When the wind of change blows, some build walls while others build windmills. – Chinese Proverb

A lot of things have changed, and I have a lot of updates since my last post – so I warn you now, it’s going to be a long one! Alethea and I are no longer in Guangzhou, but have moved to Hunan province, in a city called Chenzhou (the zhou is pronounced kind of like “show”). I posted a couple pictures below if you're curious where that is within China. We thought we were going to be in Guangzhou for our time here, but we are going with the flow – and like the Chinese proverb says, we are trying to build windmills instead of building walls! Honestly, it is so amazing here though and we are very lucky. We are working in a high school which is called Chenzhou Number 1 Middle School (pronounced in Chinese like “Chenzhou Dee Ee Zhong Shay”). I am going to teach Senior 1 students who are 15-16 years old, which is like Grade 10 in Canada; Alethea will teach Senior 2 students who are 16-17 years old. I will write more about this in a little, but I want to talk more about Guangzhou first.

I told you all about my first day and what it was like, but now we have had a chance to understand and get comfortable with our surroundings. We had training for 4 days, but things at Worlda were a little slower than we expected. We would arrive at 10am as in our schedule, but often would not start until 10:30 and sometimes we did other things than what we were told to prepare. We were flexible and still learned a lot and I appreciated the time to get settled and used to the time change. Angela and Christina are two ladies around our age who are in charge of our teacher training with Worlda and they are also with us in Chenzhou helping us to get accustomed to the school and new city. During our training time we also got the necessary paperwork completed in order for our visa to be valid in China. Another representative at Worlda, Allen, helped us to get our medical tests and register for a temporary residence permit. It is important to register our apartment because as foreigners we may be stopped by the police on the street (I think this is more common in Guangzhou) and if we don’t have proof of residency we would get a large fine. As well, the medical tests meant that our visa can be a multiple-entry visa in 30 days so we can travel to different areas around Asia.

It was a very strange experience going through the medical procedures here. We went to a building that had different procedure areas that was very crowded. First we had our eyes, ears, nose and mouth checked, and then moved on to the eye exam. The doctor doing the eye exam was very friendly and asked us a lot of questions, but he was really the only one who spoke English out of all of the doctors that we saw that day. We then got our ECG and chest X-Ray done, and went to a different floor. We were told that day that we couldn’t eat breakfast so I wasn’t sure if that included water, but it ended up making it hard to give a urine sample. It was so embarrassing because the nurses were yelling across the hospital at each other and waving the bottle around – and poor Allen had to translate! He was so embarrassed, I was so embarrassed, and to make it worse everyone else in the hospital was staring at me as this all happened. It ended up being ok though so we moved on to the ultrasound and blood test. I’ve never had an ultrasound before because I really only thought this was necessary for pregnant women, but she told me I need to drink more water – I have no idea how she could tell from that black and white screen though! All-in-all it felt like a pretty long day, but we were glad to get it over with.

We had planned to go to Hunan the next day, but I woke up that night with a problem in my ear. My ears are very small and I have had problems with my hearing in the past, but it is an easy enough procedure to fix it in Canada if I go to the doctor. Here, it is a bit more problematic as we don’t speak the same language and they don’t do things the same as at home. They don’t have family doctors like we do, so whenever they have any problem, they go to the hospital. Christina took me to the hospital and was my translator between all of the doctors. There was a main doctor who prescribed the procedure and also my medicine after to help me get better faster. All of this was very overwhelming and a time when I really missed home. They did a lot of tests and were way more hardcore than at home so I thought maybe there was something more wrong with me. They ended up giving me the same diagnoses as my doctor at home though so that definitely reassured me.

Anyway, enough about that; I want to tell you about my school and where I am now! We took a high-speed train from Guangzhou to Hunan the day after my hospital visit (Friday) early in the morning. It took a lot to get there because we packed a lot of things. It was interesting to see the difference between us Canadian girls and the Chinese girls accompanying us. I pride myself on my strength, independence and self-sufficiency and I would say Alethea values these qualities as well; however, Christina and Angela really struggled with carrying our luggage and you can tell they hold themselves in a much more dainty and delicate way. I had a big suitcase, my big travel backpack and my carry-on backpack as well as another plastic bag and I carried this all around the train station. Altogether, this weighed probably around 140-150 lbs so I definitely got a workout. My legs have been burning since, but everything here is a workout so I don’t mind; I’m going to be so fit by the time I get home!

We got to the school around 10:30am and we were able to move our bags in and get a little more comfortable and then went to lunch with the Headmaster and a few of the Chinese English teachers we will be working closely with. The apartment is much bigger than I expected and they provided furniture, sheets, and a lot of kitchen supplies so we were pleasantly surprised. This is a private school so there is housing on campus for both students and teachers and we are right within the gates of the school. They treat us like celebrities here; the teachers go out of their way to help (especially a woman named Helen who is a Senior 2 teacher working with Alethea – she is so nice and has helped so much already) and the students are so excited to talk to us! They stare and point and a few took pictures, and when we go anywhere most of them want to talk to us and practice their English. When we went for lunch, the Headmaster (whose name is Mr. Xia – pronounced like a fast way of Shia, and means “summer”) and the teachers told us how excited they have been for us to come and the students have barely been paying attention in class because they keep asking about us! They were so nice at lunch and ordered a lot of food for us to try. Hunan is known to have very spicy food and Althea and I definitely felt this with some of the dishes. The teachers laughed at us a bit because of our reaction to one extremely spicy dish, but helped us to learn more about what each one was as well. One teacher, Mr. Long (or Mr. Dragon, as “long” means “dragon” in Chinese) was so funny and had a lot to say and said we remind him of his daughter who is 22. He said he was so honoured he wanted to serve us, and he made an extra effort to talk in English and pushed the others to as well so we didn’t feel lost in the conversation. The Headmaster wanted us to introduce ourselves to his class, but we went to have tea in his office beforehand. He has a coffee-table (or tea-table I guess) in the middle of his office that is covered in various teapots, kettles, cups, and a hotplate to boil water. He said he often makes tea in between classes and we are more than welcome to join him sometime. He was so knowledgeable about tea as well so I am excited to learn more as I love tea and they have so many different varieties here! The students were crowding the office and many of them came in to say hello and ask our names, and then it was time to meet Headmaster Xia’s class – they were Senior 1 so they will all be my students. He said just to introduce ourselves, but after this he told us he thought we should just do the whole lesson. We were caught a little off-guard, but again, we went with it and played some games so we could know some more about each other. It’s tough with so many students, but they were so funny and animated and really wanted to talk to us. Honestly, it almost made me cry how nice everyone is and Mr. Long said he hopes to be like our family for the next while and for the students to be like our brothers and sisters. I was so nervous when I first found out that we would be so far from Guangzhou and teaching high school as this is out of my comfort zone, but so far it has been a great decision to fly with the winds of change! To confine myself to repeating the same experiences seems counter-productive and I don’t want to build walls and restrictions. After all, this whole trip is centered on my desire to push my boundaries and expand my knowledge. Bring it on wind; I’m ready for anything.

Above: The dark picture is the People's Republic of China and the lighter is the province of Hunan. We are close to the central part of Hunan as shown in the picture below.

Reading ten thousand books is not as valuable as traveling ten thousand miles. - Chinese Proverb

I have traveled more than ten thousand miles, and my, have I learned a lot already! It was a long journey, but I mostly slept and read a whole book (Divergent, by Veronica Roth if anyone is interested) so it wasn’t so bad. As soon as I arrived here, Kimmie (my representative at Worlda, the company I am working for) picked me up and we took the bus into Guangzhou. It was about an hour long bus ride and only cost 18 RMB, which is about $2.88 Canadian. Alethea arrived before me so she was already at the hotel and we were given some time to shower and get ready for the day ahead. Holy cow, was it nice to have a hot shower after such a long trip!! Alethea’s representative, Teresa, was with us as well and we all set out to get some necessary things for while we are here. First, we got a SIM card and cell phone. We went to a little stand down the street from our hotel that sells SIM cards with China Mobile, which I’m told is the best company in China. We both bought SIM cards here, but I didn’t like their selection of phones so we went to a bigger store next. I picked out a phone and it actually came with a SIM card too (but from China Unicom), so now I have 2 SIM cards in one phone and I can choose what number I want to use. The China Unicom plan is free so I never have to load money on it, but the China Mobile one is like a pay-as-you-go and I can do that at any 7 Eleven. My phone is a touch screen android phone and it talks to me in Chinese when I turn it on. Also, my ring tone is a Chinese song and I have no idea what it is saying. I’m trying to set up Whatsapp to be able to message internationally, but it may take a bit. We also set up bank accounts, ate some lunch (rice, pumpkin, chicken, and duck from a place with just a barbecue and some plastic tables and stools), got metro passes, and just had the chance to ask questions and get more comfortable with the city. Then we went to see the office and signed our contracts again and Alethea and I were on our own to explore. It was about 6pm here at that time and we were so exhausted from traveling and the time difference, but we ran into some other teachers we had met at the office and they asked if we wanted to join them for dinner. We thought they would take us to a restaurant that serves good Chinese food around here, but they ended up taking us one that served all western food and had hookahs so you could smoke shisha. We had pasta there and it tasted so amazing (although we were so hungry we joked that they could have served us anything and we would have liked it) and it was nice to make some friends. They told us some things to watch out for, told us a little more about the city, but they also told us more about teaching and what to expect in the classroom.

Honestly, it has been such a weird experience so far though. At first, it was surreal thinking about just how far away from home I am and how long it is going to be until I see more familiar things, but the more time we have spent here, the more I have realized that it really isn’t that different. The fashion is similar (kind of an Asian hipster type thing going on), and even though there’s a language barrier, we can still smile and say hello to each other. It has only been 2 days though so I’ll get a chance to compare more and get used to everything. I have noticed that we stand out a bit and people (especially kids) like to stare... today we went to the zoo (cutest thing ever – we got to see pandas and white tigers and the cutest monkeys and I pet a goat!), but people stared at us like we were part of the zoo too. They wanted to say hello and point us out to their kids, and a few teens took pictures with us. I will definitely have to put some pictures up soon!

Our internet is pretty slow at the hotel. We have an Ethernet cord to plug in and at first it didn’t recognize what it was. I skyped my parents and it restarted my computer a couple times, but at least we have something! I can’t wait until we get moved into our apartment and we can get settled with our own internet and unpack our bags. I did such a great job of packing, so I have a lot of things to organize! We had today off, but we start training tomorrow and we have our medical tests on Tuesday and hopefully we’ll get to move in Monday or Tuesday night. I wish I could explain more about what it’s like, but I don’t think I have enough words right now to truly give you a good picture. Honestly, just as the Chinese Proverb says, I think traveling and experiencing things first-hand is one of the best things someone can do for themselves (I may be a little biased haha and I am still a big advocate for books). So many people told me about their experiences throughout Asia, and I looked up a lot online before I came, but none of it actually prepared me for what it is like here. It is strange and wonderful and new and I love it here already. I am off to bed now though to prepare for my first day of training tomorrow… sending my love to everyone at home and hope you are all well :)

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. - Confucius

So my journey has not officially started, but I have been taking steps toward it for quite a while now. I thought I would start my blog ahead of time; partly so I can get organized with things, partly because it is a good way to keep people updated, but mostly because I am way too impatient and writing helps keep me sane. This will not only be a way to keep in touch with friends and family and update those of you who are interested in my voyage, but will also be a nice way to keep track of everything I want to remember once I come back to Canada. I will be teaching English in Guangzhou with the Worlda Cultural & Educational Consulting Services Co. until the end of June. I don't know what school or what age yet, but that will be decided after my training in Guangzhou, which will be about 3-5 days long. I am so anxious to learn what age I will be teaching so I can start planning. I know my experience at the York Region District School Board Summer Institute has helped me to feel comfortable running my own class, but that was only 6 weeks so this will be a much bigger deal. I am lucky enough to know a lot of teachers though so I know if I need some help all I have to do is ask!

To get started, I sent all of my paperwork, pictures, and references to Worlda and they translated these and sent them off to get my visa permit. Once I received confirmation from Worlda, I bought my plane ticket! When my documents came in the mail, I went down to Toronto to finish up my paperwork and came back the next week to pick it up. I will officially be on my way Wednesday, November 14th at 8:20pm. With 2 stop-overs, 2 different airline companies, and about 25 hours overall I will arrive there at 10:15am Guangzhou time, which is exactly 12 hours ahead of Toronto time (so 10:15pm on Nov 15).

I am going with one of my best friends from university, Alethea, whom I lived with for 2 years, although we are heading over on different flights. It is going to be an amazing adventure for us and I am so glad to be sharing it with her. As well, another one of our roommates is currently teaching English in Dongguan, which is about an hour away from Guangzhou. It is such a different culture in China and I am basically feeling every emotion; happy, eager, nervous, anxious, stressed, energized, but mostly excited. The most time I have spent outside of Canada has been about 2 weeks so it will definitely be an adjustment for me to spend 7.5 months somewhere so drastically different, but I know I am going to be learning so much; growing as a teacher, but also learning about myself. I have had so much support from my friends and family and I am so grateful that I was able to spend Thanksgiving with everyone. I am going to miss you all so much, but I know just how lucky I am to even have this opportunity. My post-university journey is certainly starting with a leap, and it is exhilarating to have so much to look forward to.