Book the Second

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Today, I have officially been in China for six months. It’s hard to believe, really. But half of a year has flown by, and it’s been a wild ride.

In trying to think of ways to commemorate this moment, I decided that the best choice was obviously a compilation of Jess-osophies that have come from this experience. Several of these are lines from previous blog posts… others are clips and phrases that have become catches for me… others still are words of wisdom passed to me from some of my best people. For better or for worse, these are the words I’ve come to live by in my six months in China:



~ I'm here, I'm safe, I'm comfortable, and I am freaking aweeessommmmeee 😊

~ Small victories.

~ If it smells dirty, it is.

~ At Disney English, we don’t just say, “Hello…” we SING, “Hello!”

~ Starbucks and Cockroaches: Where there is one…

~ Sara Guo has a good side and a bad side. Stay on the good one.

~ Listen.

~ Step, together. Step, together.

~ wǒ bùshì měiguó báichī!

~ I don’t want to mafan you, but I need to put my eastwests together first. You can Děng yīxià a minute, yeah bu yeah.

~ Three letters: KTV.

~ I mean... why not?

~ Well, oooh-hoo everyone has a story.

~ Everything tastes better with chopsticks.

~ Haircuts don’t lie.

~ Some things are better left on the shelf. Like… certain dresses, for example.

~ Family is everything. When you can’t have your own, borrow someone else’s.

~ Life is really 90%!c(MISSING)hoice, and 10%!c(MISSING)hance.

~ People are the world – both literally and figuratively. Keep your expectations of them high and love them with everything you have, even if it means a cloudy day once in a while. Because people truly are an amazing race of beings.



One person of whom I have maintained exceptionally high expectations through this entire experience is myself. Yesterday, those high expectations finally paid off.

I've been in direct contact with our Regional Director for quite some time now, hashing out different development ideas for my future here at Disney. She has been wonderfully supportive, and offered a lot of fantastic advice on how to navigate the troubles that I've run into at my center, as well as my next steps on my personal path. Yesterday, she paid a visit to our center, and observed my teaching. She then proceeded to host a meeting with my Learning Director and my Center Manager. Following that meeting, my Center Manager (whom I absolutely ADORE) approached me for a "private meeting."

Our center has been without a Senior Foreign Trainer (SFT) since Felix left mid-May. And we are going to continue to be without one until September 1. This was a decision made by our Center Manager with some firmness, despite several offers to put rising SFTs into the position because, as she puts it, "I already have my candidate and I'm willing to wait." My Center Manager (CM), Regional Director (RLLD) and incoming new Learning Director (LLD) (our current one is on his way out in July) have all personally expressed their excitement in developing me as Wulin's new SFT. So, yesterday I received a formal offer of promotion.

The SFT position is a peer-leadership position that is, admittedly, pretty familiar to me. It's a kind of head-lifeguard/swim instructor-y, SRA-y, Admissions Fellow-y kind of position that will find this girl behaving as a mentor teacher, professional coach (yeah... that's actually in the job description), staff leader kind of person. I will still have to maintain my regular class schedule, but will also have many added responsibilities along the lines of scheduling, peer evaluations, staff development, meetings - both group and 1:1, more marketing and sales involvement (something I've been doing all along, actually...), new teacher training, and so on.

I'm going to have my work cut out for me in other ways, too. Fortunately, the center is in kind of an influx right now - the timing of all of this is not accidental - our LLD is leaving, several of our FTs are leaving, and one or two Chinese staff are on their way out by the time I'll be stepping up... so, I'm going to be coming in as the leader of a fresh center, really. However, there are still some old apples (I won't call them bad off the bat) that have old expectations and old habits and old opinions that I'll be fighting all the way. This is one of the projects assigned to me by my CM... to establish a rapport that will help them to embrace me as a leader. She's given me timelines and is going to check in with me along the way. She means business on this one. But, she is exceptionally enthusiastic and encouraged that Wulin may hold a turn for the better soon. And I have to admit, I'm pretty stoked, too.

So, I would have to say that these six months have been very successful. I've had a huge experience thus far, and it's only just begun.

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Comments

[Grandpa Bill]

Yippy ky-ai-a!
You are a mover and a shaker even in China!!! Love,GPB