The All-Important Check List

Yeah.

Well. All packed.
What did I pack?

Year's supply of peanutbutter?
Check. Why? Just in case.
Jelly?
Check. Can't have PBJ sandwiches without the J.
Bag of distinctly American chocolates?
Check. They're not for me! They're for my students.
Bag of Reese's Peanutbutter Cups?
Check. ...These are for me.
Twelve decks of cards?
Check. I'm a magician. Can't go anywhere without them.
Dream catcher?
Check that too. No. I don't have nightmares. I don't know why I packed it.

Yes.. As you can see, I totally have my priorities straight.

Anyway- my flight leaves at 11:00am EST.
I'll be in Shanghai fifteen hours after that.
One week there.
Then on to Baoding.

Last meal in the United States?
I'll let you know in my next post.

This post though will be the last one I make this year while in North America.
Next you hear from me, I'll be in China.

Until then-
This is Felice... signing off!
*ends dramatically*
(Don't ask me why.)
(Might be the fact that I'm posting at 4am in the morning.)

T Minus One Week

Anthropology demands the open-mindedness with which one must look and listen, record in astonishment and wonder that which one would not have been able to guess.

Margaret Mead.

Just in case you're wondering where the title of this blog comes from. Well - there you go. Anthropology. And, it seems to me, Mead's words could apply just the same when it comes to teaching in a foreign culture.

Who? What? Where?

HUH?

Right. Well... let's put all that aside for a moment, and let me introduce myself a little. The name's Felice. I am sitting on my bed at home, being as a big of a procrastinator as I have ever been when it comes to packing... and, unlike the other times in my life when I was putting something off - this time, I think I'm freaking out a little bit.

I mean, GREAT ZEUS*! Who wouldn't be freaking out?

I spent about six to seven months teaching first graders down south in a new Memphis charter school. If you look through my history of blogs... you'll find that I didn't manage to blog any of my experiences living down south. I was too busy then and, let's be honest, I'd rather not remember any of it.

By the way- if you're looking through my old blogs, you'll find that I studied abroad for a semester in New Zealand. Aka, Middle Earth. China, in Chinese, is called zhongguo, which essentially stands for Middle Country. Or, as some like to call it, the Middle Kingdom.

Next stop? I've got this map by Jules Verne... *coughs*

So! With a year's worth of lessons learned, challenges sometimes-overcome, and a dose of the real world, I'm about to get a dose of the other side of the real world.

Here are a couple of facts:

-I'm going to be living in Baoding, Hebei - just about two hours south of Beijing by train.

-I am Asian American.

-My Cantonese is pretty good.

-People in Hebei don't really speak Cantonese. They speak Mandarin.

-My Mandarin is... probably low-level intermediate. It's rusty. I took classes in college.

-I'm teaching undergraduates at the Agricultural University of Hebei.

-I graduated one year ago.

-The university will be giving me a bicycle.

-One of my future colleagues told me that riding a bike is the equivalent of driving a car in Baoding.

-Traffic is insane. Pictures to come, when I actually get there.

-I struggle to keep my bike steady in the empty streets of Memphis, Tennessee.

AND... there we go! That's my little introduction. I'll be departing for China August 25th. Orientation in Shanghai lasts until the end of August. I'm moving into my apartment in Baoding August 31st.

I'll try and update you all before I leave. For now-

Back to procrastinating on the packing!

*I am not a devotee of Zeus, or of any of the other Greek gods. No offense to anyone who is. I did not mean to use Zeus' name in vain..

You know what? I'll sacrifice a lamb or something to him, if that'll make things better.