I am sad this experience has come to an end but so grateful I did it! I had the best time and loved China more than I thought I would!
This blog post is dedicated to things I wish I brought or knew, and things I did not expect.
I feel like even though China is way different, I did already expect many of the things I came across simply because I did a lot of research before I left. Not sure if this is really a good or bad thing. In a way it is nice to know what to expect so it isn't as much of a shock but at the same time not knowing anything would have made it a little more interesting.
-I came to China thinking I would never want a host family because it would be weird especially if we couldn't speak the same language. I wanted to live with the other foreign teachers and hang out with them but now I think the exact opposite! I wish ILP had volunteers living with hosts families. Chinese people are so sweet and kind and I love them! And charades isn't actually that bad either ;) I feel like why waste time in a foreign country hanging out with other Americans when I can really be immersing myself in the culture and local people? It truly makes the experience.
-I didn't expect to make many friends with the locals. Not really sure why I thought this. Maybe because I was living with the other foreign teachers and not with a host family. I figured I would be spending most of my time teaching and hanging out with the other foreign teachers and that I wouldn't have a way to meet locals. But I met a ton of people and made lots of friends! At our school the chinese coordinators who spoke English just happened to be around our age so we became really good friends with them. Lots of times random people would just come up and start talking to me and that is how I made friends, or friends of friends. Anyways the point is I made a lot more friends than I thought I would which is amazing!
-Which brings me to my next point: I wish I brought more "american" gifts to give to the people I met. In the ILP training packet they suggest bringing gifts for your local friends (especially in China because the chinese love to gift you gifts). And I thought I wouldn't need them. Now I seriously wish I had brought some things to give to my friends here. Not sure exactly what though.
-I really wish I learned Chinese! At least a little bit before hand. I actually picked up quite a bit. I have to say out of all the girls in my group I definitely think I learned Chinese the most and fastest. I am no expert still but I am pretty proud of myself. Most of the other girls had a hard time with certain things but I am amazed how well I picked it up, and Chinese is easier than I thought (from the little I have learned). But I still wish I had learned some beforehand and studied it more while I was there so I could have more conversations with people.
-I did wish I brought more american food like oatmeal or something. I did bring some but ate most of it within the first few weeks....
-But I didn't expect to like the food. I was never a big fan of asian food and I actually hated rice....and yes there are some weird foods but there is also good food! Especially tomatoes and egg which us a huge dish in China...who would think that's chinese food??
Some things I am glad I brought!
-hand sanitizer and travel tissues!!!!!!!!!!( Squatters...enough said.)
-student ID card! ILP did give us this student travel card that is supposed to give us discounts but not every place took it (since it did not say where we go to school) so I am glad I brought my BYU student ID card. I lost track of how much money I saved from activities during our vacations
-flashdrives: not sure why I brought these but they actually came in handy many times transferring files from computers and to school and stuff. it is much easier than having to email files.
-nice camera: I was a little worried about bringing my nice camera because I didn't want anything to happen to it but in that case why have a nice camera if you aren't going to use it? glad I did because I have to admit I got some amazing photos, and my friends sure appreciated it too
-laptop: used this more than I thought I would for lesson planning, blogging, keeping in touch with america, but more importantly for storing my photos on here. Because I took so many pictures and videos it could not possibly fit on my camera so I'm glad I had my computer to immediately download photos from each trip onto my computer. And just in case anything happened to my camera I could still have some photos.
-iphone: again wasn't sure if I should bring it since I couldn't have cellphone service at all in China (there is a way by getting a special sim card and international plan but I didn't find it necessary). There are so many great uses. This was great for taking pictures when I didn't have my camera, using imessage to keep in touch with people who have imessage and especially the girls in my group. I got many different chinese/translating apps. And I ended up getting an app called wechat to keep in touch with my chinese friends. There was a girl in my group who didn't bring her smartphone and everyday she regretted it so even if you don't have cellphone service I think it is a must bring item!
-flipflops for the showers, not in my apartment but in the hostels we stayed at because the showers can be pretty gross so it's always nice for that
-warm clothes! I looked at the weather for my city and even in november/december it stays in the 50s/60s so I thought I wouldn't need clothes for cold weather. But I brought some just in case we went north where it was colder. So glad I brought some jackets and long pants because we did go up north when it was cold AND even though it was only in the 50s and 60s in southern China it still felt really cold so warm clothes came in handy (OH and hot cocoa mixes)
Well that about wraps things up! Thanks everyone who has read my blogs and I hope you have enjoyed them! Thanks for everyone who has supported me! I finally have a video made of some of my video clips from my trip so check out my video on youtube here.
For now I am going back to school. But I hope to be able to have more adventures and when I do you bet I will blog about them here!
Some things I am glad I brought!
-hand sanitizer and travel tissues!!!!!!!!!!( Squatters...enough said.)
-student ID card! ILP did give us this student travel card that is supposed to give us discounts but not every place took it (since it did not say where we go to school) so I am glad I brought my BYU student ID card. I lost track of how much money I saved from activities during our vacations
-flashdrives: not sure why I brought these but they actually came in handy many times transferring files from computers and to school and stuff. it is much easier than having to email files.
-nice camera: I was a little worried about bringing my nice camera because I didn't want anything to happen to it but in that case why have a nice camera if you aren't going to use it? glad I did because I have to admit I got some amazing photos, and my friends sure appreciated it too
-laptop: used this more than I thought I would for lesson planning, blogging, keeping in touch with america, but more importantly for storing my photos on here. Because I took so many pictures and videos it could not possibly fit on my camera so I'm glad I had my computer to immediately download photos from each trip onto my computer. And just in case anything happened to my camera I could still have some photos.
-iphone: again wasn't sure if I should bring it since I couldn't have cellphone service at all in China (there is a way by getting a special sim card and international plan but I didn't find it necessary). There are so many great uses. This was great for taking pictures when I didn't have my camera, using imessage to keep in touch with people who have imessage and especially the girls in my group. I got many different chinese/translating apps. And I ended up getting an app called wechat to keep in touch with my chinese friends. There was a girl in my group who didn't bring her smartphone and everyday she regretted it so even if you don't have cellphone service I think it is a must bring item!
-flipflops for the showers, not in my apartment but in the hostels we stayed at because the showers can be pretty gross so it's always nice for that
-warm clothes! I looked at the weather for my city and even in november/december it stays in the 50s/60s so I thought I wouldn't need clothes for cold weather. But I brought some just in case we went north where it was colder. So glad I brought some jackets and long pants because we did go up north when it was cold AND even though it was only in the 50s and 60s in southern China it still felt really cold so warm clothes came in handy (OH and hot cocoa mixes)
Well that about wraps things up! Thanks everyone who has read my blogs and I hope you have enjoyed them! Thanks for everyone who has supported me! I finally have a video made of some of my video clips from my trip so check out my video on youtube here.
For now I am going back to school. But I hope to be able to have more adventures and when I do you bet I will blog about them here!
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