Tuesday, June 28, 2011

IT HAS ARRIVED!!!

 It has arrived!! Today I received my visa via FedEx Next Day Service. I'm not so much having the love-hate relationship I had with them when I was sending my paperwork to Houston. I have to enter China before Sept. 22nd, which will be no problem since technically I start at my language training center on the 3rd of September, after 2 weeks of training. :) 


I'm getting more and more excited as the time progresses. I've started buying things that I know I won't be able to get while I'm over there (like tampons, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant with antiperspirant). Yeah, I know, you would think Chinese women have the same issues we do when it comes to hygiene, but apparently that is one custom Americans have come to depend on. 


We move my things from Norman on July 9th, so we only have 2 weeks to get my parents' house ready for 73 boxes and the furniture. Add in 6th grade camp, and I have a busy month of July trying to get everything settled before the big jump across the pond. Counting down the days and wishing for cooler weather... 


Be blessed and be a blessing... 

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Visa Papers on Route to Houston For Processing

Yesterday I mailed off my visa papers, passport, and visa picture to Visa Express in Houston. They will be the ones to hand-deliver my application to the Chinese Consulate and request them to issue me a visa. As the time quickly approaches for me to depart American soil and step onto Chinese soil for the first time, I get antsy, nervous almost... I am excited for this part of my life's journey, and can't wait to see where I'll be teaching and to meet my fellow teachers and students. I'm especially excited to see my classroom. I know that it will be completely different than anything I've ever done before, and that includes the two weeks I spent doing mission work in South Africa in May 2009. 


I also spent most of yesterday afternoon with my mom in my apartment in Norman finishing things up and looking for specific documents that I had already packed that needed to be unpacked and filed away in my lockbox. (Could you follow that?) When I have 73 boxes to look through, I could only imagine which box these documents could be in. Of course, I was smart enough to write on each box a limited description of what was in the box (i.e., teaching documents, classroom materials, novels, tax documents, etc.). Finally, after moving several boxes, I found what I was looking for in the last box! Typical... Also, this afternoon, my mom and I got into one of the biggest fights we've ever had. I think it's her trying to push me away, so that it won't hurt as much when I leave in August, but still, it stung. Oh well, that's water under the bridge now, we've mended fences and apologized. 


Everything else seems mundane now. Apartment is packed, visa sent off for, and now I'm just waiting for the next word from Jaimee, my recruiter from English First. I'll either be arriving in Beijing on the 6th or the 20th of August, depending on when I receive my visa and when flights are available.  For now, it's just hurry up and wait. :) 

Monday, June 13, 2011

Next stop... Houston!!

While I was at lunch with Jordan, one of my former youth group girls that recently graduated from high school, at Applebee's today, my mom texted me and said that she had a present for me when I got home. I could only assume that the "present" she meant was my visa documentation since it's the only package that I was waiting (if somewhat impatiently) on. When I got home, my mom handed the bright orange mailer to me and to say I ripped it open is an understatement. I was so excited that my paperwork had come in that I couldn't handle carefully opening the envelope. I pulled it open, and read the sheets that were inside. One was my working permit and the other was my letter of invitation. I couldn't read it completely because it was mostly in Mandarin, but that's just another reason why I need to learn the language quickly. Now I need to fill out the visa application, get my passport from my lockbox in Norman, and send everything to Houston. That's the nearest Chinese consulate that has jurisdiction over Oklahoma. I will have to use a proxy agent since I can't directly mail my documents to the consulate; it has to be hand-delivered either by myself or by a proxy. 

Later on this afternoon, I got to thinking about what needed to happen in my life for this opportunity to arise and me to be able to take this step. Five years ago, I was a senior at OU, majoring in English Education with plans to teach high school English here in Oklahoma, engaged to my high school sweetheart who was looking for meteorology jobs in the surrounding states, and pretty happy with my life. Fast forward two years and I was a recent college graduate moving back home with my parents, searching for my first teaching position, and recently single (for the first time in 8 years!). I thought that I had hit rock bottom, literally. At the end of that year, my principal told me that I was better suited for middle school (at the time I didn't realize how right she was - I was just embittered that she hadn't renewed my contract or signed off on my resident year). I applied for China after my first year, but the company I was going to go with wasn't as supportive financially and technically as EF has been. Eventually things fell through and I couldn't afford to go then. The next year I taught at Little Axe Middle and High Schools, making sure that students that hadn't passed their OCCT (Oklahoma Core Curriculum Tests) exams had the necessary skills to pass it the next time. Because I was on federal grant money and a tornado wiped out a good chunk of the school campus, I was let go because the money simply ran out. Before I could think about applying for a position in China again, I was hired to teach middle school math at Crutcho. At first I was terrified, the demographics of the students made me nervous because I had never taught in a situation like that, heck, I student taught Pre-AP English at Putnam City North! As the year moved on, I fell in love with my job, the kids, and my coworkers. When my principal told me that I wasn't going to be able to be retained, I was crushed, but I knew that this time I could go to China and thrive there. It was my time!! So, for those of you, my loving readers, that wanted to know why I chose China and why I'm deciding now to go, there's your answer, if not a little long-winded. :) Blessings! 


Friday, June 10, 2011

Received the confirmation email this morning that my visa documents are on their way from Shanghai!!! AAAAHHH!! This fact just makes me even more excited and terrified that I'll be in Beijing in two short months!! Must get started on my to do list... need to go shopping!! What would one think about taking with them to China when you only get 2 suitcases that weigh no more than 70 lbs. each? Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that there is Wal-Mart, IKEA, and Apple stores in Beijing, so I'll be in heaven!! :) At least I'll have some of the comforts of home. 

Thursday, June 9, 2011

I've decided to take up the martial art of tai chi. There are so many benefits to this... from lowering blood pressure and sharpening the mind to reducing stress and increasing flexibility! Plus when I get to Beijing, I'll be able to join a group of people in a park somewhere... great way to make friends or will people think that I'm just a crazy American trying to fit in? Whatever the outcome, I think that I've finally found a way to workout without straining my already scarred knees. :) I'm so excited!! 



Tuesday, June 7, 2011

After being let go from my previous teaching position because of the nation's lack of interest in the education budget, I looked into teaching overseas. This is not the first time that this thought has crossed my mind, and I partially blame it on the fact that I'm a military brat and constantly moved while I was growing up. It also explains why I can't seem to sit still - I'm always looking for the next best thing, and right now, that next best thing is sending me to Beijing for at least a year to teach English to predominantly Chinese-speaking children. I will be working for a company called EF English First, a secondary company to Education First, the company that coordinates educational travel overseas and also foreign exchange programs internationally. I can't wait to get this experience started! Looking for apartments online makes me jittery (but in a good way)! My passport is still good from my mission trip to South Africa in 2009 so I'm just waiting on my visa paperwork to arrive from Shanghai! In the meantime? Packing my apartment in Norman and moving back in with my parents... isn't that what all 26-year-olds do when they're moving 10,000 miles away?