The Biggest Ikea in the World

It's an exciting (and mildly unsettling) feeling to realize that you have no idea when you'll be returning to Canada for good. I leave in three weeks and will be in China for at least four months; however, after my orientation day in Freddy, I've realized that I could very easily be there for up to three years (gulp).

At orientation, we became familiar with teaching ELLs (English language learners), we learned about some of the logistics of living in China, and most importantly we met lots of people. Four of us drove to Fredericton and all had the chance to meet some of the other people who will be in Beijing with us. I was surprised to meet the head of CISB and the two principals.

When you think headmaster type, you think that they will be sort of uptight, uber-professional, and rigid. But not true for this guy. He started to explain one of the first places he would be taking us when we arrived. My mind when to the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, the Great Wall - you know, the historical and predictable tourist sites. Know what he said?

"The biggest Ikea in the world!"

He really put us at ease.

Throughout our conversation, I realized that I could very likely end up working full-time after my internship with just a short little trip home to PEI for Christmas. Crazy.

In case, you missed one of my other posts - click here for my school's website.

P.S. I'm still not sure when it will begin, but my video updates will begin soon.

Haircuts and Backpacks

 Today, I cut my hair. Seems like it should be a simple endeavour, nothing that should elicit crazy nerves about going to China. Not true for me at all. When I was teaching in Rimouski for the year, I got a little trim after a lot of building myself up to it. I was nervous about trying to do this in China. I only can say a few essential phrases like "Do you speak English?" in Mandarin so far. Therefore, the thought of trying to explain how to cut my hair was mildly terrifying. Just mildly.

I finally got a new backpack. My other one has served me well but is far from being in decent condition. I had been researching packs a while back and was finding that they were just too expensive for me right now and I had resigned to using my decrepit Reebok bag. But today I bought a Mountain Hardwear pack at Winners of all places; it was surprisingly cheap! I, of course, had to test it out. I think I'm going to need a little help getting fitted for it - I kind of struggled. I only put a few things in for the first test and will really need to do some re-organizing to fit everything in there that I need to take on the plane with me. Tomorrow, I plan to wear it for the better part of the day to see how it feels before I commit to it. Any packing advice?

I also had to test out whether or not my Grammie's afghan would fit into it as I so badly want to take it on the plane with me. It makes everything a little squished so I may have to swap it out for a different airplane blanket. I've been advised that if this is too difficult then a big scarf (such as a pashmina) will do the trick.

My next post will hopefully be a collection of some resources I've dug up based on what I THINK I'm teaching. It still hasn't been confirmed. If you have any good Drama lesson plans or activities, please pass them along to me. Or if you know of someone who does, have them pass it along to me. I also need some great EAL resources! 

Our orientation is in two days in Fredericton, so you'll get the DL on that as well. Probably. Most likely. 

Changing

Never assume that you know what will happen tomorrow or next year because things can change so quickly – whether you like it or not. In the past couple years I’ve gotten a travel bug. It’s a neat little bug because it makes me go places that my better judgment would never let me go to. Like Beijing. Nutty.

I remember calling my friend Emily from Rimouski last year about my weekend in Tadoussac, QC. It was a spontaneous trip to a little tourist town on the other side of the St.Lawrence to go whale-watching. It was something I’d always wanted to do and I got to do it. 

But a simple 3 ½ hour drive turned into 9 hours each way because the ferry was closed so we had to drive all the way around the River. We ended up staying in a youth hostel in a basement room that wasn’t really a room. They were overbooked so we were on mattresses on the floor in a storage room in the basement with strangers. Trust was required. If you followed my other blog while I was in Quebec for a year, you may remember this post. 

Anyway, when I called Em to tell her about it she was amazed. She said “The Becca I used to know would never have done that.” I thought it was funny because I hadn’t given the situation a second thought. I had changed in just a few months away from home in a different province. Similar to how I’d changed when I moved to Moncton for university. 

Travelling and moving changes you exponentially. I can’t even imagine how living in Beijing will change me.

On Thursday of last week, everything became so much more real for me. We booked our flights and now we leave on August 14^th. What am I thinking?! J I was sitting on a curb outside on my lunch break and made the call. Since that call, things have been spiralling into place as I make list after list (you know how much I love lists) of things I need to do. I ended up designating a notebook as my China notebook for planning.

I have also found out which subjects I’m teaching. The internet searching has begun. The curriculum perusing, the idea-jotting, the pre-planning for things I probably can’t even prepare for. I love it. I’m such a nerd but that’s okay with me if it’s okay with you (actually, even if it’s not okay with you I’m still okay with it). I’m teaching high school drama and English tentatively but I likely won’t know all the details until I’m there.

Any of you have pieces of advice? Lesson plans that you think would be good? Travel advice? OR, if you have a story about your own changes through travelling, please throw them at me!

Excited for Pollution

I've been taking the time lately to enjoy the beautiful blue skies of my not-so-polluted home in Canada. I've been wondering which is the best way to prepare myself for dealing with living in Beijing: you know, regularly breathing in some toxins or something. In case you don't know, Beijing is the most polluted city in the world and in 2008, it was actually said that a third of California's air pollution was due to China, the country that is an entire Pacific Ocean away. How does this even happen?

Anyway, I've resigned to the fact that not only will be be the redheaded, freckled, tall, Westerner stumbling through a city of 20+ million people speaking Mandarin, but I will also occasionally don a hideous surgical mask. Why not add to the oddity that I already will be there?

I've been asked by several people over the past couple months this question essentially: "Why in the world would you ever want to teach in China?" I've been tempted to sarcastically respond something like: "Well, I relish the thought of destroying my lungs, being tossed around like a rag doll, regularly being a spectacle, not being able to communicate with a single human being outside of my school, and eating dog or scorpion." But then I think I better not. The real answer is that for some unknown reason, I feel drawn to China. I feel drawn to Asia. Not because it's somewhere I've always wanted to go to (if that were the case, I'd be traipsing across the U.K.), but because I feel like this is somewhere God has called me.

Now, it may sound like I am not excited about this adventure. This isn't true though.

I am quite excited to experience this crazy foreign culture. It will be a whole other world compared to Belfast or Moncton. I've been doing lots of reading and research to prepare myself for the culture shock that I'm bound to experience. Currently, I'm reading this book to your left. It is so INTERESTING. I'm surprised over and over by the things that have happened in China and what the country is like. If you are at all curious about travelling to China or just learning authentically what China is like from a Westerner's eyes, you should check it out.

I'm prepared to just take every day at a time and remember that I am there to teach, experience a new culture, and have my eyes opened (hopefully I can still do this after exposing them to the pollution after four months in the country).

I've already started looking into visiting cities where I'll be able to see sunshine and blue skies again. My friend Alicia (one of my co-travellers) and I have talked about going to Thailand or Qingdao at some point which I'm really excited about.

Oh! Here is the school I'll be at in case you are wondering.

77 days until I leave!! (approx.)

Preparation Time

I said that I would start blogging again and so here I am blogging again with a similar blog to my last one that was about my teaching experience in Rimouski, Quebec. This time it will mostly be about my time in Beijing, China. I still cannot believe that in three months I'll be teaching at an international school in Beijing. I just found out last week and my brain is in a mini frenzy with the planning and preparation for this experience.

My mom and dad made several lists of things that need to be done and it is incredible. I'm thankful for my mom's brain. We think very differently sometimes but I like that; it gives us two unique perspectives on this whole thing.

I started this blog a little early so it may not be dominantly about my China adventure, but also about the summer leading up to it and everything that I'm learning and needing to learn before I fly to the other side of the world. Feel free to throw any advice my way!!

I'll be trying to post at least once a week. So, take care and check back soon!