I'm here, I'm safe!

I'm here, I'm safe, and I finally have internet!

We're about two weeks into our Chinese language study now. I took a year of it in college which I've found has really been to my advantage--not that I'm further along than others, per se, but it is helping me not fall drastically behind. In studying Chinese this time around I have realized something: I would much rather be learning Chinese as a second language than English as a second language. So many people think that Chinese is an extremely difficult language to learn, and as a whole, it can be because it is not natural for those of us used to languages utilizing the Roman alphabet or other phonetic systems of writing. while I love the English language for its complexities and its nuances, its irregularities and its diversities, I am thankful that it is my native language for those very reasons. With Chinese you do not have to contend with verb conjugation, tenses, conjunctions, irregular spelling, gender (in other languages, not English), and the fact that there is not one single rule that is absolute. To know English is to adopt spellings, rules, and pronunciations from a wide variety of languages.

Monday I moved in with my host family. I was very nervous about meeting them because I had no idea what to expect. With the language barrier there are bound to be lots of awkward moments--something I have never seemed to handle with much grace. I feel as though there are some people who can take an awkward moment and make it seem less awkward, learning from it and moving past it quickly. I, however, am not one of those people. No, I'm one of those people who tend to elongate awkward moments, making them even longer and more awkward than necessary. However, I was nervous for nothing. I decided before I met them that I was just going to embrace the awkward moments because they were inevitable and a necessary part of the learning process. My host "mom" goes by the name LeiLei and she's only 5 years older than me. She is so sweet and very beautiful. She was so excited to meet me, and once we got back to their apartment (after lugging all my heavy luggage up 3 flights of stairs), she and I went all over the apartment with a large pad of sticky notes, and she labeled a bunch of things around the apartment to help me learn vocabulary.

It is difficult being separated from the entire group. There are about 90 Peace Corps volunteers (PCVs) right now, and we are split into four groups and are at four different sites. One day a week we get all together for sessions. I was placed in the group with the highest average age, and, incidentally apart from all those I connected with really well during the first week. But I have gotten to know several people at my site who are great. One of those being my Model School partner, Fred. We have to co-teach a 90 minute class for two weeks during training, and I think Fred and I will have a lot of fun--hopefully our teaching styles won't clash. He's pretty laid-back and a lot of fun so I think it should be good.

LeiLei hasn't even met Fred yet, but she already loves him. We went out last night for our friend Sean's birthday after session, and we had to call and ask for permission from our host families to stay out late. Since LeiLei doesn't speak much English, Fred, being first-generation Chinese-American and therefore fluent in Mandarin, called and talked to her. She can't wait to meet him--my friend who speaks such good Mandarin.

We have four more weeks of grueling PST, then we will spend a week each of us visiting our permanent sites. After that we will have two more weeks of training which will end with our big swearing in ceremony when we are sworn in as official PCVs. And then I will be a college professor. I can't wait to find out what university I will be at and what classes I will be teaching. I don't know where I want to be placed, but I do know that I would really love to be placed near people I have connected with so far. It's incredible how close of bonds are formed with people when you are all put into the same situation. I have truly made some lifelong friends here and are looking forward to seeing them develop over the next two years. And if I don't have an opportunity to live by some of the people, at least I will have an opportunity to travel with them.

Until next time, much love from China!!