An American Girl in China (T minus 27 days)

Well, the decision has been made, the flight has been book (I leave August 26th) and I anxiously await my invitation papers from China so that I can confidently get my work visa. To say that I'm excited is an understatement, to say that I'm nervous doesn't give my feelings justice but to say that I know this is exactly where I need to be is completely correct. This journey hasn't been an easy one. My original plan was to teach abroad after I graduated from UMD in 2007, but through a series of life events and hesitations, I never went through with it. I think when I was in the moment I had regrets in my decisions, especially when I promised myself I would. But looking back, I honestly don't think I was ready for such an adventure. My choice to stay in MN all these years brought me to grad school at Hamline University, a job at Community of Peace Academy and the knowledge that teaching truly is my calling. I don't think I would have figured that out had I not stayed in Minnesota. And now I'm here, grasping the door handle to a new adventure; one that I've dreamt of for years.

I will be living in a city called Ningbo. It's just South of Shanghai on the Eastern coastline. I will be teaching a school called Shane English and it sounds fantastic. Run by Western management, I will recieve full training, my own classroom (and TA!), quite a substantial salary and the opportunity to meet amazing students from another country. I look forward to the chance to create a learning environment for my students that is both educational and fun. Hopefully the schooling I've recieved at Hamline will set me up to be a successful 1st year teacher.  

As I amp myself up for this journey, there are a few things I anticipate I will miss a lot while I'm away:

- Family and friends

- Megan, Caitie, Maddie and Emily's weddings (and probably more--as well as babies)

- Snow on Christmas

- Cheese (a rarity in China)

- My iphone

- Community of Peace Academy and my amazing family there

- Belive it or not ... school work

I'm sure many more things will be added to this list the moment I step off the plane, BUT there will also be many amazing things that I will gain and I can't wait to find out what they are...

I'm going to keep updating my blog throughout the year with pictures and stories, so keep checking back! (It probably won't be very exciting until the beginning of September)

Hannah

Cell phone junkie

Well, I survived. I challenged myself to go an entire day without a cell phone. Surprisingly, I did a lot better than expected. Although I don't like to admit it, I have succumb to the fact that I may or may not be a cell phone junkie. Classic symptoms of a Cell phone Junkie include: Hearing phantom rings, a sense of sadness when no one has called or texted, checking the screen every 2 seconds; God forbid during that last blink a call is missed; and of course going over the allotted minutes/texts for the month (unless you are truly sick, in which case you might have an unlimited monthly plan). It is truly unfortunate.

But! I like to think that since I didn't feel as anxious as I thought I would, I could survive without it (wait, that was only 1 day? shit.) I will admit it was kind of refreshing not being so available, if I wanted to contact someone it was up to me to figure it out...not the other way around. During my class that night, a sense of jealousy rushed over me when all my friends pulled out their blackberries and blueberries and igadgets during break. Is it sad that I felt out of touch? Questions kept popping into my head: Did anyone call me? Did anyone text me? Am I popular?? What if something bad happened? What if ANNA lost $50 in the dumpster and she needs a boost!? Either way, I got through the rest of the night with only a little anxiety.

By the time I got home I finally lit up the screen to find 5 missed calls and 6 text messages. I guess I am wanted after all.

This experiment got me thinking about time before cell phones. How did we manage last minute cancellations? Were people more prone to forgive if someone didn't show up for a coffee date? During the 1800's Kings and Queens used people as their cellphones, what a simple time. If only I had a town crier to let my friends know that I'm going to be late to the Christmas party. Now, there are no excuses; "Well, you could have called. I had my phone with me!" Is our patience and empathy level slowly declining because of the technology surrounding us? The other day my work email was running a tad slower than normal and I could feel fury building up inside, why? Time is money, as they say.

Either way this experiment was a good one. I now know that the world is NOT going to end if I don't have my cell phone. Then again, what if Pierce Brosnon calls and needs back up...?

Confession

Forgive me bloggers, for I have sinned. It has been 9 weeks since my last entry.

There has been much going on it's hard to know where to start.

I began my TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) class at Hamline and in my best effort to keep up with my school work it has been hard to find time to pee let alone blog (an unlikely excuse). But, I have been kept very busy but I like it that way. I'm my most happy when I'm busy, it gives me a sense of purpose in a life that I'm still trying to figure out. Last week we had a discussion on intonation and tone when it comes to meaning in communicating. Although English is not an entirely tonal language like Mandarin, we still use rising and falling intonation to get across a point. I found the whole lesson fascinating because we discussed the differences in how a message is conveyed by the simple upward or downward slope either inside a sentence or inside a word. For instance:

I was having a discussion with my friend Drew and I asked him the question:

"Where does your sister live in Minneapolis?"

His response was "Yes". Now of course yes or no would not be an answer one would be looking for. Naturally I was confused so I asked him if he understood what I asked.

I repeated myself:

"Where does your sister live? In Minneapolis?" (A tag question, if you will)

Even though he heard the same words, he inferred a different meaning through the tone and pausing of how I said it.

Truly mind blowing stuff.

I just finished staining/varnishing my parents windows this weekend. It was a very long process but it was kind of theraputic. Once I got into the groove of the strokes, it was easy to zone out. A couple weeks ago I was finishing up the first coat of stain in my parents room and through the window I could see our neighbor Chu practicing T'ai Chi Chih. She is the nicest most sincere woman who is battling cancer at the moment. I paused to watch her glide through the air pushing out all the toxic energy and bringing in healing energy. I shed a tear not because I was sad for her but because the beauty in which she was using positive energy to heal her body.

Dumpster Diving

My 24th birthday came and went. As tradition, my very generous aunt gave me a check for a very generous amount. I thanked her and put the check in my wallet...or so I thought. A few days later I planned to take a trip to Wells Fargo to deposit the fruits later realizing my check was nowhere to be found. I tore apart my room knowing full well it was gone. I realized that the check was left in the envelope in which I received the card, which was in the same trash that had been taken out to the dumpster the day before. I was completely convinced it was gone from the clanging and banging of the garbage truck that seems to wake my slumber every morning at 5am. My mother informed me that if I were to have my aunt cancel the check I would be out $35, which I would of course pay for. I thought to myself, "Maybe the trash hadn't been picked up yet".

"I'm going diving!" was the text I sent my mother after my epiphany.

It was 8:30 am. I creaked my roommate Anna's door open to find her in a groggy morning stumble.

"Wanna do me a huge favor?" I asked her with a grimace.

"What is it?" she said giving me an unsure look.

I explained my pickle and she laughed while saying, "only you, Hannah"...this I could not argue with. After realizing what a ridiculous favor this was I told her she did not have to come, but she refused saying, "Oh you are not going out there alone, I don't want people thinking you're some crazy woman stealing people's identities" (I later thought to myself, if I were to find someones social security number on an old bank statement, I sure as hell wouldn't know what to do with it.) What a good friend she is.

As we made the trek down the stairs to Grand Ave., my stomach attacked me with nervous flips. I felt like The Goonies in search for gold, not knowing if it exists or not, but having faith nonetheless. I lifted the rusty door of the dumpster only to find it half full. A huge rush of relief washed over me because I knew at that moment the trash had not been taken that day. Anna boosted me into the smelly abyss while I screamed, "aaahh I'm in the garbage!" At that, a woman in her car pulled up next to us as she waited to turn onto Grand. When she saw me swimming in filth she gave us a uneasy look, rolled down her window and asked us nervously if we lived here. We both laughed and explained what was at stake. She smiled and belted, "Oh, well that makes sense...but it's a good thing I'm moving out this week". I didn't know whether to be offended or laugh it off.

I saw the target bag of which I threw in just the day before and excitement filled my face. Of course people began to come from every direction and gave us equally apprehensive looks but were quickly rest assured when we explained our hobo behavior. I removed a big medal object imprisoning the bag I needed and began digging. After shuffling through ripped up receipts and other important documents my mother insists should be shredded I found the envelope which I was lucky enough not have ripped in half. As I propped open the rigid top I saw the creased check sitting ever so pleasantly in the bottom. I screamed, "I got it! I got it!" while Anna clapped and laughed at my ridiculous feat.

As I climbed out of the metal bin I looked down and realized I was wearing flip-flops and my feet were naked while I trekked through the rubbish. At that point I really didn't care, it was totally worth it.

Things Fall Together

Apparently, in order for things to seem unclustered you must go through a period of chaos where everything doesn't seem to fit. My life is a series of chaos ironed out all at once. I was offered two jobs this past week along with another interview which I am waiting to hear back from. I'm pretty sure I nailed it. The position is editing documents that have been translated into English from other languages, so I would put my editing experience to good use. The job is in the translations department which, coincidentally enough, is at my mother's company, Merrill Corporation (she had nothing to do with the opportunity). When I arrived for the interview I was greeted by my temp agent who lead me to the department. She quickly introduced me to Michel (pronounced Mee-shell), the department head, and from the get go I immediatly liked him. His heavy swiss accent was a form of comfort to me because I love meeting people from places that I have visited in the past. After a very simple and laid back interview with Michel I offered to show him my portfolio which includes published articles, edited articles and photography. He was so impressed with my book he called over a couple of the other Merrill employees to show them my work. Although I can't deny being really proud of my work, the modest part of me felt uncomfortable showing the entirety of the office staff. They oohed and ahhed at my photographs and expressed their jealousy as to how many places I have been able to travel...I couldn't deny that fact, I've been pretty damn lucky to go where I have gone. At this point I felt as if I immedieatly fit in. Fingers crossed.

As much as I love my parents and their company, moving out was something I knew I needed to do. I love my apartment and there is always a natural sense of independence that follows being on your own, even though I've been on my own for the past 4 years. This move helped to push things into full swing. I also have a new found love for St. Paul to boot! Ironically, I've found a lot of aspects that I loved about Los Angeles sewn throughout the Grand/Summit stretch of St. Paul. The people in particular seem all around more friendly. It's almost as if I've moved to an entirely new state but a part of me feels that way even though my parents house is a quick hop down 280. Experiencing the city in which I grew up in has been a great one in the two weeks that I've lived here. It just seems like it was the puzzle piece I was missing to help finish the picture.

I've been accepted to Hamline's TEFL program today and I am so excited about the possibilities this opportunity will create.

More to come! Stay tuned.

St. Pauli Girl

I've officially moved into my new place on Grand. It's a really cute condo with a jet stream bath tub! It's going to be really exciting living in the heart of the city I grew up in. Hopefully a job will follow... I had an interview last week for an education assistant position at the Korean Service Center. It sounded like a really great job although I had most of the qualifications, in the end the fact that I don't speak a lick of Korean hindered my chances. Needless to say, I didn't get the job. It just wasn't meant for me. I just have to keep a positive attitude that something will come along. As of right now I just need a steady income then I can spend my time doing a lot of the things that I love like writing, photography, reading (I plan to start a book club) and not feel guilty about it. I realize that I shouldn't feel guilty about doing things that make me happy but for the time being I know I need to focus the entirety of my energy on a job hunt. I might be doing some work again for New Moon. The identity of the magazine has changed a lot, with most everything being online. In the meantime it will be nice to be back in the publishing world again.

Ni Hao

A passage I stumbled upon from my journal in Qingdao, China:

As a couple days passed of settling in, my traveling buddy Sarah and I decided to find a quaint restaurant for lunch. We stumbled upon what mimicked a shack with a chinese symbol that we had come to learn meant "Restaurant". The inside, no bigger than a classroom, smelled of fresh fish clearly just caught from the ocean not four miles from where we stood. My immediate inclination was communicating in English was not going to be an easy one.

"Ni hao!" spoke the tiny smiling woman behind the fish counter.

"Ni hao!" Sarah and I timidly replied.

Through several hand gestures and sign language both parties came to the conclusion that a table for two was indeed what we wanted. As we opened our menus the only thing we could rely on were the pictures. We used what little Chinese we had learned in class, "pijio", or beer, being our favorite word of the day. Through another series of pointing and pantomiming with the waitress we proudly basked in our ability to communicate what we wanted. Little did we know lunch was not going to be so little.

Roughly 15 minutes later, in one fell swoop, a large pot of fish head soup, echoing a bucket of chum on a fisherman's boat, was laid before us. Both of us, jaw dropped, looked around at fellow patrons of this restaurant and keeled over laughing. Apparently the pictures were very deceiving as to what we actually ordered. Next came a bowl of rice big enough to feed the entirety of the restaurant. We continued to gawk as a pile of garlic stems (one of my favorite dishes) adorned the rest of our feast. We sat back not quite knowing if more was to come but after a few minutes we grabbed our chopsticks and dug in. This was not the first time we had fish head soup and it was certainly my favorite of all the dishes I tried. The meat is especially tasty within the cheeks, the Chinese cuisine is full of pleasant surprises.

After putting a miniscule dent in the dishes our fish head soup was poured in plastic bag and we walked out as if we were proudly leaving a pet store with a brand new beta fish. It was a moment we both vowed to share only in our memories as we both managed to forget our cameras. Shucks.