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Published: November 12th 2006
It has taken a full day to settle in, but I am now able to write about my first experiences in China. My day of travel was quite uneventful, with the exception of my error in judgement when waiting for my flights, which resulted in almost missing two of the flights in my journey. Aside from those small heart-racing incidents, each leg of the trip was very smooth. I was excited to land in Japan, bu,t as you may know, each airport around the world basically looks like just that-- an airport.
Upon arrival in Beijing, I was met by a representative from the company I will be working for. He escorted me to my apartment, and I unpacked in a jet-lagged haze. My roommate arrived sometime around 1.30 AM (by then, 2.30 PM Wisconsin time) and I was still awake, so we chatted a bit and got to know each other. We have several things in common, and I think it will be a good year living with her.
My first night alone in China was extremely overwhelming, lonely and frightening. I wish I could say that I was simply excited to be here, but that was not
the case. I had bursts of excitement that were quickly replaced with the thought "what have I done?!". I spent a restless night tossing and turning, exhausted physically, but mind racing. I felt better when the sun came up; things always seem to be more intimidating during the night.
Today (Monday) we had orientation. I met the other new teachers, and we went through some of the basics that we will be experiencing during our teaching. I will be given Fridays and Saturdays off each week, and there is a 12-week rotation among teachers in terms of what level your'e teaching and which days each week you get off. I have yet to learn which level I will be teaching; I imagine we will be evalutated this week during training and it will be decided then.
I've met some really nice people so far in my journey. I think my roommate and I will be good friends, as well as many of the other teachers I'll be working with. Everyone is very friendly and accomodating for those of us who are new.
That's all for now. Don't forget to email.....on some days, an email from home is
a lifesaver.
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Brandon
non-member comment
Just a note
Hello Merrit, You don't know me, but I just started a travel blog here for my trip to Ireland beginning tomorrow. I wanted to see other bloggers' sites to see how this website works and get some idea of what I can do. Yours looks nice, and I think what you're doing sounds fascinating. Keep up the good work. Cheers, Brandon