We left San Francisco 5 days ago, and after an almost 13 hour flight, which took us over Alaska and Siberia, we arrived in Beijing, weary but happy to have escaped H1N1 quarantine. After another 3 hour flight, we arrived in Chengdu, Sichuan, where we will be training until August 28.
We’ve been staying in a hotel in the city for the last few days, and will be staying here until July 9, when we will move in with our host families. Up until late August, I’ll be living with a family near Sichuan Normal University, where 17 other volunteers and I will partake in intensive language classes and “model school,” where we’ll get to practice our teaching skills on volunteer Chinese students.
Each day, the Peace Corps has been keeping us busy with various conferences on things like cultural adaptation, language learning, TEFL training, and safety and security. Also, we’ve started language classes, had interviews with Peace Corps staff, and received all kinds of vaccinations.
Although we’ve been extremely busy, we’ve had time to explore the city, which I find extremely chaotic, but also quite charming! There are so many cars, mopeds, bikes and people that there’s no way you could walk down the street without being constantly hyper-attentive to your surroundings. All this was a little overwhelming for me at first, but I’m getting used to it. The restaurants and bars are really cool, and the workers are always very forgiving when I mistakenly order the wrong types or amounts of drinks and dishes!
Right now I’m on my way to language class, then my new Chinese friend, Xiao Xiao, who works as a travel agent in my hotel, is going to take me to buy a local cell phone! I’ll try to update soon, but because my blog is blocked, it takes a while to get around the great firewall!
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention! My new Chinese name is Miao Na, but you can call me Na Na! ☺
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