I made it...

Three flights, many hours, and a couple days later (time difference, haha) I have made it to China. A longer update later. :-)

Goodbye America, Hellooo China!

So this is really happening. Today is the day! My adventure begins in just a matter of hours! And just think...the next time I update this blog, I will actually be in China. :-)

!!!

Everytime I hear the words China, plane, Monday, or a handful of other related words, I feel my heart jump. 6 more days. I still can't believe it.

Two weeks and counting...

I can't believe how quickly it’s coming. I remember when I got accepted back in November, and it seemed so far off (and it was!) and now I am just TWO WEEKS away from moving to China!

A couple weeks ago I was given my teaching placement. I will be teaching at Zhuzhou Number Two Middle School in Zhuzhou, Hunan...either that or Jing Yan Middle School. I was told that these two schools are the same schools, but in different locations, however, when I e-mailed the two girls who taught at each last year, I received this reply from one of them:

“The relationship between Jing Yan and Er Zhong* is confusing and I still don't understand why I ended up at Jing Yan. I was under the impression that I was going to Er Zhong until a few days after I had moved into my apartment and my liaison showed me the "other campus", which is a completely different school. Basically, Jing Yan is loosely attached to Er Zhong because the Junior 3 students are on the same campus. But, Er Zhong is a public school and Jing Yan is a private school and those ties are not going to last too much longer I don't think. They will tell you that it's just another campus, but it's a completely different school. You'll have a different principal, work different hours, and be treated much much differently than the teacher at Er Zhong. To my understanding, one teacher will be at Er Zhong and the other two will be at Jing Yan like last year. Just a week ago or so ago at our goodbye lunch, they said that they still didn't know who would be going to which school. They might not decide that until they meet you.”

* Er Zhong = Zhuzhou Number Two Middle School (“Er” meaning 2, “zhong” meaning middle...2 semesters of Chinese put to good use, haha.)

So this should be an interesting year. Haha. Nevertheless, I am getting excited (nervous!) about leaving. This week I will be doing a lot of shopping for clothes (it is extremely hard to find clothes, especially pants and shoes, that will fit in China, so I need to come prepared... :-) ) and packing! And I should maybe start reviewing my Chinese... 你好！