Wo de jia li ji ge liu ren!!!

From left to right: Ou Lei, Li BaiXin, David, Zhang XueMei. Not pictured: Nainai (grandma), Li LinFeng (daughter)

Here is a picture of me with my host family! I will keep everyone updated over the next couple of months. I am having a great time and the hospitality is amazing! I carry around a notebook filled with words in Mandarin and I'm constantly adding things, relearning familiar things, and generally feeling like a big dog trying to learn basic things. I figured out my pictures so I will include some more from Chengdu below. Enjoy!


Host Family Skit


Peace Corps China 13


Chengdu


Chengdu

Independence Day

After several hours of language class, 3 coctails of immunizations, and 32 ounces of water and oral rehydration salts I decided to go with the crowd to Peter's (an American restaurant here in Chengdu). The food was authentic and it was a pretty good time. We decided to skip our extra language class and chose instead to go to a place with a name that escapes my memory. Some people were planning to play instruments on a small stage and we sat in our group of 12 and talked for awhile. After some time Kehl asked why I wasn't on stage playing the guitar, telling me I should ask if I could play. I did, the manager said yes, and suddenly I was onstage with a guitar and microphone, butchering such classics as Puff the Magic Dragon, Solitary Man, and Yesterday. The manager played along on drums or guitar and Paul asked to play the piano. We all played together for a couple of songs and I began to run out of ideas. Eyes turned to Paul in expectation and he certainly delivered. He could play an amazing number of songs, some he had never heard before but figured out based on how it seemed to sound. Incredible. Hen hao! The real amazing part of the evening for me was toward the end of Star Spangled Banner, which we belted out with all the energy and emotion of non-disgruntled ex-pats, accompanied by Paul's piano playing one note at a time. At that moment I looked around and wondered how I could have ever imagined this as part of my Peace Corps experience. The truth is, much of what we have done so far has been that way: the unexpected within a larger framework of pseudo understanding. We were all together for one last night before being divided into 3 groups to be sent to different universities in the area.

I am meeting my host family tomorrow. Most people seem to be nervous but I am excited to leave the hotel and begin learning Mandarin more rapidly. I'm looking ahead toward being sworn in as a volunteer: much work is still to be done, but these challenges have been very healthy. Cheers.

Password/difficulties

The internet has been a conundrum and I'm finding it difficult to do exactly what I'd like. For a couple of reasons, adding a password is going to be impossible at this time. I am not even sure if I will always be able to use this blog site to post. If that is the case, just email me and I'll let you know which site I'm going to use (this is a low probability, I think, but I'd like to be prepared-if I don't update for more than 2 weeks, definitely email me). I can post things to the blog but I can't even see my own blog without using a proxy server in England (it is blocked here).

Yesterday after playing MORE soccer (I'm sore in places I didn't even know I had) we ventured to the trust-mart across the street. This trip made me realize how much I really didn't need to bring clothes to China. A nice, short-sleeved, button-up, business casual shirt was 29 Kuai. There are about 7.6 Kuai to the dollar. Nice.

We also found an odd-colored peanut butter and decided to buy it because it was 7 kuai less than than the Jif (about 1 dollar less). It was peanut butter but without any sugar whatsoever.

We decided to start a language group outside of our typical 4 hours each day, and we are studying with the Pimsleur recordings. Everyone is excited about it and we've limited ourselves to 30 minutes each day to avoid burnout. China has been very interesting and filled with mystery. I'm looking forward to many fulfilling days ahead.

Cheers!

Technology, etc.

I've been having some difficulties with adding pictures, but I'm sure this will be different very soon. The greater difficulty is figuring out how to add a password to my blog because everything uses Chinese script and I have to guess what each link it based on its location. I know the green button allows me to add a post, so I can still do this!

Last night four of us went to the University to find a soccer game. And we found one. We played for about 30 minutes and then tried to get back to our hotel with limited success. At one point we ran about 500 m to discover we were really lost. I asked some people if they spoke English (in Mandarin!) and got some help. Then an English teacher stopped and showed us the way. We were barely on time for the formal dinner and we were very stinky (we just threw on our business casual clothes after all that running in the muggy air).

At dinner we had 3 girls play traditional Chinese instruments (which was cool) and the lazy susan spun slowly as we gorged ourselves on excellent foods.

Language classes have begun and they are very intense. There are 5 people in my class and we are all pretty excited. Most of the class avoids any kind of English, even the explanations of the activities, in order to more fully immerse us in the language. To practice I believe we will be on our own to go out and do things. We will meet our host families very shortly and that will help us practice as well.

Basically, this is about 10 percent of what is happening. There is so much going on that I'm trying to report on things which do not make everyone fall asleep!

Cheers!

China!

No pictures and nothing to talk about.

We traveled on planes and buses from San Francisco to Chengdu today. It took 24 hours! I am tired and I only get to sleep for 6 hours.

This website will be password protected soon. Please email me for the password (fn0112358@gmail.com) within the week.

Cheers!

Goodbye

A final goodbye party was punctuated with Greek Goddess Salad from Costco (only $9.99!). Everyone has been very positive and supportive. Tomorrow morning I will be leaving for San Francisco and beginning my adventure. Luckily my parents have been helping with EVERYTHING, including a significant amount of moving (boxes and boxes and boxes). My final luggage weighs under 100 pounds (barely) and I've had to remove a few (20) of my books (I'm down to 15 now). Cheers!

Staging Kit

I received my staging kit yesterday, June 2nd, with information about the beginning of my journey. Most of it is bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo, but there are a few gems in 10 pt. font hidden amongst the repetitious verbiage: 1. My flight leaves San Francisco the morning of June 30th (it is a 12 hour flight) and, yes, it is economy class. 2. I begin to get paid by the Federal Government on June 28th ($32 a day for staging! - very nice, maybe I'll invest!). 3. Business casual attire is expected. That means no dressing like I would for school. 4. Finally, they sent a cute booklet which is for family members to read. My dad is going to wonder if he can get it on audio somewhere.