Last night I woke up at 1:30, 5:00, and 6:30, not too bad for a home stay. I must say I’ve really enjoyed going to bed early and waking up to the crowing of roosters.

It’s hard to imagine what village life is like without being there. I can say that when I voted for the WildChina trip with home stays, I couldn’t anticipate what it would feel like to be there. Last night Jessica and I were wandering around Dali after dinner, when we saw a 9-year-old girl standing outside her house and looking at us. We started to talk to her, and then the father appeared and invited us to come in and eat. We obliged, happy to chat with the family and eat some bayberries. The family was sitting on 1/2 foot stools in what I’ll call the living/dining room, a plate of fish was on the table and the TV was on in the background (this was the scene in just about every house we passed).

So far just about everywhere we’ve gone, we’ve been shown incredible hospitality. One more example – on the way to Dali we stopped at another Dong village, famous for its drum tower. I was wandering with Miryam and Alyssa outside the school, when the teachers invited us to come inside. They brought us to the teachers’ lounge and insisted that we eat watermelon, which we did. We chatted a bit about their school before we had to return to the bus.

WildChina has been amazing – I can’t believe that the farewell dinner is tomorrow. Though I’m also looking forward to arriving in Jishou in a couple of days and settling down.

I still can’t belive this. Everything has been amazing. From the rice fields to the dancing with the villagers, I couldn’t be happier.

Let’s talk about the home stays. The Miao village was….something else. I struggled through not showering for three days. I tried to my hardest to embrace my clothes drenched in sweat and the layer of dirt that constantly collected on my face. Fortunately, I didn’t give in to the shower. That just made my experience even better. The first night in my room I broke into a crazy sweat staring at the ceiling with my lights on and wishing that those three cockroaches would back away. But they didn’t. So I closed my eyes, turned off the lights, kept sweating, and fell asleep. Yet, for some weird reason, the second night in the Miao village was not the same. I was used to the feeling and the smells and was really culturally immersed. I guess it just took me some time. Nevertheless, it was ALL worth it. Not many students can say that they did farm work in rural China and picked potatoes for an hour on top of a mountain.

And now, my fellow co-teachers. Each one of them is so unique, and so amazing. I hope I’m not annoying them too much. Every day, I learn something new about some of them. Each personality helps to build the group and make every minute here much more enjoyable. I appreciate my time alone, especially with nature. But this week, I felt something different when I stood over the Dong village with Nick and looked out into the mountains, or when I walked by the edge of the river with the rest of the group. It’s nice to share these moments with others. China is helping me learn about myself. It’s like when a tough rock is tossed and turned by the waves of the ocean until it is smoothed out. The rough edges are beginning to fade.

I think that’s all I want to say right now. There is so much more I can write, the other posts will help give a glimpse into our life.

=]

-Christian

I wake up in the morning to the sound of hard rain hitting the tile roof. I roll off the bed and crack the window (and my head, thank you low ceiling). As the window squeaks open, in rush a swarm of mosquitoes and the sticky humidity that’s characterized our stay in Guizhou so far… but the view is amazing. In stark contrast to the bustling streets of Kaili (where some of us became the guest attractions at a Miao dance for the Dragonboat Festival), the view at Wuhao is tranquil and, well, worth the trek. You can describe the mist rolling across the mountains (at times it feels like we’re in the clouds) or the terraced rice  fields surrounding the village’s ramshackle post and beam buildings, or even the old men and women who serenely carry astonishingly heavy baskets of potatoes / baicai / chickens along treacherous paths… but words don’t do the place much justice. Pictures don’t even capture it. You just have to be there.

Fortunately, I’ve got company.

We spent the last two nights in Wugao, a Miao village high up in the mountains. Kelsey and I were paired together to be roommates and we did our best to get the full Miao experience. At first, our host parents seemed hesitant to meet us and forced the daughter (who is learning Mandarin in school) to converse with us.

By the end of the day, our host father was asking us to join him for dinner. I don’t know what brought about his change of heart, but Kelsey and I quickly embraced the chance to bond with our host fam. I tried to explain that we had already eaten but would still love to hang out around the dinner table, but our host father was persistent and before we knew it we were eating, drinking, and laughing together. At one point in the conversation, Kelsey and I asked about the Miao hairstyle. My host father cracked up thinking about what I would look like if my hair was fixed like the traditional Miao bun.

The next day, two Miao women offered to do my hair after breakfast. I agreed and after a lot of brushing, they succeeded in getting my tangled, curly hair into a tight bun. They even decorated it with traditional string, flowers and combs. I wore my hair like that for the rest of the day and there were definitely a few times that my fellow SoSers mistook me for a Miao villager. I think my favorite reaction came from the students when we visited the primary school. They all stared at me with a perplexed face that read something like, “Her hair looks familiar, but the rest of her doesn’t…”

After dinner, the two ladies that did my hair came to teach our SoS group how to sing and dance. Before I knew it, I was being pulled onstage to teach everyone the song. While I failed at memorizing the song lyrics, I think I succeeded in connecting with the two Miao women. It just goes to show that embracing a piece of someone else’s culture (in this case, putting my hair in a high bun for a day) can go a long way.

Okay, I’ve got to get to sleep now. I hope Kelsey talked about the dead bird in her blog post! Good night!

Best,
Alyssa (a.k.a Miao Princess)

Since I am currently flustered by the fact that a) I HAVE INTERNET CONNECTION! and b) I have to blog tonight, I will [try to] be brief.

My experience here has been amazing so far; our Wild China trip has definitely given me the chance to explore the China that I’ve only ever seen in Zhang Yimou films.”Roughing it” has played a pretty big role in my life for the past few days; hiking under the pouring rain, falling into streams (yes, that happened), and living in a typical Miao village with no running water are all things that I would generally consider to be outside my comfort zone. While I’ve never been big on “roughing it,” the past few days have been both incredibly rewarding and an amazing learning experience. I am no longer terrified of squatting toilets, for one thing. I have learnt how to dig for potatoes, cut grass with a scythe, do my laundry Miao villager-style, and sit back to appreciate the beauty of the scenery around me. Not too shabby for the first 5 days of a 2-month adventure.

After visiting Shanghai, Kaili, and Rongjiang, all bustling with life, I can’t wait to see how they compare to Jishou. Similarly, I can’t wait to really acquaint myself with the city that I’ll be living in for the next 2 months; while I am soaking up every ounce of this down-and-dirty Wild China trip, after having found out that I will be teaching Level 2 in Jishou, I am all the more excited about actually meeting my students.

Ultimately, teaching is what I came here to do; these amazing first few days, shared with an equally amazing group of people, have made me realize that I couldn’t be more grateful to PiA for giving me this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The best part of it all? There’s more to come.

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.

Our twenty-four hour train ride from Shanghai to Kaili went a lot quicker than expected. After hours of reading, telling jokes, playing games, meeting Chinese babies, and bonding throughout this journey, I came to various realizations about my weeks to come in China.

After meeting our first friend, Zhoun Zhoun (spelling?), the two year old boy who was traveling with his family next to our beds, I learned that Miryam is kind of hard to pronounce. After trying to get him to say my name, I settled on changing it. My new Chinese name is Mimi: short for Miryam, yet easy to pronounce.

After playing with Zhoun Zhoun and teaching him how to count in English, he taught me how to count in Chinese. Through the repeated motions of counting our with our fingers up to five and repeating what we each said, we shared our languages. Truth be told, I only remember how to say one (yi) and five (wooga), even after going it over and over again.

From this experience I learned two things. First of all, my quest to pick up some basic Chinese will be a slow one. I will just have to take it one word at a time will do. So far I can say hello, goodbye, thank you, one, and five (making progress!). Secondly, teaching English will be, as our TEFL teachers emphasized, a slow and patient process. Despite how many times I went over counting up to 5 with Zhoun Zhoun or how many times he taught me, we both had trouble remembering.

I also learned the trick to befriending Chinese people, from children to adults: smiling and making funny faces. After waving at a child who kept sticking his face out and staring at us Americans multiple times, he finally responded. Then we engaged in a competition of making funny faces at each other. He then proceeded to use his water bottle as a gun and pretend to shoot us – a little worrisome. But finally he came over to us, and again we taught each other how to count and learned his name and age. In our homestay in Wugao, my communication with my Miao host mother consisted of pointing, laughter and “oohs”. In the end, we all somehow are able to understand each other.

Zai jien!

Mimi

*Correction: After speaking to our Wild China tour guide about Chinese names, I learned that Mimi has two meanings: secret and another, more vulgar meaning. Therefore, he gave me a Chinese name: Mi Li An, which means luck. So I will now go by Mi Li An.

So I’m in Manila International airport watching the clock tick as my flight to Shanghai nears. After a 12 hour flight and basically skipping June 20th (still don’t quite understand that), I’m in Asia…feeling as foreign as I ever have.

As I left San Francisco after spending the weekend with my family celebrating my sister’s graduation from business school, I couldn’t help but think about the future. As I accompanied my sister to luncheons and dinners with her friends, all I heard was constant banter about their futures and upcoming jobs in finance or consulting or upcoming lavished vacations. This got me thinking about my future and where I would like my education and experiences to take me.

As these overwhelming thoughts consumed me, everyone also kept asking me about what  I would be doing in China. As I told them, they all raved about my upcoming experience, calling it a “once in a lifetime opportunity” or “one of a kind”. And I smiled, knowing that what is to come really is a unique experience.

Though I came to no conclusions about my future (graduation is still too far away, I have plenty of time to think about that), I hope that this upcoming experience in China will help shape and guide my future goals and endeavors. But for now, I plan to continue living in the moment and taking in every piece of Asia I can, starting with Manila’s airport.

See you in China!

Miryam

This year had a lot of ups and downs for me. From choosing my major to dealing with personal relationships, many things were difficult and even unexpected. Though, I must say that googling “summer internships in Asia” during winter break turned out to be one of the most rewarding and random decisions I made this year. I can’t believe I’m to China. My mind was set on doing a science internship this summer, but I have no regrets. Life becomes exciting when things don’t go as planned.

I’m excited for every single experience and challenge I will face. From not showering for 3 days during our wild china trip (thanks Eliot and Cameron for the news), to talking with my hands and being in front of my own classroom. When I’m in front of people, I get a rush of energy that makes me want to talk without ceasing. I can’t wait to feel that rush when I’m in front of my students. I know I’ll get out of hand. Maybe I’ll talk too much, or laugh too much, or even socialize with my co-workers too much. But that’s a part of me.

I’ve always loved cultures and languages. The anthropologist in me is getting pumped. I’m ready for this new adventure. I’m ready to face this ancient land. Words can’t describe the mixed feelings I’m having right now. I want to explore, I want to meet people, I want to feel nature in Jishou. I want my stomach to handle the food. =p

When I return to Princeton in the fall, I’ll have a lot more to look forward to =].

But for now, I’ll focus on this adventure. =]]]

-Christian

This summer is going to be awesome. I’m 100% sure!

To say that I’m “excited” for Jishou is a huge understatement. Thrilled is more like it. I have to resist the urge to jump up and down when I describe my summer plans to people. That might sound like an exaggeration, but I distinctly remember wanting to jump out of my seat during the information session after Fiona had told me more about SoS and I had read some of the SoS blogs from summer 2011. Now that I have gotten to know my fellow SoSers, our amazing co-leaders, and the energetic PiA staff, I’m positive that Summer of Service is going to change my life—if it hasn’t already!

I can’t wait to be in a trying environment, where things are not easily accessible. I can’t wait to try my hand at teaching English and form lasting friendships with my students. I can’t wait to experience Chinese culture outside of Beijing and eat amazing Chinese food again. I can’t wait to create hilarious memories with my fellow SoSers that we’ll be laughing about for years to come.

Bring on the inconveniences. Bring on the obstacles. Bring on brushing my teeth with water from a water bottle. Bring on a classroom full of bright-eyed students. Bring on Wild China adventures, Jishou adventures, laughing so hard that I cry, difficult moments that make me want to cry. Bring on everything.

I’m trying to have no expectations, and I think I have been successful so far. Well, 95% successful—I do expect SoS to be mind-blowing.

Woot! Woot! China, here we come!
Alyssa