Starting Over and Halfway..

..Starting Over..
One huge perk of my internship with Langston is that part of our contract is to attend language classes to learn Mandarin. Because of a few different factors, we had to switch up Mandarin classes, and as of yesterday, I have one hour a day of private Mandarin lessons with Mr. Zhang (Zhang laoshi) who only speaks Chinese. I walked out of class feeling really overwhelmed, and kind of like I am starting over. The board was covered in Chinese characters and I am not too sure what my homework assignment was…but, in the end, starting over or not, I think this is a great opportunity for me. I can’t use English as a crutch for explanations, I am forced to speak in Chinese and use the (few) words I know. I am getting an hour of only Chinese lessons every day I go into work, and even though these next few weeks will kick my butt, it will help me get closer and closer to the long term goal of becoming fluent.

..Halfway..
Today is exactly halfway from when I arrived in Shenyang to when I leave. Crazy. I can’t believe that I have been here for three months and that there are only three more months to go. On one hand, I don’t want to go at all, but on another, I am getting really excited to sit on my parents’ deck just talking with the whole family since we will finally all be in Portland again. I don’t want to leave Shenyang, and the roommates and close friends I have here, or the students/staff at the school, but I know that each adventure in life is just for a season. But, even with not wanting to leave, I am really starting to miss friends and family, and just being able to spend time with them talking and doing nothing, I miss eating dinner with my parents, Portland and sunny weather of Tempe, and of course being able to dry my clothes in a dryer. :)

When I sat down to write this blog, I thought it’d be fun to share some highlights of the last few months, but, it seems that it is so hard to describe, because really, it’s the little things…
I love going to the market down the street from my apartment and fumbling through communicating to try and order vegetables, fruit, eggs and meat.
I love learning Chinese, and being able to speak to people or understand what people are saying to me.
I love the students. Ok, to be perfectly honest, I love most of the students!
I love the train rides to different cities and getting to explore different cities.
I love that for the last few weeks Lindsey and I have slept on each end of the couch every night because the beds in our rooms are far too hard.
I love that I ordered water for our water cooler and the person actually understood me.
I love getting packages and little reminders of home, which also serve as reminders that I am getting to experience a totally different life and culture here.

I’m sure the list could go on and on and on…but, it is truly the little things and relationships that I have that make this such a once in a lifetime opportunity. That’s all for now, and hey, I’ll see you in three months. Much love.