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During my sophomore year of college, I took the winter semester off (strategically planned to avoid Utah's winter :) and spent 6 months in Zhongsham, China, a southern city in mainland China near Hong Kong. I volunteered with International Language Program and taught English to young Chinese students from ages three to about six.
On a typical day, we spent three hours in the morning teaching English. Each volunteer taught one content area a week (classes like drama, kitchen, art, etc) and the kids rotated to each class every day. We were trained on the teaching method before we left, but basically it was structured play in English only. After teaching, we ate lunch at the school, then had Mandarin lessons Monday-Thursday and Chinese cooking lessons on Friday. (I only learned enough Mandarin to ask for directions, to ask for the bathroom (ha!) and to have a basic (very basic!) conversation... and once I got back home, I sadly forgot it all.) After lessons, we walked about a mile to the bus stop and then took the bus back to our apartments. We'd relax, go running, or binge watch on bootlegged tv shows (ha!), then on many days head to Kung Fu class in the evenings or "Chinese night" (where we would do an activity with the Chinese teachers at the school so they could practice their English and so we could practice our Mandarin), or go out to dinner with one of our student's parents. (Parents really liked taking us out to dinner so that they could practice their English!)
All of the volunteers at our school - I love these girls!
The kids were sooooo cute!
Mandarin Lessons
Cooking lessons (the cooks always asked me if one of my parents was Chinese :)
Jenny, Brian and Tao Tao had us over for dinner quite a bit and I just loved them! (they even sent me a wedding gift when I got married!)
My friend, Seantay, studied martial arts in the U.S. so when we got to China, she really wanted to take lessons! My friends were legitimately good at Kung Fu and I just went along with it so that I could say that I learned Karate in China ;) (Basically I just I kicked and screamed and chopped a lot and "fake it 'til you make it" was my motto :) If I remember correctly, we got free lessons so that Spring, our instructor could use us to advertise the new Kung Fu studio he opened. We performed quite a few times, and I think it was so he could show off the Americans he was teaching and I'm sure people were signing up like crazy after seeing my crazy American Kung Fu skills:
I have to say, I felt pretty gross the entire time I was in China. I ate Chinese food for breakfast, lunch and dinner from a school cafeteria, it was SOOOOO hot and humid in the city we lived, and I was at my all time heaviest. Eventually, I completely let myself go and wore a skirt with tennis shoes most days (the skirts kept me cool and fit me the best and the tennis shoes were the most comfortable for walking around and I can't believe I'm even trying to justify myself here!!!!) Also, my all time ugliest candid picture was taken in China and I'm so proud of it!
So basically, I was at an all time physical low but was having the time of my life in China! I loved teaching and I loved my cute students (volunteering solidified my decision to get my degree in Elementary Ed), I loved how foreign everything was and how different the culture was, I loved the people I volunteered with, I loved my new Chinese friends and I loved exploring and shopping and traveling and trying new things. Every day was an adventure. Looking back, I almost get anxiety just thinking how limited I was there - I couldn't speak the language or get anywhere outside of our bus route or eat anything besides rice and fried veggies and unidentified meat but when I was there I was really just having fun and soaking it all in. I loved it!
Proof of my horrible fashion choices:
Squatters:
The questionable meat market by our bus stop:
The school we taught at was great and gave us 4 day weekends once a month and a week (or two?) long break so that we could travel and see more of China. I got to visit Sanya (a beach in southern China), Yangshou, Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, and Hong Kong. We almost always traveled by sleeper bus because it was inexpensive and we could "sleep" while we drove through the night. Even thinking about it now gives me so much anxiety - we had no great way of communicating so we never knew when exactly we would get to our destination or when we would stop for a bathroom break. Plus they made me car sick and they were always stuffy and jam packed (because the bus drivers would always illegally pick up more people to sit on the bus isles). Looking back, I think we were crazy!
Hong Kong
My mom met me in Beijing on my way home and we visited Beijing, Xi'an, and Yangshuo. It was so fun showing her around!
(Fun fact: Spencer got home from his Mormon mission in Vancouver, Canada the same week I got home from China!)
Yangshuo was by far my favorite place to visit in China and the most beautiful and unique place that I have ever been to. I will never forget riding scooters with my mom in the pouring rain in the most gorgeous place in the world :)
Living in a Communist country made me realize how blessed I am to be an American. It also made me feel very ungrateful because before I went to China, I was so clueless about American values, current events, and our whole political process. GOD BLESS AMERICA! I learned so much about myself, my country, and the world during those six months and I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to go. And man, I loved those kids - their smiles and giggles, their voices, their little attitudes, their high fives, their hugs and kisses, and their unconditional love. It's crazy to think that they are tweens and teenagers now! China will always have a piece of my heart :)
Those kids are precious!
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