YAY!!! Internet's working again! :D Don't worry, I'm still alive! Sorry for the lateness of this post but the internet connection has been really weak and it wasn't letting me on! I like the format of Weebly a lot better than Tumblr but Tumblr seems to connect to internet more consistently so I'm using both sites. Same posts, two different sites.
Anyway, I think it’s interesting that I lived in Costa Rica for 5 months as a foreign exchange student, rather than on a program with other Americans, without ever experiencing severe culture shock or EVER getting homesick and now, even though I have the security blanket of only being abroad for 5 weeks and being on a program with other Americans, I’m feeling a little homesick and sometimes overwhelmed. I attribute this to three things: 1) I am coming off of a lot of hard work student teaching to a slower pace, 2) I am missing my students and cooperating teacher in the US a LOT, and 3) I don’t speak the language and it’s not like I can even wing it when I read a menu or a label on something because I can’t read Chinese characters. The first four days I was feeling a little melancholy but I think I’m moving forward now. After all, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I want to make the most of it! And I’m lucky that I get to see my students and CT in North Carolina when I get back!!
I have a few random things to mention in this post and then from here on out they’ll be more thematic!
So, when I arrived at the airport last Sunday I got to exchange my American money for Chinese money and it’s SO COOL! The currency here is called Yuan (or RMB, shorthand for renminbi) and each American dollar is worth approximately 6 Yuan. So if a sign says something costs 30 Yuan, that means the product is worth about $5.
Anyway, I think it’s interesting that I lived in Costa Rica for 5 months as a foreign exchange student, rather than on a program with other Americans, without ever experiencing severe culture shock or EVER getting homesick and now, even though I have the security blanket of only being abroad for 5 weeks and being on a program with other Americans, I’m feeling a little homesick and sometimes overwhelmed. I attribute this to three things: 1) I am coming off of a lot of hard work student teaching to a slower pace, 2) I am missing my students and cooperating teacher in the US a LOT, and 3) I don’t speak the language and it’s not like I can even wing it when I read a menu or a label on something because I can’t read Chinese characters. The first four days I was feeling a little melancholy but I think I’m moving forward now. After all, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I want to make the most of it! And I’m lucky that I get to see my students and CT in North Carolina when I get back!!
I have a few random things to mention in this post and then from here on out they’ll be more thematic!
So, when I arrived at the airport last Sunday I got to exchange my American money for Chinese money and it’s SO COOL! The currency here is called Yuan (or RMB, shorthand for renminbi) and each American dollar is worth approximately 6 Yuan. So if a sign says something costs 30 Yuan, that means the product is worth about $5.
Something else that’s interesting is that other countries have differently shaped outlets with different voltages. When I was in Costa Rica, the outlet size was the same and I could just plug all of my appliances into the wall like normal, but here in China the shape is different and I had to buy an adaptor/converter so I could plug that into the wall and then plug my appliance into the adaptor/converter and then the appliances are supposed to work like normal, but… I had a little incident. On my first day here, I was getting ready for my day and I blew dry and straightened my hair like I usually do but when I was finished… my hair was scorched! Apparently the voltage is a lot higher here and it messed up my hair :( I’m not happy about it but I do kind of laugh at the situation. I bought some conditioner and a spray and am only blow drying my hair with cold air so hopefully within a week it’ll be back to normal…
Another difference is that you’re not supposed to drink the water from the tap here so we have to drink from bottled water or juice. But the juice here is AMAZING! It only costs like 30 cents for a bottle of lemonade or grape juice or flavored water, literally whatever flavor you want. I know I’ll miss those when I get home!
I’m going to post pictures of food soon (I’m waiting for more info about schools here so I can post it all together) but it’s really good! I usually don’t like “Chinese” food in the US but the “Chinese” food we eat in the States tends to be Americanized. It’s not as fatty or salty here. For breakfast (at least here at the school) there are little buns with meat and onions inside – delicious!, some kind of soup, Chinese donut-like pastries, and shredded potatoes (kind of like hash browns) For lunch and dinner people eat a large portion of rice, some kind of meat or fish stir-fried with vegetables, maybe some soup, and a green vegetable (I think I’m seeing a lot of leeks). The food is really good but I’m still kind of a picky eater (not in a bratty way but I’m just a little cautious) and I’m still losing weight like crazy! I lost 12 pounds during the 10 weeks I was student teaching in the US and the pants I wore yesterday were suddenly like 2 sizes too small so at this rate, there’s no telling what I’ll look like when I come home! (And I’ll start going to the gym this week too!).
Hopefully the internet will cooperate and I'll be able to put up my next post in a few minutes...
I’m going to post pictures of food soon (I’m waiting for more info about schools here so I can post it all together) but it’s really good! I usually don’t like “Chinese” food in the US but the “Chinese” food we eat in the States tends to be Americanized. It’s not as fatty or salty here. For breakfast (at least here at the school) there are little buns with meat and onions inside – delicious!, some kind of soup, Chinese donut-like pastries, and shredded potatoes (kind of like hash browns) For lunch and dinner people eat a large portion of rice, some kind of meat or fish stir-fried with vegetables, maybe some soup, and a green vegetable (I think I’m seeing a lot of leeks). The food is really good but I’m still kind of a picky eater (not in a bratty way but I’m just a little cautious) and I’m still losing weight like crazy! I lost 12 pounds during the 10 weeks I was student teaching in the US and the pants I wore yesterday were suddenly like 2 sizes too small so at this rate, there’s no telling what I’ll look like when I come home! (And I’ll start going to the gym this week too!).
Hopefully the internet will cooperate and I'll be able to put up my next post in a few minutes...