I'm back...

Today is an exciting morning as I just realized that Blogspot is back in China!!! I don't know how long I will be able to write on here but while I have it I will try to write frequently to take full advantage!

It is about 6.30 AM right now as I sit at my computer. Outside is all hazy and cold-about 34 but I see blue starting to poke through the clouds. I just finished my morning Japanese stretching exercises (one of the Japanese teachers here and another American and I do Japanese morning exercises every morning at 6.10 together. It is pretty fun and a good way to get the mornings going.) I don't teach today so it is very tempting to go back to bed and sleep sleep sleep. However, I am determined today to get stuff done. I am feeling very overwhelmed by the amount of work I need to do and I am wanting to go with my teammate, Bethany, and a Chinese friend to the Harbin Provincial museum this afternoon.

Things have been going well lately. I definitely am feeling at home and used to life here. I have been getting into a more regular schedule of life lately and am feeling pretty good about that. I have been trying to go to bed between 10 and 10.30 each night so that I can get close to 8 hours of sleep. It has been a hard adjustment because it definitely cuts out time I could be doing other things at night so that's why I think I feel like I always have stuff to do. I am just having to learn to manage my time better-something I always struggle with. I have also been cooking a lot lately. At first, it just seemed to take so much time but now I am really starting to enjoy it. I have mostly just been experimenting with different things so I just grab lots of vegetables out of the fridge and start chopping. I feel like a chef or something!

Chinese study has been going well. For a while this year I was at this point in language learning where I was stuck at this wall and to move past it would require a lot of individual work and motivation and I feel like I am starting to get past that point now which is good. I meet 2-4 hours with my tutor from last year and then now 2-3 hours on Sunday with a new friend who is teaching me who doesn't really speak English. It has been hard as it is so tiring to be listening in Chinese only for 2-3 hours but so good for me. She is real funny to so that helps! I have been studying little flash cards learning characters like crazy and probably know a little more that 400 characters, which may sound like a lot but really isn't that much considering how many there are. I really enjoy learning the characters though and they give a lot of insight into the culture. It has been fun to see my improvement in listening this semester especially in the study I am in on Saturday nights. It is about 95 percent in Chinese now, which is great, and I am starting to understand more and more and able to follow what is happening and what they are talking about. It is so great that it is in Chinese as well because they are really taking ownership of the study and are teaching each other-a great thing.

I am thinking of taking a walk now to the morning market before heading to the gym. I have never been (usually am asleep) but hear they have everything imaginable for sale so I figure it would be something fun to check out. Make sure to check out my flickr regularly as I am putting different pictures up on it. (www.flickr.com/photos/chinamegan).

Going on year two...

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

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

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

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

Back in America!

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

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

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

The Family has come and gone...

My family (mom, dad, sister) came to visit the last week and a half. It was really exciting for me to have them here and have a chance to show them my life here. I surprised them at the Beijing airport and it was so great to see their surprised faces, and just see them! We stayed about 4 days in Beijing doing all the Beijing things-Tian'anmen, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Great Wall, Wangfujing, Silk Market, Pearl Market, etc. It was fun to see their reactions to things. After living in China for a while, things start becoming so normal and you forget that it is so different than in America. Things like the taxi drivers, crossing streets, and other everyday living things. It was also fun to revisit some of these places and be able to just walk around and enjoy and not worry about taking pictures as much. There is so much history in many of these places and they are so important to the Chinese people.

We took the night train (soft sleepers) from Beijing to Harbin last Wed. That was fun with the family-our own little sleeper room, watching Chinese tv, trying to fit all our bags in! It was nice to be back in Harbin where things are much more familiar to me than Beijing (and the weather is much cooler!) We did a few of the Harbin things too-Tiger Park, Center St., St. Sophia, Pizza Hut, shopping. They also were able to come with me to my classes and watch their dramas. I had some amazing dramas perform last week-they performed about the "Future in China." It was great to hear their ideas (See next post). They also came with me to the English center where i teach children and met all the kiddos. The kids loved my family and being able to meet new foreigners-as did the TAs. One of the most fun things we did was go to dinner with some of my Chinese friends. We ate and ate and then did karyoke (there was a machine in the room we ate in). It was so fun and my Chinese friends really loved my family. I have been so blessed to make such great Chinese friends and to be able to really invest in them and them teach us so much as well!

I was so happy my parents came and sad they had to go home. It was crazy sometimes having people always around and organizing things, but I loved it. I was able to really use my CHinese a lot as well, especially in Beijing so that was rewarding. I dont always get to use it a lot here because I am on campus a lot and I should be speaking English to my students so I love any chance to use it. I still have so far to go in it, but I am loving the journey! It is crazy to think that I will be home in about 3 weeks. I arrive back in AR on June 25. I have a lot to do before then so please be remembering me in that. I hope to see many people this summer, so keep your schedules open!!!

Flowers are blooming and here come the little children!

It is finally starting to be spring here in Harbin and I am so glad! It has been a long winter and it is so nice to walk outside and be able to wear my chacos and see beautiful green leaves and trees and smell the lilacs (I have even picked a few for my apartment to make it smell nice!) Everyone seems to be in a happier mood and people are outside playing basketball, soccer, volleyball, and a lot of badminton! One of my favorite things to do is watch people-not in a scary, stalker way, but just to see people doing things they love and being happy. I think it has to do with my love of people. I just love watching people out and about around campus here in Harbin and seeing grandparents walking with their grandchildren and students having fun and not worrying too much about class and old men sitting and playing cards ouside of small restaurants. The children especially have been cute lately. They are finally able to wear normal clothes (you can actually see them other than their little noses sticking out from tons of layers of warm clothes) and they are wearing the wonderful split bum pants (pants with a slit so that they can just squat when they need to go potty!). They are all big eyes and always staring at us foreigners. I love it though!

For the first week of May we were off of work and so I was able to go to S. Korea and visit a friend from college. This was so fun and we had a great time going to the D.M.Z. (border of Norht and South Korea), shopping, riding bikes on the river, hanging out on the Army Base, and so much more. It was so great to be with a friend who I have known longer than a year and to relax and enjoy a little taste of America on the Army base there! (pictures on flickr)

Life is going well lately. I am busy as always but loving it. Chinese is getting crazy. My classes have definitely not gotten easier lately and I have been having to really work hard to stay at all caught up in my classes. Our books no longer have pinyin (chinese in letters)-only characters so that has been rough lately! I still love studying it though. Last week we celebrated one of my teammate's birthday in the theme of Hollywood and so that was really fun. It was nice to dress up and relax together with my team and other teachers in the city. (Pictures on flickr to come). Many other amazing things are happening here as well and I hope to share more soon. My family are coming in 2 weeks to visit and so I am VERY excited about that. It will be great for them to see China and see me in my life here. It will be nice to have people who can see my life in more than just pictures and stories! Love to hear from any of you!

New site, new resolutions

As xanga is no longer working in China, I have decided to start this new site to keep in touch. Sorry it has been so long since I have corresponded with everyone. My new resolution is to keep in touch much better and more regularly. This semester has been very busy, but I am trying to get a better arrangement of my time to get done the important things (like keeping in touch!)

This semester is going well. This semester has been harder in some aspects, but very rewarding and good in other ways. I have realized more that it is not the inconveniences and lifestyle changes of living in a different country that are difficult to adjust to in living in China, but it is the lack of family and close friends that is the hardest part. When living in such a different world, you can not choose who your friends will be as easily. There are few Americans and these relationships arent always perfect and cross-cultural friendships take longer to develop into the kind of friendships that I had grown used to the last few years in college. I have developed some great frienships with my Chinese friends, but there are some areas of my life which are harder to share with these friends. It is difficult to express frustrations with culture or missing friends from home to new Chinese friends. The father is continuing to teach me, however, to lean on him and trust him in his love towards me and to bring me encouragement from his words. I am definitely learning to trust him more.

Chinese learning is going pretty well. I am still taking 8 hours of Chinese classes each week. My classmates are great-we always have fun learning (and making mistakes) together. They take 20 hrs a week so it is sometimes (most of the time!) difficult for me to stay caught up with them in their learning, but I am surviving! I am really enjoying learning Chinese however. I feel I am really gaining better insight into the culture and my Chinese friends and students. I am also gaining such insight into teaching English. I feel I am able to understand my students better and know how to better teach them and understand their language learning. I have been learning characters as well in my Chinese classes and really am loving it-it is so frustrating at times and discouraging, but yet so fun and rewarding to see, recognize, and be able to read characters when I am out in the city!

I have been teaching English at an English center just outside of Harbin on Saturday mornings for the last month or two to children in grades 1-5,7 (mostly 3-5, but i visit grades 1-2 and 7). This has been a very fun time for me as they are so cute and so fun and different to be around then my university students I teach. Every Saturday I am greeted with "Good morning teacher." and then they run around the room! They are learning quickly and it has been fun to teach in a completely different way! We have about 8-10 TA (Teacher assistants) from surronding universities who help translate and manage the students (There are only 3 other foreigners, 1 a Chinese American). These have become good friends and I enjoy teaching with them and then afterwards eating lunch together. Our relationships have really been growing and we have had some really great conversations!

Many other incredible things are going on here in Harbin and at my university and it has been amazing to see all the work being done. More information to come in email soon! (If you would like to get my email updates, let me know and I will add you to my email list!) I will leave you with one of my favorite things that has happened in class this semester. Often students will bring me notes to "ask for leave-qing jia" for their classmates. One I got the other day said the following. I just love it.

"Dear Teacher,
I am so sorry to tell you that I'll be absent for your class. Because I was beaten by a bad guy with a stick. I have to stay in hospital for two days. Best wishes. Yours truely"