Destination: Nanchang

Hello again, supertourist fans!

The long awaited moment has arrived -- placement!!!!!!!! I finally know which city I'll be in and what school I'll be teaching at:  Nanchang in the Jiangxi province at the East China Institute of Technology.

Nanchang, here we come!

Nanchang is a small town of 4 million people, about 1.5 million of which are students at the various universities. It's located in Southeast China, between mountains (I knew I was not destined to live in flat plains all my life) and China's largest freshwater lake, called Puyong Hu. The closest really big cities are Hong Kong and Shanghai, but Nanchang is considered enough of a city that it is home to numerous industrial and textile factories. It even has a Wal-mart, so you know it must be a bastion of civilization.

I suppose small is relative...

Nanchang was also the birthplace of the Chinese Communist Party, so the opportunities for truly learning Chinese history and culture will be abundant!!! There are many memorials throughout the city and many university students eventually join the Party because of the guanxi (networking) it provides, so it will be an up close and personal look at how the Party works and what its future looks like.

It is 13 hrs ahead of Tulsa time, but later it will only be 12 hrs. because they don't do daylight savings. If you would like to know exactly what time it is along with the temperature, dialing codes, and a sundry of other random things, you can go to http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=566.

I will be teaching at the East China Institute of Technology, which means my students will be predominantly boys and predominantly engineers, math majors, and economists. Thank goodness I'm taking macro and micro economics this summer or we'd have nothing to talk about! My team consists of another girl and two boys and then our female team leader, so I'm sure you'll be seeing plenty of pictures of them. Our apartment is only about 5 minutes walk from the school, but it's on the 4th floor, so I'll have a built-in stairmaster.

Is this an institute of higher learning or a hotel?

That's about all on the new information. I'll be sure and update you as I find out about it. For now, though, I'm off to figure out how to pack for a year and extreme weather conditions with only 2 suitcases and a 50lb weight limit. Fortunately, what is impossible for me is possible for Dad... and there's always Wal-mart (proof that he works in mysterious ways).

Supertourist over and out.

The Adventure is Almost Beginning!!!!

Hello to you, my fellow travelers (aka family and friends).

Thank you for joining me on this exciting journey and for reading this blog since blogging is a wee bit narcissistic. Quick fundraising update - I am happily over 70% and have just a little over $3,000 to go, which, fortunately, can be paid throughout the year, and even after. Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about the good stuff: China!!!!

Future students? Good to know they come in peace as well.

     As soon as I found out I was accepted to ELIC, I started collecting books about China, everything from Mao to China: Fragile Superpower. So far, I have gleaned various little nuggets of wisdom:

     Much Ado About Mao
     First, do not malign the name of Mao. Hellfire might really fall down upon you.  Recently, people have been trying to revive his cult in response to increasing "liberalism" that is taking China in a direction that is not in conformity with Communist principles. I have a massive book about his life that I look forward to reading on the plane.

     Crouching Tiger, Hidden ... Lamb?
     Second, since the 1980's, China's economy has been growing exponentially. In the early 2000s, it grew by 8% each year. For some countries, this was great because it meant a greater demand for their goods in a less saturated market (yes, I have been taking Economics this summer; it's nice to finally know what people are talking about in the newspaper). Others, were a bit more concerned because they feared that China would be too much competition for them. China, however, has gone out of its way to demonstrate that it is a responsible power, especially by providing developmental aid, such as infrastructure, to countries in Africa in exchange for oil and joining ASEAN (Asian economic block) and several other international economic committees, including the World Trade Organization. Who knew that China was a gentle giant?
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     So This Guy Walks Into a Bar... and Sings Karaoke
     The Chinese are fascinated with karaoke, which is great because I totally have the prerequisite skills - marginal singing ability, funny dance moves, and the lack of inhibition about doing embarrassing things in front of large groups of people without needing liquid courage. One of the books on culture talked about how the Chinese pour their souls into karaoke and that its a form of self-expression in a way that it just isn't in the United States. Its an opportunity to see their true selves whereas in the States, its something to do when you don't want to be or aren't yourself. They have made something beautiful out of something that was not. And if even karaoke can be redeemed, then there must be some hope for the world.
     

Hopefully, this is not the class size.

     Readers are Leaders and Knowledge is Power
     Reading all of these books has given me such wonderful insighst into what life and Chinese culture will be like, but as the old adage says, seeing is believing. If you'd like to see what the hotel I'm going to be staying in for the first month is like, you can go to http://www.vimeo.com/24372715. I think my favorite part is doing laundry in the sink and trying to communicate in my limited Chinese with those nice ladies at the front desk. Woo charades!!! Still, it's not an adventure until you're roughing it.
    
     I realize that to some people this trip seems like a crazy adventure to some exotic and distant land, but for me, it's the chance of a lifetime. I can't wait to go and meet my students. To go sing karaoke with them, maybe even in Mandarin if they promise to write it out in pinyin (English letters) and not characters (Chinese letters). To explore a civilization that has been civilized for over 5,000 years with them and get their perspectives on it. To learn how to effectively use a squatty pottie (if you've never experienced one, you've neither lived nor been horribly embarrassed). To listen to their hopes and fears and be a bridge between two cultures. So much of fear comes from misunderstanding and an inability to relate. Ghandi said we must be the change we want to see and the circle of unity, harmony, and love has to start somewhere. I'll admit that not knowing what the future holds is more than a bit scary, but it's also exciting. This is the edge, the point of no return... but it's also the beginning.   

Thank you all for reading to this point. I will keep you updated with fun facts about China, anything new I learn about what I'm doing -- such as flight times and what I'll actually be teaching  -- and where I'm posted... if they ever tell me.

Supertourist Out.

Who's excited for the slide?!!! Definitely the number 2 reason I'm going.