It's hard to believe that time is going so quickly. After school was out, I spent three days in school myself at the Summer Literacy Institute and then went on a six day road trip to Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin (okay, we drove through Illinois and Indiana as well if you want to be specific). Now it's all about getting ready for my trip to China.
We had a meeting this week to learn more about our time in China. Here are the highlights-
* I will be staying with a Chinese family. The requirements of the hosts is that they have Internet (yeah!), a private bedroom (yeah!) and a sit-down toilet (Yeah!). I will be bringing them gifts, of course. Some of the recommendations are a Minnesota Timberwolves shirt, wild rice and multi vitamins and/or fish oil capsules. I was surprised by the vitamin and supplement recommendation but it is indeed a valued gift. What would you recommend I bring?
* We will be teaching two- two week summer camps, 12 days each. Along with the teaching will be plenty of travel and touring. We start in Beijing with the Great Wall, Tiananman Square, Forbidden City and Pearl Market.
* We will spend most of our time in Linfen, China, a smaller city of 4 million people that doesn't see a lot of tourists. The city has the unfortunate reputation of being one of the 10 most polluted cities in the world, though there has been dramatic improvement in the past few years.
* I got my passport back with my Chinese Visa. The visa is required to enter China and required a bunch of paperwork and a trip to Chicago by one of the leaders. The visa looks like a large sticker with my name and the dates I can enter the country.
* I don't have to do my own laundry in China. How cool is that? It will be very hot so it will be nice to be able to change clothes and not worry about washing them. Besides, I haven't had anyone do my laundry in years!
* We will have a long lunch break, common in China. It is common to get a massage or take a nap during lunch. When in China, do as the Chinese is what I say! I wonder if I can bring this custom back to the US?
* I am delighted to learn that although China has 220 v electrical instead of 110, all of the "gadgets" have power plugs that will work in China so I don't need to worry about bringing a power inverter. That's a big relief.
Note to students who want to send me a message- remember to use first names only! I will be screening messages before I post them and won't be able to add any that have last names. Remember the Internet Safety lesson? :-) If you don't want your message posted, just let me know in the message.
12 days!?!
