told me about his life and how he has traveled to many places as well as lived in many different parts of the world. Then my anesthesiologist came in to talk to me about what would be happening. Shortly after she left his wife came back to see him, and she started chatting with me as well. We exchanged names and then she got my contact info for while i was in the hospital and then for when i got out. A few moments later i was taken off to surgery. I woke up hours later in a lot of pain, and i felt like i had blood pressure cuffs on my legs, i later found out that they were massage things to keep circulation in my legs. But i was moaning in pain, and a nurse came over and asked if it hurt i said yes she went away. Came back with people and a needle, the people that were with her tried to turn me over to put the shot of pain killer in my butt. However it hurt way to much, i started crying out, and they stopped and decided to put it into my arm instead. Then i started to go in and out of consciousness, and a nurse came over and asked when the last time was i went to the bathroom, i told her the morning, she asked if i had to go, i said yes. She then asked if i wanted to try, i again said yes, so she put a bed pan under my butt, however, i could not. So she took it away and asked if i wanted a catheter. i immediately said no. A few minutes later i was being taken back to my room. Just as i was leaving, one of the nurse said, i forgot i have something for you. I had no idea what to expect, but she handed me a little jar that had my gallstones in it. When i got back to my room i was told by my nurse that if i didnt go to the bathroom in the next two hours the doctor said that they have to put in a catheter. I went to sleep for a little over an hour then i had to go to the bathroom. they came and asked if i want to try and go on the toilet or use a bed pan, i said i want to use the toilet. They helped me out of bed and i got in a chair and they pushed me to the bathroom. i went to the bathroom and was pushed back to my bed, and tried to sleep. I never sleep on my back so it was very difficult and different to sleep on my back with my head slightly elevated. I kept waking up through out the night, and finally at about 5 or 6 i just gave up and stayed awake. The nurses came in to check my temperature and blood pressure and the sort. I also saw the doctor and the surgeon, as well at the Thailand PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer). In addition, there was a Thailand PCV int he hospital so when she heard that i was there she wanted to come visit. It was nice to have visitors besides my doctors and nurses.

I got out of the hospital on Thursday and went back to my hotel room. Friday i hung out with Nancy and Zeb, the couple i met in the pre-op room. They took me around the Malls of Bangkok. Literally in one area there are about 6 malls, each are about 5 floors. It was fun, they took me out to lunch, then we went to the movies and saw Vantage Point, which i thought was amazing. After the movie we walked around through the different malls and went to one called MBK which had like a flea market on the top floor, so it was a great place to get souvenirs. While we were there we got foot massages, which were absolutely amazing. Then we went to dinner, and returned to our hotels. Saturday i spent the day hanging out in my hotel watching Cinimax and HBO, and reading my book. I left a few times for food, and to send out an email to let everyone know that i was ok. Nancy called me to see if i was up for going to the weekend market tomorrow (Sunday). I said yeah of course i did. So Sunday morning i woke up early to meet Nancy and Zeb, and we headed to the market. When we arrived, i noticed it was huge, and as i walked around i could tell that this place had everything imaginable for sale. While walking around i found a skirt that i wanted so i bought it with the help of Nancy, she got the lady down to 170 Baht from about 200 Baht. Now as a comparison there is about 30 baht per $1. So the skirt was not that expensive, only about $5. We decided to cut our day at the market short because of the temperature. Instead we went to the malls and watched another movie, this time we saw Forbidden Kingdom, again i thought it was good.

Monday i had my check up with the surgeon. I went in and he said that i was good to go. So i told PC that and they booked my tickets back and i was told that i was leaving to head back to China on Wednesday. I called Nancy and Zeb because they told me to call and let them know what the Doctor said. So we decided that we would get together on Tuesday for Lunch. However when Tuesday came around they we busy during lunch. But they had plans to meet with some friends for dinner, so they invited me along. I met a man who lives and works in Bangkok, and a women that worked with them in Kunming, and who still lives and works there. It was very interesting. The conversations were intriguing and the food was delicious. I said my good byes and went on my way back to my hotel.

Wednesday was full of a taxi ride to the airport in the morning, flying for about 3 hours to Kunming. Then sitting in the Kunming Airport for about 5 hours. Getting on the plane back to Guiyang and sitting there for like an hour and a half before taking off at the time i was suppose to be landing in Guiyang. While waiting for my bag when i arrived back in Guiyang, Jonny called my phone and said that they were waiting for me. When i walked out he was standing there with Super and Dragon, two of his students. It was a great surprise to see them, mostly Jonny and Super, only cause i dont really know Dragon. But it was great to not have to get a taxi back to the school. When we got back we went to Jonny's apartment first and got my packages from my mom as well as my friend Matt. SO before going to bed that night i opened my packages, called mom to let her know that i was back "home", tried on my clothes that were sent to me and showed her on the webcam. The next day i decided not to teach my morning class of post grads. however the night before Jonny and I decided that we would trick my Freshman, because while i was gone Jonny just combined our two classes, because they are at the same time, so he was teaching them all together. Anyway so we decided that Jonny would go to class and tell them that i was not back yet, and then i would show up late, and we would show "an inconvenient truth" to discuss Earth Day. As i walked in the whole room clapped for me, i told them why i had been gone, and that i was glad to be back. They Jonny went on talking about the movie, he showed it and they went on their marry way.

The following weeks i have just been getting back into my teaching, and figuring out how to change my schedule to adjust to me being gone for about a month. I went to Kunming with Feifei and Bethany, where we met up with Claire, Colleen and Nick, who are all in Panzhihua, Sichuan, for the May holiday. It was a short holiday, made even shorter by the fact that when i was suppose to leave on Wednesday i could not because i forgot my passport, so we got me another ticket and i left the next morning, but i had a sleeper for the 10 hour train ride, where as if i had left the night before i would have had to sit up the whole ride. So something good came from my mistake. It was a nice weekend away from guiyang, even though i had only been back for a week.

The only other news that i have, is that there was an Earthquake in Sichuan province. I felt the earthquake, but nothing around me was really affected by it. The earthquake occurred on May 12th at about 2:30pm. As a week has passed since the initial earthquake, there have been several aftershocks, that have been massive and that have made the rescue efforts harder. Not to mention the rain has not helped at all either. A week after the disaster the death toll has reached over 30,000 people. Today May 19th, started a 3 day national mourning period for China. They will mourn the loss of those in the Earthquake.

It has been interesting to be here in China as this has occurred. I am glad to be here in China, and as thing occur and as History is made i am more and more and glad to have this opportunity to see things first hand.

I promise i am okay after the earthquake and the aftershocks. Please keep those that have been affected by the quake in your prays.

Chengdoodles

2008-04-11T08:30:00.001-04:00

Ok so as of my last post i was on my way to the airport and Chengdu. John and the Waiban office set up a car to take me to the airport. Therefore i arrived at the airport around 3pm and my plane didnt take off until 4:40, so i checked in and made it through security (all by myself i might add). Then i waited around to find out what gate my flight was leaving from. i sat there and read "Saving Fish from Drowning" and i played on my suduko thing. Finally about 40 minutes before my flight was scheduled to take off the monitor told me gate 2 was where i needed to be. So i went and sat at Gate 2 and waited and waited for my plane to show up so that we could board and i could be on my way to Chengdu. Finally at 4:30 the plane shows up, lets off the passengers it has, they clean it and finally at 4:50 we were able to board the plane. We took off ten minutes later. On the plane i just sat there eating my mantou, which i am glad Jonny would not keep and told me take with me, because they served peanuts which i could not eat. The plane ride was peaceful and quick only about an hour. When i got a taxi at the airport to go to the PC office, which is located in Sichuan University, i said exactly what i was told to say to get to the destination, the driver starts to pulls away then stops, ask me again where i need to go. So i repeat "Chuan Da Dong Men" which is exactly what i said the first time, however this time he said "ting bu dong" which translate to i dont understand. Therefore i said it again, but this time with the full name instead to the nickname and he finally got it. 35 Kuai later i was at the east gate of sichuan university.

Now this is where my real journey begins. I have only enter through the east gate once and that was in August when we had our tour of the PC office. Therefore i was a little unsure of how to get to the office from where i was. I barely remembered how to get there any other way either because every time i had been to the office i was with people that knew where they were going so i just followed them. So i walk straight after going through the gate and look around trying to remember anything. I kept walking straight until i got to the end of the road, when i got there i remembered the field, so i figured i would walk towards that and then maybe i would remember something else. I thought i remembered walking past the field down the road and it was there. So i tried that and i was successful. I found the office, i picked up my little bag from the medical office and directions to where i thought i was suppose to go. I started following the map, then i opened my bag to see what was in it. There was a cup, little wooded thing, a note, and a map. That was the map i needed to follow. I started to follow the correct map, however i was not following it at all. I went the totally wrong direction from where the hotel/dorm was that i was staying in. When i stopped and thought about and actually looked at the map i realized exactly where i needed to go, however that was 15 minutes after i had walked in the wrong direction. needless to say i eventually found the hotel/dorm, checked in, un packed a few things, then decided that i needed to get something to eat. However, in order to eat i needed to find what i through was the main gate or "Da Men". That was the gate that i enter through to get the office during IST which was the only other time i had been to the PC office. Yeah i had no idea how to get to the gate and i didnt really know what it was called. I stopped the first pedicap person i saw and asked for "Da Men" and they said there was no "Da Men" but there was "Xi Men" I had no idea what the real name was so i said thank you and went on my way thinking that i would be able to remember how i got there last time. The only landmark that i remember from the last few times i walked from the gate to the office was a transformer looking sports stadium. I figured if i could find that again i would be able to find my way out. Therefore i started heading in the direction i felt that i needed to go, after walking for about 15 minutes i had noticed that i just went in a giant circle/square. I was so not happy. This happened about 3 more times throughout the course of me trying to get out of the campus. After an hour of being lost i was just looking for any gate to get out and then i would be able to find my way to where i wanted to get food. Then i found the transformer sports stadium, and i thought i was in the clear that i would finally be out. After that i followed signs that lead me to the north gate, which i figured was what i thought the main gate was. As soon as i got to the gate i realized it was not the one i wanted, but i went out anyway because i figured that it was easier outside the campus to figure out where i wanted to be. I just took a left and was on the street i wanted to be on, so it all worked out. But i really thought i was going to be totally lost the rest of the night and not be able to eat any dinner. however i made it out and i found food just in time.

Returning to my hotel; was a bit easier. Once i walked through the main gate, later i found out it is called "Xi Men" or west gate, i had a slight idea of where i needed to go. I only veered off the path twice and it didnt take me an hour and 15 minutes to return. Back in my room i read a little of my book and then laid down to go to sleep on the hard bed. Waking up the next morning by my mother calling my phone at 7 am, when my appointments werent until 9 so i could sleep until 8.

I went back to the office in the morning had all my appointments, found out that i did in fact have gallstones, which Guiyang said that i did not. Learned that i would need surgery because my gallbladder needed to be removed sot hat the stones did not cause more problems than they already have. I was give the choice to have it done in Chengdu or go to Thailand to have the surgery done. I had time to think about it while eating my lunch, but that was about it. So while at lunch at Pete's i called Jonny and Feifei to give them an update because i promised them both i would keep them updated. Feifei was so excited that i was going to Thailand because i was living her dream, that is apparently what she wants is to be medevaced to Thailand or something else to happen so we can go to Thailand for a while. After lunch i returned to the office talked to Dr. Jo and told her that i choose Thailand. Then i was off to my dentist appointment. After my cleaning my mom called so i talked to her while i was at dinner at Grandma's Kitchen and told her what was going on. While talking to mom i really thought about my surgery and i realized that as cool as Thailand would be i would much rather stay in Chengdu if i could because i would feel less alone and isolated as i would if i went to Thailand. Then next day i told Dr. Jo and she said they would discuss it with the surgeon here, but still keep planning Thailand in case it doesnt work out for in Chengdu. Thursday i returned to the office to check in and see what was up, Dr. Jo and Dr. Gao told me that they thought it would be best if i went to Thailand because although the doctors here are great and they really like them, they are used to doing the surgeries on Chinese people, who have a different body build. But the Thailand doctors are used to working with foreigners so they feel that Thailand is the better option for me. Therefore i am on a plane on Sunday headed to Thailand for about 10 days.

In other news today was Jon Darrah's last day of country director of PC China. Therefore they had a nice lunch for him in the office and then took him and his wife to the airport and said their goodbyes. I was in the IRC when they started to bring up the food, which was cooked by one of the staff members who has been raved for being the best chef ever. i was invited to join in on the festivities, so i stayed. However, i could not eat any of the yummy smelling and looking food, because all of it was cooked with some oil, therefore i only had some rice, then i went out and got some food afterwards. As i sat there admiring all the food and eating my rice Jon Darrah sat down next to me and we had a nice little chat about where i was from, what my dad did, how he knows someone that works at Hobart and William Smith. In addition, just before he left he said that he had hoped i had said i was from Colorado because apparently one of the first PCVs he worked with or met or something was Jerry Morlang from Colorado. He then wished me luck on Thailand and i in returned wished him luck and we said good bye as he left the room to pack up and say his goodbye to people. It was a very nice little moment we had. Oh that reminds me he talked about how when he drove up to Vermont going through NY he would go through Albany and head up toward Montreal and then into Vermont, i then told him my Friend in College went that way to get home on breaks.

I had met the new Country Director on Tuesday in between my appointments, i was the first volunteer she met. I saw her again today at the lunch and after it was basically over she came and sat next me and was talking to Jon and then asked me how i was doing and when i was heading out. So i told her and she said good luck, and we hope for a speedy recovery. She seems really nice, i am looking forward to working with her. Jon Darrah will be missed but she will do a great job, or at least it think she will.

For dinner tonight i decided to go back to Casa Mia's, i went there once earlier in the week, so i decided to go back. As soon as i walked in there was this cute little Chinese boy, who was there the last time i came, who had a huge smile on his face, he greeted me and pointed me in the direction of the same seat i had last time. He then brought me a menu and water, and waited around to take my order. When I was ready he came over and i began to give him my order in English. I could tell as soon as i started talking that he could not really speak English, but he was trying to understand what i wanted. See it would have been very easy if i could have just ordered the food the way it was on the menu but not because of my stupid Gallbladder i need to order my food a special way and make sure that there is no fat on it. So i first order the fruit salad but i asked for no dressing, he was able to figure that out. Then when it came time for the sandwich, he got that, but i cant eat fries so i tried to order mashed potatoes instead, he was very confused, he stood there for a minute then he said sorry and went to find someone that could speak English. I felt so bad for him and if i knew how to say Fries in Chinese it would have been ok, but i didnt. A girl came up and i finished making my order with her, with all the special things. The boy came back with my drink, then a few minutes later my fruit salad. Then he stuck around on the second floor, he kept walking into a another section and then back out, kinda avoiding my contact. Every time i looked up he would look away and duck away. Then when my sandwich and potatoes were done he brought them upstairs then went to this other girl that was upstairs and spoke English with her, but i couldn't really hear. Brought me my food and then said "this is for you" and handed me a pink carnation. That made my day! I have no idea why he gave it to me, but it was the cutest best thing to happen to me. I loved it, it made my gallbladder problem all worth while. He continued to walk by me and kinda duck away and shy away when i looked. When i asked for the midan, bill, he went and got it and as he was coming up i could hear him making sure he knew how to say "here you go, thank you" in English. It was the best dinner ever and worth the whole 46 kuai, i mean i got a flower for whatever reason, i got a flower.

Something i came to realize in my week of being in Chengdu is just how sheltered i am, and how much America is sheltered. As i walked around Chuan Da there were many white foreigners, but they were not Americans, they were Europeans. I realized that these foreigners were way cooler than I because they could speak their native language, English, and probably Chinese seeing how they are studying in China. Where as i an American can speak English (my native language), and very little Chinese. In Many countries around the world students that do not have English as their native language are learning to speak English, therefore English is automatically their second language. Many go on to further their study and learn another language besides English, be that Chinese, or another language. Where as in America, yeah we learn a foreign language but it is not heavily stressed. i mean i took Spanish for 6 years, 2 years in middle school and 4 years in high school. Yet i cannot speak Spanish, because i did not use it after high school. My point is in America we usually have the option between Spanish and French, sometimes Latin or Italian are also offered, many other countries in the world start learning English at a young age along side their native language. Where as in America we do not start until Middle school, when it is harder for us to learn a language. I dont know where i was going with that. I just find it fascinating that these foreigners know three languages, and i only know one and am trying to learn a second.

Sorry for such a long post tonight, i wanted to get everything out there before i headed off to Thailand. I will try to write from Thailand or after Thailand to tell you what happened there. Hopefully i will have some adventures, well besides losing my Gallbladder. Peace Out!

"It's good for your Healthy"

2008-04-09T22:29:00.001-04:00

I decided to change the name just for sake of repeating the same thing over and over again. I was beginning to get bored with the last two post titles. So instead i decided to call this one by a Chinglish phrase that is sometimes said in China.

Sunday is where we left off on our journey to and from the hospital. Saturday after the three and half hours on IVs and a pain killer shot in my bum, i return home and slept rather well. Waking up the next morning, by my mom calling me because i had no alarm clock. I will exaplin later. I get up get dressed and go meet John again for anotehr round of IV medicine. This time i had to bring the medicine, he bought it last night with all the rest of the medicine and we just had to bring it with us this morning and they would get it together and give it to me. We arrived at the hospital went to the third floor saw the docotor was sent to the IV room, which was very croweded this morning, and the whole reason John wanted to go in the morning was because he thought it would be less people there. Anyway i sat in a chair and waited while the nurses went to mix the medicine in to IV fluid form. What i was given to bring back to the hospital was little glass jars with white powder in it. As i was sitting there thinking of random things, Lemon showed up and told me that she would be staying with me while i got the IV and then make sure i got hom ok and got some food. John returned to say Good-Bye and left, the Nurse came and started the IV and i just sat there with medcine running into my veins yet again. Before John left he told me to make sure i call Dr. Gao to make sure they do not want me to return that afternoon for another IV. I said ok and went on sitting. Of course i didnt learn the other two times that i got an IV, that they take forever and it would be a good idea to bring something to do, so i sat there bored out of my mind for about 2 hours with medicine going into my body through and IV in my hand.

At one point shortly after the first dose of medcine was going into me Dr. Jo called me. She asked how i was feeling so i told her that sine the shot last night i hadnt had any pain in the upper abdomin, but it did seem to hurt a bit in my lower abdomin. It kinda felt like i had been vomitting a whole lot, although i had not vomitted at all. Seh went on asking a bunch of questions and then said that her and Dr. Gao want me to come to Chengdu to get check out here. They didnt think that something added up, all my symptoms didnt really makes since for what the Doctors here had said about me, which was just that i had a slightly inflamed Gallbladder. Therefore Dr. Jo and Dr. Gao wanted me to get copies of all my results that the Doctors at this hospital gave the Waiban and bring them with me to Chengdu the next afternoon, that way they could compare what the doctors in Guiyang said with the what the Doctors here in Chengdu say. She asked me if i could come to Chengdu on Monday afternoon, and i said yeah i just have to cancell my classes. She said ok, you should only be here for 3 or 4 days, you will return to site on wednesday afternoon/evening or thursday. After i got off the phone i told Lemon what was going on and said that means i do not have to return here for more medicine. I explained that i needed copies of everything to bring to Chengdu for them, and that Dr. Gao would be calling Ms. Yang (my Waiban) and informing her of what was happeneing.

As i sat there with the IV in me for the last time at that hospital i decided i should probably find out when Jonny was returning and inform him of what happened. So i called him and he said he would be back tonight ot tomorrow morning depending on when he could leave from Zunyi, cause he left Chongqing with Andrew and Kari and was going to get a train or bus from Zunyi to Guiyang. I told him what was happening and the fact that i was going to Chengdu the next day. He sounded worried on the phone and i told him i would explain it better when he returned and to have a safe trip back. After i was done with the IV Lemon helped me to by Mantou (steamed Bread) and then i returned home at my Mantou and layed on teh couch watching movies the rest of the day. Jonny returned late that night and iw as up because i had spent most of the day sleeping, so he came over and we chatted about what was wrong with me, what happened with me this weekend, and when i was going ot Chengdu. I then of course asked about his weekend in Chongqing, and he said he had a great time. He had found Chedder Cheese, which is his favorite so he bought some. I told him i would talk to him tomorrow and let him know when i was leaving and things. Then he went home and i decided to try and get some sleep.

Monday morning when i awoke, it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining there was a slight breeze and it was just wonderful. Lemon called me rather early in the morning, good thing i was up, otherwise i might have been upset at the time that she called me. She said that they had made the copies and would give them to me before i left and also that John emailed them to Dr. Gao as well. She then asked if i knew when i was leaving, i told her no because at that point PC had not contacted me about when i was leaving. Then about half and hour later Dr. Jo called and discussed flight options with me. They were going to try and get me on a flight at 4 or 4:40 i said the 4 one would be fine. She then said that they would make the arrangements and call me back with the details. I then decided to hop in the shower, when i got out my door buzzer went off, i answered it and it was Lemon, i let her in and rushed to get dressed ebcasue i had just gotten out of the shower. The whole rushing thing did not feel that nice, because i had a carmp like pain on my left side that seemed to not want to go away. But i got clothes on and she knocked at the door. She had brought me the information to give to PC. She asked again what time my flight would be i said that they are trying to get me on a flight at 4 or a little later. She said ok we will try to arrange for a car to take you to the airport. I thought that was awesome because i had very little money as it was and i was going to have to pay for a taxi from the airport in Chengdu to the PC office/ Sichuan University. Therefore that would save me money so i was totally ok with that. She then said that they would call me later and let me know exactly what time to meet John to go to the airport, because she had class from 2-4 so she could not meet me. My Flight ended up being for 4:40 instead of 4 because the 4 plane was full, i was perfectly ok with that. I met John at 2:15, it was suppose to be 2:10 but i was too busy making sure things were off in my apartment and talking to Jonny who came over to get some produce that he had given me to eat over the weekend but i was not able to because of what happened. So i was late, but we finally got the car and headed to the airport.

I am tired of writing right now and i think you are probably tired of reading. Later i wil write about the airport, getting to Chuan Da, finding food, and the all around fun of Chengdu. Peace Out Homeslices.

The Funess continues

2008-04-09T08:19:00.000-04:00

Last post i left you with the end of my friday night hospital visit. Saturday morning i woke up, or i should say Dave woke me up at about 8am, to meet John, my Waiban assitant, to go to the hospital and my ultrasound to see if there really was a problem with my Gallbladder.

At the hostpital, i sit and wait to get into the ultrasound room. Maybe about 45 minutes, they do the ultrasound, my first ever. Then they write down the results, John tells me that my Gallbladder is slightly inflamed. We walk though the hospital to the room where i was the night before. He talks to a Doctor, and we go up to the third floor. When we get there we go into a room across from where i had my IV the night before, and a Doctor looks over my paper work, talks to John and sends us to another room. As i am leaving this room i run into another one of my Post Graduate students, who asks me why i am there. i tell her that they beleive there is a problem with my Gallbladder and she says that she is on duty and will check on me later, i say ok and head off to find where John went. We then go into another office area where the Doctor that i saw last night is, he looks over my information says somethings and leaves. At this point i am in a little pain but not much and i have had since i woke up. I remind John that he needs to call Dr. Gao and talk to her about what is going on. He calls and then she calls me and tells me that my Gallbladder is inflamed a little, but it will be ok. She continues by telling me what i can eat, which was rice porridge, fruit, and that was basically all she said i could eat. The Doctor at the hospital and John, who has no medical training at all, both thought that is would be a good idea for me to have another IV of medicine while i was there. Dr. Gao called back and said that i should just take medicine that i already had and watch what i eat. So after about and hour and half at the hospital Saturday morning i return home with the knowledge that i could eat basically nothing.

When i returned Dave woke up, we chatted for a little while about random things. Then we decided to go get some lunch, because we were both really hungry. We decided to go to the Courtyard, which is usually a great dishes place, however with my limited diet it was hard to find anything good to eat. Dave discussed with me once again what i could and could not eat. He ended up ordering Tofu and Vegtable soup, which i have had before i didnt remember it being oily, and then Tangculiji (Sweet & Sour Pork), which i obviously couldnt eat, but the courtyard makes the best in Guiyang. So i told dave go ahead and order it i can live with the soup and rice, because i could eat rice, it has no fat. We eat lunch we talk about life and death, and just random things. It was a nice lunch, until my stupid pain returned. I was sitting at the table talking with Dave when the pain came back ever so slightly. I continued to eat my rice and only my rice because i knew that had no fat in it. Then we walked to the DVD store and got some movies, then we went our separate ways and returned home. Back home i still had the pain so i laid down to rest/take a nap, figuring maybet hat would make the pain go away, again i was wrong. About 2 hours later i realized the pain was not going away, in fact it was only getting worse. I decided to call Dr. Gao again and told her that the pain returned and was in my back again. She asked what i ate for lunch so i told her and she was confused, because it was nothing fatty. She said she would call my waiban again and i should return to the hospital. John called me a few minutes later and asked me to meet him where i met him this morning. So i left and as i started to put my shoes on i realized how severe the pain was, it was worse than the night before. If i had to compare the two on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the worst pain ever, Friday would be a 7 maybe 8, but Saturday would be a 10 maybe an 11. It hurt so bad it brought tears to my eyes as i waited for John.

We walk to the hospital and automatical go to the third floor which is where we were this morning before we left. I sat down while John talked with the Doctors and with Dr. Gao, i started to cry as i sat there so they brought me into another room where there were beds. I laid down and waited for someone to tell me what was going on. I had no idea, all i knew was that i was in pain and i wanted to it to stop ASAP. A couple minutes later Dr. Gao called me and said that they were going to give me a pain killer and some more IV medicine. The medicine would treat the Gallbladder and another one would be for Giardia, because they once had a person that only had pain but no other symptoms of Giardia so they thought maybe thats what i have. So i laid there waiting, John came in and asked if i was given the pain killer yet, and when i said no, he left the room rather quickly and returned with a nurse who had a needle. That was when i got a pain killer shot in my bum, it was a new experience for me. But i must say that pain killer was a mircle, becasue about one minute later my pain was gone and i could lay there and rest while i waited for my IV. They gave me the IV, this time it was three things of medicine, i laid there getting more and more tired, talking with John about different topics. Then when my thrid IV finished i was able to leave the hospital. We then walked back home, i got some oranges because i was starving and i returned home ate my oranges talked with mom about my day, then went to bed. Because i had to wake up early again the next morning to go back for my IV.

I will again leave it here for a while, and return tomorrow with the story of Sunday and how i ended up going to Chengdu.

The Funess that is Health

2008-04-09T01:42:00.001-04:00

Ok so last week we here in China had friday off (April 4th) for a Chinese Holiday known has Tomb Sweeping Day. Therefore we all got a three day weekend to enjoy ourselves however we pleased. For a while i considered going somewhere with friends, but in the end i decided it would be best to stay in GUiyang and takle some of my mounting work, which included grading lots of papers, and doing a little lesson planning. That was the plan anyway...Thursday night i said goodbye to Jonny and Dustin as they headed off to Chongqing for the weekend, i also said goodbye to Danny who was leaving the next day to go to Tongren with Todd & Jess.

The next day (Friday) I got kinda early, took a shower, ate some oatmeal with peanut butter. Then sat down to watch tv shows on my computer as i graded students work. About an hour after eating my oatmeal i was hungary again, so i went and got some crackers, and ate those. I continued my grading, finished one whole class and decided to take a break from grading and just watch a little tv on my computer. Around 1ish in the afternoon i started to get hungry again and i figured it was time to venture out of the apartment and get some lunch. First i had to go to the ATM and get money out because i had basically enough for my lunch and that was it. I then went to my little Jiaozi (Dumplings) place order JiuCai Jiaozi and Roujiamo, a kind of vegtable dumpling and meat stuffed in bread. I sat and waited as they cooked my jiaozi, however as i was sitting there i got a pain in my abdomin, in the middle right below my rib cage. It had happened once before in Chengdu but it went away within like half an hour. Therefore i just figured this was the same thing. As i sat there and waited for my food the pain got worse and my head started to feel very heavy and dizzy, and i started to feel very hot, so i took off my sweatshirt, becasue it was kind of chilly out when i left my apartment. My food was finally done as i went to get the money i dropped my sweatshirt and gave him the money. I then picked up my sweatshirt took my change and headed for home, which normally would not be a problem cause i live just down the street and its an easy walk home. Well not this day, as i said earlier my head had started to feel dizzy, well as i started to walk home everythign went blurry and i couldnt really see or hear things, i just walked, i would know how to get home blindfolded at this point. I get home perfectly fine in my blurred state, up my three flights of stairs and into my apartment. Where i just sat down my food, purse, and sweatshirt, took off my shoes and went into my bed. As i laid there trying to fall asleep to get rid of the pain, it just hurt more and more.

Finally about 2 or 3 hours later the pain went away and i felt like i had slept forever. I got up out of bed and returned to my couch and decided to check emails and facebook. Dave and I had made plans earlier int he week to have dinner together friday night, so when i got on facebook i saw i had a message from him, telling me what time to expect him. It was about an hour and a half away so i decided to just watch tv, cause i still felt tired and did not have the energy to grade more work.after watching an episode of Deperate Housewives i decided to check facebook again. This time i had a wall posting from Dave saying that he wouldnt be here until 7, at the time i checked this is was about 6:45 when he had originally told me 6:30. So i cleaned up a little and got organized for him to arrive. As i did my meaningless tasks, my pain came back, just ever so slightly. When Dave arrived i told him about it and he said i must call PC now. So i did, and Dr. Gao said that it was probably just Gas pains, which is what they told me the first time it happened in Chengdu over the summer. Therefore i knew what i should and shouldnt eat. After getting off the phone i asked Dave where he wanted to eat, and he said he wanted Pizza, so we decided on Pizza Hut. Me thinking well nothing there will cause gas and hurt me anymore and Pizza sound yummy. As i am eating my first (and only) slice of Cheese pizza, my pain gets much, much worse. It started to hurt in my back, so i call Dr. Gao again and tell her what is going on. She then says that i should go to the Hospital, she would call my waiban people and they would meet me there.

I couldnt even get through my one slice of pizza before my pain started. Dave paid the bill and took the rest of the pizza for later and we get in a cab and head to the hospital. However, the cab driver could not understand what we were saying, finally after the 20th time i decided to say the street name and he finally got it. Dave and i get there and wait outside the hospital for my waiban people. They come and then the real fun begain. The fun of Chinese Doctors poking and proding me with needles and hands. First they poked at my abdomin to see if there was pain and where the pain was located. Then i was sent to have blood drawn, and good thing i can take needles and do fine with blood being taken out, becasue as they took out my blood i was standing. Then we had to wait about an hour for the blood test results. When they came back Dave told me that my White blood count was high, ok great i thought that means i have some kind of infection. They then sent me up to get an IV put in me and gave me Penicillin through the IV. As i was sitting there with this IV in my hand, Dave kindly took some pictures, one of me in pain so it is very cute i must say, and one of my post graduate students who was on duty there came and said hello and also brought me and dave water. We arrived at the Hospital at about 9pm and we finally left aroun midnight, spending about 3 hours there. I so have better ideas for spending my friday night. I was told they thought my Gallbladder was inflamed and i would have to return in the morning to have an ultrasound to make sure.

There is more funess to come, but i think this one post has enough in it for now. Peace Out Homeslices...

Secondary Projects

2008-03-20T23:45:00.001-04:00

Ok so i decided to discuss what i want to for my secondary projects.

My big idea is a resource room/lending library. I want the students to be able to get English Language resources to help them improve their English. The other day one of my students asked where to get English books in Guiyang, so i told him i had some i could lend him. Today i brought in about 15 books for my class, they were gone in a matter of seconds. These students are starving for English Books. Therefore i really want to start this lending library/resource room. For the lending library i just need books, magazines, movies, and cds that i can lend out to my students. But in order to call it a resource room i need the my school to be willing to give me a room where i hold these books & such, and the students can go to chat in English while checking out books, magazines, DVDs, or cds. You may be wondering how you can help. While in order for me to have anything to offer to my students i need books, magazines, dvds, and cds to be able to lend out to them. Therefore, If you have any old, used books, magazines, dvds, and cds that you no longer want send them to China, they will certainly be put to good use here at Guiyang Medical College. If you could send one or two books, magazines, dvds, or cds in an envelope that would be great. Dont worry about people sending the same book as you, it would be great to have more than one copy of a book, magazine, dvd, or cd. That way if more than one student wants to borrow it they can. I have some books, but very few and my students really want to read English books.

If you like an idea of what types of books to send, my students are interested in short stories, poetry, science fiction, mystery, romance, historical fiction, fantasy. In addition to fiction they also are interested in non-fiction books, such as biographies, travel, science, medicine (this is a medical college), and history (Chinese, ancient Greece & Rome, American). As far as movies goes they are interested in comedies, drama, romantic comedies, fantasy, documentaries and sci-fi.

Thank you in advance for any help. It will be greatly appreciated. As i go farther into the process of making my resource room i will post more about it and i will also post pictures to let you know what it looks like.

My address is as follows:

Kimberly Morlang
U.S.-China Friendship Volunteer
Guiyang Medical College
9 Beijing Rd.
Guiyang, Guizhou, 550004
China (PRC)

Laziness

2008-03-15T06:06:00.001-04:00

I know i keep saying that i will write a blog about my vacation. But you know what i am just too lazy to remember what exactly happened on vacation. If you really care about what i did on vacation, just ask me and i will let you know. But here is the short and sweet version, i went to Panzhihua, Sichuan. Lijiang, Xishuangbanna, and Kunming in Yunnan, while traveling i had lots of fun! Look at my pictures to see what i saw and what i did.

I am heading into the third week of the second semester. I only am teaching 6 classes, which is one less class than last semester. But i am okay with that because it will give me more time for my secondary projects as soon as they are approved. As soon as my waiban office approves my secondary projects i will write a nice long blog about what they are and how you can help me with them. That reminds me i need to type something up to send to them about my secondary projects, so that i can give them a better idea of what i want to do and how it can help the school and the students. Well not really much to update on, life in Guiyang is pretty much back to normal. Just the routine of teaching, grading, eating, sleeping, and hanging out every now and then.

Love and miss you all back home! Would love to hear from you on how you are doing.

Lesson planning

2008-02-28T04:23:00.000-05:00

My new semester starts on March 3rd, i am kind of excited to actual get back to work. I am just not excited about lesson planning for my classes. Especially my listening and speaking class. I have been working on those lessons for a while now and am having a hard time come up with ideas for the units i need to cover from the book. The units are entitled Morality (which i have covered, that one was easy to lesson plan for), Man & Nature, Man & Civilization, Man & Science, Man & Space, and last Law & Order. For some of the units i have some ideas on what i want to teach. But for others i have no idea and am having a hard time finding anything for them. I want to tie these lesson into what my students are going to be doing in the future. This is a medical college therefore i would like to tie these things into medicine in some way. But i am finding it kind of difficult, like for man & civilization i wanted to do something about how medicine has changed throughout all the civilizations, but i have no idea how or what to do. It is very frustrating!

So i start on Monday and only have my schedule for the post grad students i do not yet have the schedule of what classes i am teaching for the undergrads. Hopefully i will get that tomorrow, i can only hope.

I promise i will write about my vacation at some point and time, i just haven't had the energy to do that yet, because that will take some time.

Love and miss everyone back home!

The Start of Vacation

2008-02-14T01:09:00.000-05:00

I have been back at site now for about two days. I think it is about time that i write a little about my vacation. I will write about how vacation started for now and then i should really get to work on cleaning and taking a shower.

For Peace Corps we have to have a training session in the middle of each year that we are here, it is called IST, therefore my vacation started when i left for IST in Chengdu. You would think that this would be an easy trip and everyone would arrive safely. Well thats not exactly what happened. All of the China 13 volunteers in Guiyang were going to head to Chengdu together plus two other volunteers that were in another city. Lulu (our tutor and great friend) and I went to get tickets well in advance, so we all had beds near each other, it is an 18 hour overnight train from Guiyang to Chengdu. So on the day that we are all suppose to head to Chengdu, Jonny and I head to the train station and hour in half in advance like we normally do. While on the bus we meet up with Danny another volunteer in the city. We get to the train station looking for our six other friends that should be joining us on the train, they weren't there and we were running late so we thought well maybe they went ahead and got on train, so we go in and have no trouble getting on the train. As we approach our beds we were expecting to see all our friends, but they were not there. Therefore i decide to call one of our friends thinking oh they are just running a little behind, and to let them know that they do not have to wait for us outside the station because we were already on the train. Well as it turns out they were running really behind and at that point were thinking that they might miss the train, at this point it was about 3:55, the train left at 4:27. That kinda freaks me out a bit, five of our friends were together in taxis on their way to the train station, and then Lulu comes into the cabin where we are sitting. I tell her what Feifei told me on the phone, and she starts to freak out. There were many phone calls from the train to the other volunteers finding out where they were and how far away they were. At 4:26 those of us on the train heard the brakes release and the doors slam shut, and we lost all hope that our friends were going to make it on the train. And for once in China the train left on time at 4:27 on the dot. Now normally in China the trains leave relatively on time, only about 1 to 5 minutes late, which would have been prefect for our friends. Because according to them they ran up the stairs to where our train was got to the lady who was checking tickets and looked out the window as the train started to move, but they saw it stationary for about 5 seconds. Therefore they were there and missed the train by seconds, literally. The one time we wanted the train to leave just a few minutes late, it did not. So after we started moving there were more phone calls between the two groups trying to figure out what to do, Lulu suggested that they run and get tickets to Zunyi, which was the first stop for the train, and then they could hp on there. It was four hours to Zunyi by train but only three by bus. They ran to try to do that, then realized that traffic was not moving, so they decided to have two people stay and try to figure out a way to get them on another train. Several hours later those of us on the train got a phone call saying that they were able to exchange their tickets for some on tomorrows train, leaving at the same time, and they had the same beds as they were suppose to have on this train. we all we relived that they were able to figure that out, they had a little Guangxi help, but they still managed.

IST was great, got to see everyone again, talk to them a little. Learned a lot of new and interesting things that i can use for teaching and for my secondary projects. Which i will be working on a lot this semester.

I decided a while ago that i did not like the way that my life here in China was going. I was just sitting in my apartment watching movies and playing on the internet. I decided that i wanted to focus on my secondary projects, start a new hobby (hopefully i will be learning to play the drums), and interact more with Chinese people, whether it is my students, co-workers, or meeting random people from around Guiyang. Therefore while i was at IST i was able to come up with many ideas for my secondary projects and how to make some of them work. In addition, i got a new idea for a secondary project that i had never thought about doing before. IST was a wonderful experience for me because not only was i able to see everyone again, but i was able to learn a lot of new things about teaching in China and about secondary projects that i want to do. As a side note, i will be posting later about my secondary project ideas and asking for your help in some of them.

Ok so moving on, after IST was over my real vacation started. I had planned to visit Yunnan, with four other girls, Melanie, Bethany, Feifei (aka Valerie), and Colleen. However, before going to Yunnan we were going to go to Panzhihua, which is where Colleen's site is located. In order to get a train ticket to Panzhihua, we had to go through another town instead of just leaving straight from Chengdu. Therefore on the 27th us girls got on a 3 hour bus to LongChong, where our train to Panzhihua was leaving from. Lets just say we were glad when we left LongChong...there was nothing there but mud, but hey feel free to visit anytime i bet you will love it. Now to tell you a little about out train, as i already stated we could not get tickets out of Chengdu, mostly because it was the holiday season (spring festival, which is like Christmas in the US, everyone goes home to their families to celebrate the Chinese New Year, according to the Lunar Calendar), in addition to not being able to get our tickets out of Chengdu we were not able to get beds or sleeper cars. We were only able to get hard seats, i want you to imagine a school bus, remember those bench like seats, well that is what our seats were like, only there was NO padding at all. Therefore we sat on our hard seats and rode to Panzhihua, but the best part was this train went through Chengdu, so we basically went back to where we came from and then down to Panzhihua. Now hard seats are not that bad...if you are only traveling for like 4 hours somewhere. However, Panzhihua was a 20 hour train ride for us. 20 hours sitting on hard seats, trying to sleep while sitting up with the lights still on and NO heat on the train at all. It was a rough and interesting trip. We decided to make the best of our 20 hours by drinking 7 bottles of BaiJiu, or Chinese Alcohol, the literal translation is white wine, but it is not wine at all. It is close to vodka or any other liquor than it is to wine. Late in the night after we drank the baijiu a man came by selling toys of sort, and Colleen decided that we needed a mascot for our trip and also to help us remember or lovely travels to Panzhihua. That was when she bought Rush, and he became our little mascot friend for our trip, along with Flat Stanley who i brought to take pictures with for my cousin Zach and his class. After 20 long hours on the train we finally arrived in Panzhihua, where we had an amazing 2 days of just relaxing.

While in Panzhihua we got hair washed and nails done. Very relaxing and fun, Feifei and I decided that we need to get our nails done about once a week or so. Panzhihua was a very beautiful and clean city.

Well i guess thats all for now, in my next installment i will talk about Lijiang, Xishuangbanna, and Kunming. I also might break that up into three separate installments, i have lots to talk about for each. If you like a different point of view on our travels feel free to check out Feifei's blog (yes i did get permission from her to tell you to check her blog out). In addition, check out my pictures to get a visual account of what happened on the vacation.

Feifei's blog: http://valflynn.blogspot.com/
My Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/kmorlang07, http://picasaweb.google.com/pcvkim

Enjoy!
Peace out homeslice!

Just checking

2008-02-11T21:25:00.001-05:00

I wanted to see if this works. Therefore that is what i am doing. If it does, then i will update on vacation at a later time. If not i will atempt again to set up this email in my posts. cya!

--
Kimberly Morlang
U.S.-China Friendship Volunteer
Guiyang Medical College
Guiyang, Guizhou

Craziness that is

2008-01-12T20:21:00.000-05:00

Christmas in China was much better than expected. The only time i was sad or homesick was when i called my family and they were at the Christmas eve party. That was really the only time i was sad and wished i was home. The Thursday before Christmas my English department had a Christmas party, Jonny and I read Twas the night before Christmas. They didnt seem to get it or understand, but it was fun to read, and we perform something so we didnt let them down. It was fun, there were skits perform by the different grades of students, and games then there was dancing for an hour or so. It really was not what i was expecting when i showed up to the party but it was fun, i really enjoyed myself. Christmas eve i went to this cafe where they were having this christmas party, it wasnt too much fun for me though because i wasnt feeling too great. I'm sure that if i was feeling better i would have enjoyed it better. Christmas day i gave my post grads a final, then came home made some no-bake cookies, and then waited for my mom to call me. However, she forgot so i ended up call my aunt's house. It was great to talk to all my family even if it was for a second just to say Merry Christmas, it was nice to hear their voices. The funny part was that as the phone was being passed around, i could hear them talking about me in the background, its just like my family to do that. Then that night Jonny and I hosted Christmas dinner at his place. Danny came over and made meat sauce, Jess and Todd brought a vegetable sauce, that tasted amazing, Jenn and Chaston brought this amazing Chicken potato salad. And i cooked the pasta and made mashed potatoes. It was loads of fun, and i realized then just how much i love being in the kitchen, because when i first got there i sat in the living room doing nothing, and i was bored and felt like there was something i should be doing. Then when i joined Danny in the kitchen it was amazing, i felt so happy. Jonny and I like hosting people, he does the hosting and i do the cooking, it loads of fun.

The weekend after Christmas all the Guizhouren met in Zunyi to celebrate Christmas and New Years together. We had a big dinner on Sunday, and then Monday night we went to this club to bring in the New Year together. Oh so much fun. I took over 200 pictures, well cause i am the picture queen. We drank, we talked, we sang, and we danced, it was really a lot of fun.

So other than that i have just been hanging out in my apartment in Guiyang, going to think fine tea, reading and studying Chinese. I made dinner for Jonny and I one day last week. I made meatloaf, Green beans, and cream cheese mashed potatoes, it was good if i do say so myself. Then the next night i made dinner for Jess, Sara, Lulu, Jonny, and myself. That night i found a recipe in the PC cookbook for a type of lasagna, so thats what i made. It was eggplant, Zucchini, Sauce, and Jiaozi wrappers, it turned out good, everyone seemed to like it. Then last week i made tuna casserole for Danny, Lulu, and myself. But i made it with rice instead of pasta, it came out ok. Danny and i had Chinese lessons together so we made a deal that if i cooked dinner on Tuesday for them he would cook on Wednesday for us. So thats what we did, he made hamburgers on Wednesday, they were good hamburgers.

The semester ended on not such a good note for me with my post grads, i wont go into details here. But lets just say that i am not a fan of some people, a lot of those people being my students. I have no idea what i am teaching next semester, nor when the next semester starts. I go to Chengdu on the 21st for IST, then after IST i am traveling to Yunnan with Melanie, Bethany, and Feifei. I am so excited to finally be traveling, this is my first ever trip. Well i should head out, shower and get ready for today. I will write after i get back from traveling. Peace Out Homeslice!

Thanksgiving and more

2007-12-04T05:41:00.000-05:00

Ok so things here are good. Thanksgiving was a blast. We had a big dinner at Todd and Jess's place, with lots of food. It was absolutely amazing. Great time with great people. This past weekend i went to Anshun with Jonny and Feifei to do a little christmas shopping. The train ride was only about an hour and we spent about five hours in Anshun shopping and walking around. It really was a fun day out.

Other than that nothing much has happened here. I am still teaching, students are slowly getting better but at the same time getting worse, is that possible. Does that even make any sense. My post grade are opening up and starting to enjoy class, but they are also starting to annoy me with their level of cheating. Even after i give a lecture on what cheating is and how much i hate it, and the fact that if i catch them cheating they will recieve zeros on that assignment. But that just comes with being here i guess.

Well im off to go get some dinner, cause i havent eaten much today and i am sure that if i dont eat my mother will be very mad at me, even though she is thousands of miles away, it is possible. Peace Out homslice.

Life in China

2007-11-12T06:00:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since i have written anything on this blog. Mostly because my internet was not wanting to work properly. But i now i have a better way to get here an actually update. Se here is whats been up since my birthday. We had national week, we spent it here in Guiyang, Jonny and I went to an ancient town with some of his students and then to Tian He Tan with Fangfang and our deans daughter. It was amazing. Also over that week off from teaching we hung out with other Guizhouren and had fun. Then we also celebrated Halloween together at Todd and Jess's place. Oh so much fun, i dressed up as a cat. I bought a headband, then made ears and taped them on, then used Kari's sock as my tail, it was her idea and it was brilliant. Other than that i havent really done much. Just teaching and hanging out with people. Or just hanging out by myself in my apartment, which gets a little lonely at times. Last weekend i had a real bad case of homesickness, i missed everyone so much. It took me a while but i finally got back to myself. I am so happy to be in China although i am so far away from my family and friends, this is the opportunity of a lifetime and i am so glad to be here and to have this opportunity. I think i just needed my friends to remind me of why i am here and what it means not only to them but to me. Mandi told me the other day that the newness of it all is going away and i am stepping into reality, and REALITY SUCKS!!! It is so true, she also said something else to me, and Stephanie. Oh Stephanie, she is amazing and i dont think she realizes just how amazing she is. She sent me an amazing email about how she is proud of me and how i am making a difference here. It was something that i really needed that from her, and from Mandi. I really love my friends and they are amazing and i cant imagine my life without them.

I also cant imagine my life without Bean also. He is still in my life as a great friend, we talk everyone once and a while and when we do it is good. We have nice chats about many different things. He is very helpful in keeping me sane, and he probably doesnt even know how much he helps me but he does.

My mom is great as well, she is constantly worried about me and about how happy i am. She also is great at telling me that it is amazing that i am here. I love my mom, we dont actually talk much, but when we do it is great, because she is proud of me and i can totally tell. Speaking to my mom perks me up every time i talk to her. I love my mom so much.

Well i probably should get back to work...oh but wait i forgot to mention that the other day i bought new dvds. Six of them to be exact, Santa Clause 3, Meet the Robinsons, Blades of Glory, Shortcut to Happiness, The Invisible, and License to Wed. They are all amazing movies, and i am glad i bought them, even though i shouldnt have because i should have spent the money on something else. But oh well, i needed some new movies, and i am glad i got them, they really help perk me up again. They were all great movies. The only one i had seen before was Santa Clause 3. Well now i should get back to work. Peace Out Homeslices.

My Birthday

2007-09-18T05:35:00.000-04:00

My birthday was yesterday, and it was amazing. Well this weekend i celebrated it with PC people that live in Guiyang and a couple of others that were up visiting for the weekend, and it was loads of fun as well. We went to Pizza Fun and had dinner, then went back to Todd's and Jess's place and hung out drank beer talked and two people sang karaoke. So anyway yesterday, i got tons of messages from people wishing me a happy birthday. the Foreign affairs office at my school gave me a tea cup thing that i can carry to class. Jonny and i had dinner with people from the English department as well as people from the foreign affairs office. It was lots of fun. When we first arrived Jonny and I played Mahjiong with some of the people, and it was fun. Then we had dinner, with lots of food. I got noodles at the end because it is Chinese traditional food on your birthday. The noodles symbolize long life, so i had to eat noodles on my birthday, they were really good, they actually tasted like Roman noodles. Then they gave me a cake, which came with a crown. Yes i did wear the crown, the cake was absolutely beautiful, and of course that was the one time i did not have my camera on me, im such a loser. It was also very tasty. In addition, there was a man that came in and sang songs to us, it was really fun. Then i came home, and Fei Fei called and sang happy birthday to me over the phone. It really was a great birthday. On top of that the class that i had yesterday morning, (i did not tell them it was my birthday), gave me moon cakes for the mid autumn festival, which is actually next week. But it was cool. I still have not been able to get motivated to lesson plan, but i am going over to jonny's to make a powerpoint for my listening and speaking class so i can teach them all about the American education systerm. SO peace out homeslice.

China thus far

2007-09-15T22:07:00.000-04:00

Ok so after being in China for two months and not being able to figure this whole blog blocking thing, i finally got it. YAY. So i guess i will update on everything that has happened in the past two months.

Staging was lots of fun, met a lot of cool people. In China we were split into three training groups, one at Sichuan Normal Main Campus, one at Sichuan Normal East Campus, and the third group trained at Chengdu University. I was in the group that was at East. There was 18 of us, and we became really good friends over the two months of training. Training felt like it took forever, and yet it also felt like it flew by. My host family was amazing, i had a host sister who is the same age as me, except her birthday is in July, while mine is in September.

We swore into Peace Corps on September 7, 2007. We became official peace corps volunteers. We started at staging with 65 people, we lost one at staging because her boyfriend purposed to her. Then we lost 3 more throughout training, 2 from main campus, and one from east campus. So we swore in with 61 China 13s. After swear in we went to our respective sites where we will be living for the next two years. I am at Guiyang Medical College, in Guiyang, Guizhou. I have a site mate names Jonny, who is such a great person. So now i am at site, i love it here, and am so excited for the next two years.

My boyfriend and I did not make it, we officially broke up on August 19th. we had been having a few problems, well he was having some problems and i decided to end it. It was for the best, we are both much happier now.

China has been amazing, i have been to two mountains. The first was with Peace Corps in chengdu called Qing Cheng Shan and the other is in Guiyang called Jing ling. It was a lot of fun both times. The first mountain i decided to be brave and try to climb all the way up the mountain. Yeah i made it about half way up and then turned around because i couldnt make it. The second one we took the cable cars up and walked down the mountain, that was much better. Guiyang is such a beautiful city, and i am so excited to be living here.

Well thats about it, i will try to up date more, seeing how i now know how to use it.

Commencement

2007-06-08T09:42:00.000-04:00

I am officially an Elmira College Graduate as of June 3, 2007. And in about 20 days i will be a Peace Corps Trainee. I have made my ticket reservation for staging, and am so excited to be going. But i still have the nervous and scared feeling, mostly of leaving my boyfriend. It will all work out in the end but i dont really want to leave him here. Anyway i cant believe it i have graduated from college and am going into the peace corps. I have something to do for the next two years of my life. I feel bad for my friends who at the moment either have no idea what they want to do, cant do anything because of other reasons, or havent heard anythign back about anything that they have been trying to do. That is one reason i hate talking about going is because i feel so bad for them, but there is nothing that i can do. And i feel like i shouldnt let their hard times get me down. So i try not to and i just cannot wait to leave, as hard as it will be for me to leave my boyfriend, family, and friends i know that this is somethign i would regret not doing if i didnt go. China here i come...i just have to wait a few more weeks and get through Reunion alive and then i will be on my way.

For Real

2007-05-25T15:41:00.001-04:00

So this is really happening...I am graduating from COLLEGE in EIGHT DAYS!!!! and going to China for TWO YEARS in 33 DAYS!!!!! I just cant believe it, i think the shock is starting to sink in. I am mostly done with school, i have one class left, and reunion, and then i am official out of here. Its so odd to think about, yet i am so excited and cannot wait for it all to come together. At the same time i am scared to leave my boyfriend behind. I am unsure why, i believe in my heart that we will make it the whole two years. He was the one that pushed me to finish my application in the first place. I dont know i guess becuase i am actually starting to do things to get ready to graduate and to get ready to leave for china that it is finally starting to hit me that OMG i am going to be living in China for two whole years, i will be away from my family and friends for two years. That i will really be leaving my boyfriend at college. its surreal.

Hard

2007-05-20T11:50:00.000-04:00

Ok i dont know if its just me. But i am finding it very difficult to think about anything else but the fact that in about 38 days i will be going to China for two years. I have to write this paper for my independent study that is due tomorrow, original due last wednesday, and i have nothing done for it. All i can do is think about China and what i need to get. But i know that i need to consitrate on my paper. I wish i was done, i wish i was graduated already, i wish i didnt have to go to classes. But alas i dont graduate until June 3rd. Yeah well i guess i just need to make myself focus. Which means its back to work for me. peace out.

Sigh of relief

2007-05-15T13:48:00.000-04:00

I can go to China, even if i do not get my certification. My experience is enough!!! I am so excited about that. however, i am still going to retake my test and try to get my certification, and hopefully i pass, because if i dont then i have to wait until i return from China to take it again. But that was nice to hear that i can still go and i have nothing to worry about. But for the next few weeks i will be studying and practicing for my test so that i can pass. I am so excited about that news and i am less stressed about it. However, now i am stress about getting the money to pay for the test. well peace out homeslice.

umm yeah

2007-05-15T08:47:00.000-04:00

so i failed my content specialty test for certification, again. Which means that i cannot get certification until i pass it. However, the next date to take the test is June 9th, late registration ends may 18th...i dont have the money to registrar. The next date after that is July 21st. Therefore i have no idea if i will be able to go to China or not because i do not have certification, and if i were to take the test on June 9th i would not get my scores until July 9th, when i would be in china, and if i failed it the next time i would be in China and have no way to take it again. I email the China desk and asked them about it but they have no yet responded. I really really want to go to China. :(

China

2007-05-14T13:59:00.000-04:00

i went last week and got my medical stuff done. it was nice to get it done and out of the way because now i dont really have anything to do for a while for the Peace Corps. However, at the same time i feel like i should be doing something to prepare myself to leave.

I am taking a class at school called Behind the Headlines, where we read the New York Times everyday and discuss different articles in class. It is very interesting, how is that related to peace corps or China? Well lately there have been several articles relating to China, and my Boyfriend is in the class with me and picks on me about the articles throughout class. Its pretty cool to be able to read about a country and say to myself or others, I'll be living there for 2 years!

I am so excited and cant wait, but as June 28th gets closer and closer i get more nervous, and scared. But i am still oh so excited about going.

Excitment

2007-05-08T15:17:00.000-04:00

Ok so i really am so excited and just cant hide it. I mean really i leave for the Peace Corps in 51 days. i should be freaking out, but im not i am calm and relaxed, and just so excited to be going to China!!!! I feel like i should not be doing anything, no school work, no reunion crap, nothing. Yet i have to do that stuff, and then go to China. It seems so unreal that i will be going to China. However, i think what i am most excited about is actually meeting everyone else that is going. Instead of just "meeting" them on facebook. I mean yeah i can talk to them on facebook and get to know them a little, but i am really excited to actually meet them and get to know who they are and why they chose the Peace Corps. Anyway, now its back to work...just had to share the excitement.

Process

2007-05-06T13:18:00.000-04:00

Ok so the process is moving along. I got my wisdom teeth taken out on Tuesday, and was dentally cleared on Wednesday. I sent in my Aspiration Statements, and Resume. I then received a questionnaire, which i filled out and sent in the same day. I went on Wednesday and got my Passport stuff stamped at the county clerks office, and i mailed those out, the Peace Corps received that on Thursday. This Wednesday i will be getting the medical stuff started so that i can send that in. My stress level for the Peace Corps has fallen, now i am just stressed about everything else that is going on. Like my independent study, and my other class. Commencement, senior events, and Reunion. But there are only like 20 something days until Commencement, and about 53 days until i leave for San Fransisco for staging/Orientation. That will be the first time i will ever be on a plane, and then two days later when i leave for China it will be the second time. I am really excited and the closer the date comes the more excited i get. Everything is falling into place, which is very nice, cause i am not as stressed as i was a couple of weeks ago. Ok last week, the only thing i am worried about is my passport, although i got it in fairly early, they said that there was a backlog in the the passport office, which means that i could end up not getting my passport on time, which would really suck. and i would not find that out until i get there because it is being sent to them not to me. Whatever, i am not going to think about, i am going to think about the positives and the good things that are happening in my life. I am looking forward to China and everything that the Peace Corps has to offer me there.

First Post

2007-04-29T14:42:00.000-04:00

I decided that i needed somewhere to post what is happening in my life and a place that i knew i would be able to post when i leave. The purpose behing this blog is to inform my friends and family about what is happening in my life and what i am up to. This will be a blog full of info about my life and what i am doing it will not include my feelings about personal issues that i have going on. I will however include feelings about the events that are occuring. Everything that is in this blog are my personal thoughts and actions. There is no influence from anyone else. I hope you enjoy.

Peace Corp

2007-04-29T14:30:00.000-04:00

I applied to the Peace Corp in September and since then i have been moving along in the process and about a week and a half ago i accepted an invitation to serve in China!!!! so that is where i am in the process. I am filling out paper work and rewriting my resume as well as writing an aspiration statement. It is tough to do everything plus deal with everything that is happening at school and do everything that i have to do finish school and graduate. I leave for orientation on June 28th, and then on July 1st i leave for Pre-Service Training in China. I start my service on September 6, 2007 and my service ends on September 6, 2009. I am really excited to go to China and spend two years of my life there.

Well most of you are proably wondering what i will be doing in China. I will be teaching english at a university in China. It is a great opportunity so i took it, i did not want to let it go. I realized the other day that the summer olympics are being held in China in the summer of 2008, which means that i will be there for them. I am super excited about that.

As i get more infomation and get closer to leaving i will post more info to let you know what is up. So far i am just excited, that is about the only feeling i have about the Peace Corp and what i will be doing.

Time Stamp

2007-04-29T14:10:00.000-04:00

Hey i just thought i would let you know that i decided to have the time stamp for China. I thought i was cool, so that way i know what time it is in China when i post my blogs in the US. I may change it back to the US time when i get to China but not sure yet.

Finished my revised resume finally, now i just have to do the aspiration statement. However, i am finding it to be a pain. But i have to do it and send it out so back to work for me.