Preparing for China- Language and Culture

So, as mentioned below (I think this updates in such a fashion, anyway), I am a Japanese major. I was not always, but then my college developed two new majors and I jumped on Japanese. In short, this means I have not had any major Chinese study.


Culture

So, I've had some minimal exposure to Chinese culture. Mainly by studying older aspects of China. And through a calendar and almanac class I took, focused on the Chinese Almanac. I enjoyed the class immensely, and I'm glad I didn't sell my books back. So glad.

But still, these books are not culturally deep, and don't help me know what to expect. So I've been reading online a lot about how to travel in China, what cultureshocks might happen, and from people who live in China currently. I've also kept in touch with my friend Ann, who has been asking questions from our alums in China. (I just read blogs of alums for the indirect approach).

I'm also reading books on China's current economy and how it affects nations globally, but that feels like political science and since I pretend not to be interested, I'm going to cut this phrase short.

What I have discovered is what will be my biggest obstacle: China is not Japan. Not anywhere close. The indirectness might play a part of many Asian mentalities, but there is no bartering in Japan, there is always toilet paper, there are lines, and organization. In China, it appears (remember I have not yet experienced it for myself) to be much more chaotic- but a chaos that somehow works. So I'll look forward to chaos in my future.

So long as it isn't in my flight plans, ok.

Language

I asked my teacher Rob (his blog of knowledge and power is linked here) quickly one day about what he would recommend someone who is doing super-quick study in Chinese language, and he mentioned pronunciation. With my background in Japanese, I should be able to pick out characters and meanings, but the readings and listenings not so much. So I'm working on making word lists, and listening. There are two main things I am using: Chinesepod, introduced to me by my friend Ann, and Eurotalk. Eurotalk isn't by any means the best software, but I'm familiar with it, and it will build my vocab, which is all I'm going for right now. Grammar kinda has to come later, despite how frustrating that is for me. But I can't make sentences before I have words, so I must allow myself to be frustrated. I've also got an audible account that I'll have to cancel before I go (it is a monthly subscription), and I have a few other audiobooks for Chinese there, too. The free credit thing for a subscription fee isn't as bad as it could be, I think, and it's through Amazon, so the audiobooks play on my super-battery Kindle.

So my language learning is almost completely audio based for now. On the upside, I find that I really like listening to tones. I can't always hear them, but I keep getting better and better. I hope when I'm in China I can really work at pronunciation, too.

Preparing for China- the internets

There are several blocked websites in China. For instance, youtube, facebook, and this very website, blogger. However, I'm going to try and set up proxies so this doesn't happen.

There may still be days where I haven't been able to update due to internet being down or what not. I'm not abandoning the block. Realistically, in the first few months (while in China), if I don't update daily, it's probably due to lack of internet access. After that, it's more likely half and half.

Preparing for China- Travel Plans

In Japan, I decided to haul a 60 pound bag around the subway system (50+ backpack, and a laptop bag on my person). That was for a semester.

When I went for a year, I think I did a very similar thing. The upside is that I had buses, organized help, and cars instead of subways.

This time, I'd rather take as little as possible. I'm planning to bring...

a roller carry-on.

It would be easier when switching flights (I have a 2 hour layover in LAX and I need to switch terminals and airlines, so I'm terrified of taking any more time than necessary). It would be easier when leaving, or hiring a cab, or waiting. It's a lot less stuff I have to worry about, too. I'm not taking my cell phone with me- instead, I have an ipod armed with Skype (and an alarm system, hello, alarm system, you'll be my bestest friend). I don't see that I need to take much more than a passport, wallet, clothes, medicine, a laptop, an ipod, and a kindle for reading. I'm sure Amazon and Apple will jump all over my desire to support their products, but the ipod is thin, light, and serves multiple purposes- it is an alarm, it has translation software (totally bought it for app access, ain't gunna lie), and it will act as a back-up computer if mine decides to die in China. The kindle is useful if I want reading, because I don't want to haul books with me if I can help it. Books are bulky and take up precious weight, kindles last ridiculously long, are thin, light, and if I had figured out before I bought mine that the 3G system bypasses the Great Firewall of China, I would have bought that version, too. Essentially, it maximizes the books I can take with me, and I see this as a giant plus.

The electronics will go with a spare set of clothes (minus pants) in a laptop bag, because my carry-on won't go through with me to Air China. But I can't picture what else I would need. Certainly, one does not need any more than a week's worth of clothes, a jacket, and mittens?

I will add I plan on sending my winter things through the mail- I'm not sure how cold it gets. Not due to temperature, but whether or not the place I stay has central heating. I didn't have it in Osaka, Japan, so I'm not going to deal with, "Ah, it'll be okay, I'm from much colder temperatures". The difference is huge when you compare having a guaranteed warm place with a place that is warm only underneath your piles of blankets.

The other thing I'm not thrilled about is my giant layover. I leave from DSM at about 8pm, arrive in Denver at 9:00. My next flight is then 45 minutes later (I'm more thrilled about having this the same airline, because that's really close in a time-frame setting), and I arrive in Lax at 11:20. I leave from terminal 2 (not quite opposite from where I arrive), at 1:40am, and arrive in Beijing at 5:20am.

I don't mind the overnight flights (lies, I have trouble on planes), but it's more of a crunch for time until I get on the plane in LAX. And then, will I be too excited to sleep? I dunno. By the time I take off in LAX, it will be 3:40am my normal time. Luckily, I have late-night Skype conversation training to always keep me prepared for late-night awakeness.

Beijing to final destination is actually a 7 hour layover. This is cool, because I'm going through customs, and whenever I take meds with me I always get nervous. I know I'll have a doctor's note for them, but I'm still crazy nervous for going through customs. On the upside, 7 hours means I'll have time to withdraw some money, adjust to listening to Chinese, and reading, (perhaps informing people I've arrived safely, who knows?). When I arrive at my final destination, I have an additional 4 hours and 30 minutes before the group I'm headed with's plane arrives. So long as they all arrive at 6:30pm, and none later.

Maybe I should bring travel snacks. hmmm. So I wish it was more evenly paced, but this was a very cheap option (even if I'm being reimbursed I have to front the cost now), and the other flight I was looking at gave me only 2 hours to make it through customs in a strange airport that I could arrive late at. It's possible Denver and LAX'll run late, too, but at least I'll be dealing with English, and there's still a chance I could catch my flight at 12:20pm in Beijing.

Getting Started- Obligatory Entry Post

Hello! I am an Eaaf. You probably knew that. It says so in the title.

On August 18, 2011, I shall be headed off for adventure- in China.

China, sadly, is not one of the places I thought I'd be heading to in my life. Returning to Japan, yes. China? Not so much. Now I'm kinda sad I switched majors from the old East Asian Languages Major into Japanese. Guess which major required Chinese?

So I'm going to be teaching English to college level Chinese students, and I don't speak any Chinese.

At all.

Oh boy~!


I was introduced to the job through my roommate, Ann, who pointed out that my school was needing graduating seniors desperately to fill a gap from someone that refused. Since my mother was hounding me (rightfully so) about grad schools and resumes, I jumped on the opportunity because let's face it, I don't really want to be spending a year at home. I love home. I no longer wish to live there for extended periods of time and fall into the boomerang generation that plagues my age group.

So I applied, and was accepted. Now I shall be teaching English. In Kaifeng, a city I only heard about once I was interviewing for the job. "What do you know about Kaifeng?" Betsy asked me.

"Nothing," I replied honestly.

And I was informed. There is a famous park, it lies on the Yellow River, it was one of the 7 Ancient Capitals of China, it is an industrializing place, perhaps not as many cars as Japan (there were a lot of comparisons to the difference between Japan and China), and that there is a night market.

Well, it was good to have comparisons between China and Japan. I imagine the hardest part for me will be differentiating between what is "Japanese" and what is "Asian" in terms of mindset and policy.

I was also well informed of the job- I get payed every month, I have a small furnished apartment I don't have to pay for (but afterwards I discovered a curfew of 10pm), I will be teaching maybe 20 hours a week, tops, and I will have breaks and time for travel if I can. Also, my flight in is reimbursed and they pay for my leaving ticket (assuming I stay the entire time and don't run out of China).

So that's a small run-down of my job, where it is, what I know about it, and what I'll be doing.