Shell in China
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Almost done with PST
We are down to less than a week with our host families. We move out next Tuesday morning. I am feeling a bit conflicted about it. I have really liked our family and they haven't been the nightmare that some have been. (It is the culture here to really not be open to private times. People here think that if you are alone, you are unhappy, so some of the families have been a bit intrusive. Ours has not, thank goodness!) On the other hand, I look forward to doing what we came to do and I look forward to having a place of my own. I am going to have to quickly acquire some cooking skills or else we will be eating out a lot! Maybe some of both…
This last weekend we went to Lashan, which is a very popular tourist place for both the Chinese people and foreigners. I think I saw more laowai there than I have in the two months I’ve been in Chengdu! Lashan is famous for the Giant Buddah. We took a bus there and back, which was only about two hours each day, so it made for a good day trip. The day was long, but it was worth the time. It is home to the world’s biggest sitting Buddah statue, which is over 71 meters high! ! It cost 70 kaui to get in to see it, but if you are a student the rate is half price, or in my case, if you show your American driver’s license and no one knows what it is, they will assume it is a student ID and you get in for 35! Yeah for discounts! Officially I am a student right now! (So, those of you coming to visit, bring your school ID cards- they will save you money!) Before we went I thought that it would be cool to see, but I can’t explain how impressive that really is! The thing is huge! The pictures really don’t do it justice.
Overall, things in China are going well. We have to take our LPI on Friday, which will tell Peace Corps how well we picked up the language during training. We then will take it in a year or so and they will compare our scores to see if we are improving at all. Also, if you don’t pass it they make you get a tutor at site. Thad and I both plan to get them anyway, as that will be the best way to continue learning Chinese; besides, PC pays for them if we want them so it would be dumb not to take advantage of that opportunity. This is our last official week of training and then we go to a hotel for a couple of days, have our official swearing in ceremony and then we head off to site! I’m excited and ready to go!
We are having problems getting pictures onto Blogger for some reason, so I created an account at Photobucket. Basically, when you click on the link it will take you to my "photo album" and you can look at them there. In a way it is nice because it makes them easier to see and I can put lots more there, but it also doesn't let me put long captions, so I did my best to label them well. Let me know if for some reason this doesn't work...
http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l69/anything4shoes/?action=view&slideshow=true
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Blog of a Peace Corps China volunteer serving as a TEFL teacher in Cheng Xian, Gansu, China.
About Me
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- Name: Michelle Ross
- Location: Chengxian, Gansu, CN
In America, I teach 8th grade English and reading and really enjoy spending time with middle school students. Some people think I am crazy for it, but Marsing has a great group of kids and I love being a part of their lives as they grow up! Right now I live in China and teach English and teaching methods to students who want to be teachers. I am here through Peace Corps, which I think is a fabulous experience and something that more people should look into doing! The application process can be a bit of a pain, but it is well worth the time and effort. Check out Peace Corps and give something back to the world that has given you so much!! Teaching runs in the family, as just about everyone is involved in education in one way or another. My dad is retired, but he was a teacher, counselor and principal for 30+ years, my mom is an elementary counselor, my sister and husband are both teachers and my brother will finish his teaching degree this next spring! "Those who can, do; those who can do magic, teach!"
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