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For three years, I have been in China teaching Swing Dancing. Now I'm wandering yet again...
2003-07-03
Today I learned more Mandarin. You can study the pronounciation of individual words, but when it is spoken in a sentence it ends up sounding much more different than you'd think. Because of this, I'm not going to try to study the individual tones any more. My tutor will read sentences to me, and I will repeat them back. I can imitate almost any sound I've heard, and I find this is the best way for learning for me.
It appears now that Shanghai is almost definite. I am excited about this, but it is not without a touch of melancholy. It's a lot to leave behind your country and friends and family. Though I have not lived close to my family for many years, China's obviously going to be further than California.
I now have two places I can stay in China - with a friend of my San Francisco tutor and with a friend of my soon-to-be swing dance partner. I am almost positive I will be enrolling in language school. It's the hands-down winner. Nothing too rigorous -- I just want to be able to speak conversational Mandarin and meet people, and have fun, too. It's one more chance to enjoy the college experience.
I know one guy who's starting a cell phone-related service in China. That may be one possible job. English teacher or tutor would be another possible job. And so I need one more possible job to check the job requirement off my list.
As for friends, this is proving to work out pretty well. My to-be dance partner, a friend of my S.F. tutor's, the Phoenix-area guy who I met through my current tutor, and I would then need two more. I think I can arrange for that.
It takes about a month 'lead time' from the moment I decide to leave to the moment I arrive in China. The biggest reasons for this lead time are 1) applying for a university, 2) getting a student visa application based on an acceptance from a university, and 3) getting cheap airfare. I'd arrive in China a week before classes begin and stay with a friend I have there. Then, once on the ground I can scout out housing options and costs. You really have to visit a place before you can decide if you can live there.
All for now folks. I'm going to San Diego this weekend for the Fourth. I will blog if I can find an open computer somewhere.
Fishizzle my nizzle,
-J
It appears now that Shanghai is almost definite. I am excited about this, but it is not without a touch of melancholy. It's a lot to leave behind your country and friends and family. Though I have not lived close to my family for many years, China's obviously going to be further than California.
I now have two places I can stay in China - with a friend of my San Francisco tutor and with a friend of my soon-to-be swing dance partner. I am almost positive I will be enrolling in language school. It's the hands-down winner. Nothing too rigorous -- I just want to be able to speak conversational Mandarin and meet people, and have fun, too. It's one more chance to enjoy the college experience.
I know one guy who's starting a cell phone-related service in China. That may be one possible job. English teacher or tutor would be another possible job. And so I need one more possible job to check the job requirement off my list.
As for friends, this is proving to work out pretty well. My to-be dance partner, a friend of my S.F. tutor's, the Phoenix-area guy who I met through my current tutor, and I would then need two more. I think I can arrange for that.
It takes about a month 'lead time' from the moment I decide to leave to the moment I arrive in China. The biggest reasons for this lead time are 1) applying for a university, 2) getting a student visa application based on an acceptance from a university, and 3) getting cheap airfare. I'd arrive in China a week before classes begin and stay with a friend I have there. Then, once on the ground I can scout out housing options and costs. You really have to visit a place before you can decide if you can live there.
All for now folks. I'm going to San Diego this weekend for the Fourth. I will blog if I can find an open computer somewhere.
Fishizzle my nizzle,
-J
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