Two months ago, we started this trip to China. “The Eleven” who later became “the Twelve” roamed the streets of Jishou for 7 weeks, passing through Miao villages, Dong villages. Zuolongxia, Wangcun, Dehang, Fenghuang, Yuanling, Shanghai. Guizhou province, Guanxi province, Hunan province. On Friday we took a train- Jishou to Shanghai, 23 hours non-stop; similar to the same train that we had taken when heading to Kaili for the beginning of Wild China. I remember how on the first train Miryam had to hold my hand while I ventured into the squatting toilet on that train. “Which way do I look?! Why is there no paper?? Can I hold on to something?!” Now, we are all pros at squatting toilets, immune to the worst of them (you look away from the hole, not at it; a Miao village will do that to you). Some of us even find them comfortable and preferable to Western toilets. In the words of Reubes, chew gum and don’t wear flip-flops. Trust us on this one.

The smells of China have become a part of us. Its sounds and grunts- part of our vocabulary. Want a sticky bun? Uh. What? Ah? Want some ice-cream? Uh-uh. Some of us even hock loogies and roll our shirts up to fight the heat- Chinese man style. We all have QQ accounts and chat and stalk our students and the statuses and photos they post of us. Some of the teachers even know their QQ IDs by heart (QQ is a state-of-the-art social media website: Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Spotify, all rolled into one.)

By the end of the 7 weeks, we we’re not only living in Jishou, we were having fun with it. Memorable is the ice-cream parlor near Jia Le Fu where for Cameron’s birthday Nick and I pointed at an empty Tupperware and the ice cream machine with the DQ Tornado picture on it and asked the lady to fill it up with whip-creamy ice cream. She stared at us, laughed, charged us 20¥ and then filled it up. On Thursday, Miryam and Nick went coning at the same place- same bewildered ladies staring and then laughing as Miryam grabbed the cone backwards, took a bite, said “xie xie” and smiled. 4 weeks ago, there’s no way we would have done that- we already called enough attention by walking, let alone by pranking people. Tonight at dinner in Shanghai, we all complained that the food was not spicy enough when weeks earlier we were kissing bottles of beer and chugging water to soothe our lips. Hunan heat indeed.

At the train station on Friday, thanks to the wonderful university officials (Mr. Dai, Tony, Chris Wu, Linda, Miss Yang) and our students, we were able to at least have a chance against the horde of Chinese people trying to get on the train. The meek Americans who were unwilling to push or cut lines at first, were now pushing and running with their suitcases, trying to at least gain some advantage on the Chinese. It was an Olympic event- suitcase lugging- and this time, we were not losing. Train food -which had seemed sketchy weeks before- a feast. No ramen for us this time. Eggplant and tree ears with beef and two bowls of rice plus a bottle of wine.

While everything else in comparison was so much better than we had first remembered- I’m telling you, being a foreign country for two months changes your perspective on things (ask any SOSer how fast we ate the queso fundido last night at a Mexican restaurant)- we were still surprised by the amount of children and babies running around in our cart, counting us, eating with us. Stares from Chinese people that had gradually diminished in 7 weeks reappeared as soon as we stepped onto the train. I hope someday, I will be able to come to China and be stared at- not for being a foreigner- but for fitting right in. For now, there is nothing to do but smile back at them.

A whirl-wind analysis of the before and after. In the meantime, I have to go deal with arriving 6 hours earlier and reliving the morning and evening of Tuesday, August 21^st in the Dirty Salv. Jet lag, here I come!

-Arianna, MengNa.

6 weeks in China. 2 more to go. It’s amazing how fast things change and how rapidly we adapt to them. I remember the first week in Jishou when we went to KTV being surprised and even laughing at “Big world” playing and Eliot, Cameron and Tony singing it. It was such a simple, plain song. “I’m a big, big girl, in a big, big world, it’s not a big, big thing if you leave me.” The words- hysterical. Three young men singing it- even funnier. I remember thinking “I’m never singing that- ever.”

Last week, we had lunch with June and Cameron for their birthdays, which fall on the same day. We went to a Miao style restaurant where we had lunch- after the speeches that we all gave in honor of June and Cameron. This is a very nice tradition, where you say something to the birthday boy or girl, congratulating them and thanking them for their friendship. I thanked June for being genuine and true to herself and Cameron for not being serious with me (He has a reputation amongst the students of being serious since they claim he rarely smiles. That is not the case).

After lunch, customary of Chinese birthdays, we went to KTV at 2:30 in the afternoon. After a rendition of Lucky, We R Who We R, Tonghua, came Big World. Having requested this song, I proceeded to sing along at the top of my lungs. Surprise, surprise. The “I will never sing this song- ever” turned into “I’ll yell this song until everyone else is singing along.”

I guess China is getting to me, I am becoming more Chinese. I omit “yes” sometimes and grunt in approval instead. I like to drink hot water. If the food isn’t spicy, it’s weak. The fan I used at the beginning, gone. I take afternoon naps. I like KTV. And Miao clothes. And taking photos. Basically, I love China.

On monday we learned about Linsanity and stereotypes. As part of our lesson, we had asked the students to try to classify us according to the stereotypes we had told them occur at Princeton. This resulted in me being labeled as feminist, Nick as “weird” and Reuben as a preppy nerd. After this activity, I told my precept to take 5 minutes to come up with a skit and interpret Reuben, Nick, Christian, Eliot and me in two situations: inside the classroom and outside the classroom. The most interesting part was seeing what they caught on from our daily interactions with them.

I apparently, rush to the board and jump up and down when writing things down. I also say “graaaaammarrrrr! I loveee grammarrrr!” and do a little dance when introducing it. Nick has hair in front of his face and crazy eyebrows. He also talks about his twin brother Josh a lot and takes his t-i-m-e to pass out papers back. Reuben, the lefty, walks in tip toes with a little swing in his shoulders and says “okay” several times. “Okay guys, okay, okay, okay.” He also writes on the board with his left hand in what appeared to be illegible handwriting from Mellisa’s impersonation.

Eliot, after a stellar impersonation from Rita, appears aloof and uninterested, constantly swatting at imaginary mosquitoes. He’s almost too cool for school according to them. “Eliot! Want to get lunch with me?” “Hmm? I don’t eat…” Christian, the hair flipper, constantly checking his perfect hair in front of whatever surface available while at the same time appears to be very interested in what his students have to say. Multitasking at its finest indeed…

It’s funny to see how these kids pay more attention to us than we even realize. How they probably imitate us when they are with their friends- their impersonations were spot on so I’m assuming that some practice outside of class takes place. That’s all for now. I don’t know if I’ll be able to contain myself next time and stop dancing when it’s time to give them extra grammar…after all, “I loveeeee grammmarrrr!”

I cannot believe I’m wearing a sweater in 80 degree weather. I cannot believe I’m actually sick. My face feels like it’s about to fall off, I’m extremely congested and I sneeze every other minute. And if you know me, it’s not 4 sneezes, but 3 or 5 or 6. Not 4. I have fallen, another victim to the cold that seemed to take over the girl’s apartment two days ago. So here I am, 9:49 pm, planning a lesson on Zumba for tomorrow’s class and grading a never-ending pile of homework, while I’m sipping the tea that Alex- one of my students- gave me. She insisted it would make me feel better, so let’s give it half an hour to kick in? Class today, my first real lecture, was…eye opening. I don’t know how to express this accurately but I have never seen a group of students who are this motivated to learn. They not only squeeze every bit of information out of me during class time but also after classes, whether they bump into me on the street or invite me to have lunch with them. Cameron and Eliot were right, they do know the best places where to eat!

Today’s lesson was on General Tso’s chicken and how, ironically, it is not a dish that can be found in Hunan province, despite being the epitome of Hunanese cuisine in the West. This led to a discussion on whether or not being born in China is a requirement to be considered Chinese. Some students argued that it was more customs and behaviors that gave you a Chinese identity. “So if I behave like a Chinese person, am I Chinese?” I asked. Their confused faces surveyed the room looking for an answer, some sort of logic to this scenario. By the end of discussion, we had agreed that in order to be considered a Chinese person you had to look Chinese, behave Chinese, and speak Chinese, but that out of these three, it was the traditional behavior aspect the one that was the most important.

I don’t know how many times I’ve been asked by my students if I like Jishou and China in general. My answer is always the same: “I feel as if I’ve been here for more than six days.” Jishou feels like home, with its smells, its people, its heat even. It is home, yet so different from what I normally call “home.” And teaching feels like home too. I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d end up teaching for a whole summer and actually enjoy it. Now, I can’t see myself doing anything else this summer. I not only spend with my students in class and precept, finding ways to challenge them and their ideas about the world and the West, but I also take part in Chill Club, Speech Club, Dance Club and Sports Club. I am called beautiful by my students at least twice a week, invited to lunch and sleep less than 8 hours per night, planning the lesson for the next day. I hope I get the hang of this-in the meantime, it’s so so fun! Ah-choo!! Excuse me…

Tomorrow’s our first day of classes and despite being asked by Eliot, one of our wonderful leaders, if I am nervous, I cannot say that is the case. I am beyond excited- ready to mold these minds and to challenge these kids, er teens? young adults? after all, they are my age, as they have never been before. I won’t lie and pretend that I’m going to be a nice teacher. The best and most memorable teachers have been those who have argued with me and caused me to be angry at myself for not understanding until my aha! moment dawns on me. I would love to be like them. Ms. Fiona Johnson in 4th grade English, Ms. Herrera in 7th grade Spanish, Ms. Saprissa in 10th grade Honors Chemistry, Mr. McFarland and Mrs. Dunlap in 11th grade AP Environmental Science and English Composition, Ms. Richards in AP English Lit…these are the teachers that challenged me beyond what I thought possible and it is from them that I hope to get some inspiration and somehow, be as awesome a teacher as they were. If I fail, as learned in TEFL training, always have a backup plan.

To prepare for class tomorrow, Reuben, Nick and I went to buy 30 journals for our 29 students. These will be weekly writing assignments, a way to have a different type of conversation with our students, a more personal one if you will. We each have ten students to write to each week. I personalized mine by writing the student’s name on the cover and putting little hearts over the i’s and writing a welcome note in the front page:

“Dear ____, This journal will be a way for us to communicate throughout the summer. In it you can write any questions you have and want me to answer or things you just want me to know. It will be a type of conversation as we travel- together- through the world of English. I am really looking forward to becoming your friend this summer! Go dragons!”

I hope we can start tomorrow on our right foot and set the right tone for a great summer of teaching and learning.

Until next time,

-Arianna (in pink ink, just like in the journals)

Wow. So much to tell so far and it’s only been 6 days (7 if you count that 12-hour layover in LAX) since I started this trip and there’s so many things to tell that I just can’t seem to organize my thoughts. I’ve always been good at doing lists so I’ll make three lists.

Things I haven’t gotten used to yet:

• This one’s easy, squatting toilets. Miao toilets to be exact. My family is probably proud of my ability to overcome the initial shock of having to use a hole with a smelly pool of chemicals underneath it to go to the bathroom. Still not used to it guys, sorry.
• Smiles. Everyone smiles here, staring at the new attractions in town, while saying “ni hao” or “hello.” Their toothy smiles show that every person we meet is very excited to see us. The sad part is when my Mandarin is too rusty to understand what they’re saying- or that they just don’t speak Mandarin at all-and with a frantic shake of my head and an apologetic look, I keep on walking. They still smile.
• The rain. It’s rained almost every day since we got here. However, the views just seem so much more majestic when they’re wrapped in a rainy fog that I really can’t complain about it.
• Having the same food- delicious, don’t get me wrong- for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Some fruit for breakfast wouldn’t kill us, right guys? Rice or noodles, or both…take your pick.

Things I have gotten used to:

• All the SOSers. Their sense of humor and overall chillness is amazing. There are little to no tensions between people and we’re all so adventurous that there’s nothing we haven’t tried yet. Bok Choy- Bwok Coy.
• Slack-jaw. Still a bit surprised at the endless hours of entertainment on long bus rides that it provides.
• Being wet yet very happy. With all this rain, flippy floppies have become my best friends. I like to change things up and alternate between these and wet sneakers. Hats off to Miryam and her newspaper-inside-your-shoes-to-dry-them tip.

Things I have collected:

• I’ve always liked bracelets. I keep them on for so long that they start either disintegrating or smelling. I’ve started collecting bracelets in every town that we go to.  So far, I have a red string bracelet from Kaili and a small copper flower that I put around a scrunchy from the Miao Wugao village.
• Three notebooks made with very delicate Chinese paper from Shiqiao. Who knows, I might pick up journaling again. #
• Bug bites. Maybe 10 or 15 around my ankles, being wet all the time really helps in forgetting about them.

Oh! Also found out I’ll be teaching level 4 in Jishou. Extremely excited about that. Dragons forever!

Trying to understand rice and rice wine,

-Arianna

P.S. This is a picture of the view outside our (Jessica and me) window in Wugao village.

I’ve always sucked at packing. I’m that one annoying person who always overpacks and needs her friends to help her with her bags. Used to being able to travel with a 50 lb bag for a week’s worth of time, I was very shocked- terrified in fact- to find out that all we could travel with to Jishou was a 40lb bag worth of clothes. Panick attack right then and there.

But then, our awesome leaders Cameron and Eliot produced a miracle: a packing list. By looking at it I realized how many unnecessary things I usually pack. Who needs 5 pairs of jeans, 8 pairs of shoes and 3 hats? Clearly not me. And just like the extra stuff I pack and can now get rid of, I want to get rid of the unecessary emotional baggage during this trip. I’m not talking about severing emotional ties and whatnot but to get rid of those attitudes which hinder our experiences. For example, being lazy? Not in Jishou- I want to wake up with the sun and go to bed with it. My usual 10-pushing-on-11 wake up time simply has no place here. What’s more, I don’t want this emotional baggage to be left behind because it’s mandatory but rather voluntarily, as some sort of cleansing process which in the end will hopefully- fingers crossed- make me a better person.

So here’s to packing, smart packing, and to getting rid of all those unnecessary items that only add weight to our bag but not real value.

-Arianna