Wow. I leave is less than two weeks for Dalian and I’m freaking out a bit. I can’t believe that I will be gone for almost an ENTIRE year! I keep thinking to myself, what is the world am I doing? How will I be as a teacher? Will my students like me? Will I find friends in Dalian and will I be able to understand people enough to survive? I have experienced these thoughts before, such as when I began my graduate program, except that I understood the language. I have read many blogs from other teachers who say that their experiences teaching abroad have been monumental and worthwhile. I think we all experience doubt when something changes and that is where we experience the most growth. Living abroad in China is going to be challenging and interesting to say the least and I have no idea what I am in for, but that’s what life is isn’t it? To prepare for this, I have read some blogs by English teachers in China, talked to friends and family, and reflected on why I applied for this program in the first place.
It’s hard to think that it’s all official now.
I finally received my work permit, which I thought would never get processed and almost gave up hope; I even started looking for jobs just in case. I received my work visa last week and purchased my plane ticket and have begun packing. Speaking of which, packing for a year abroad is a little tedious. In Dalian, the temperatures and weather range quite a bit depending on the season, so I have tried to pack for all seasons and am prepared to put layers on layers on layers. Luckily enough for me, living in Wisconsin for most of my life, I know how to dress is cold and warm weather and already have clothes that are appropriate for its climate. I even have long underwear! I’ll try to write another post about packing because it is quite important for those moving abroad.
As far as other preparations, I made sure to speak with my bank in the U.S. that I will be abroad for a year and to make a note on my account (I plan to open a local account in China, which usually costs about 100RMB/$16.00 USD from what I have read). I made sure that I have someone cosigned on my U.S. Bank account also, just in case I am not able to speak with my bank if there are any issues. I checked with the IRS about taxes abroad and researched what to do with my student loans while abroad (check back to my blog when I do this in China). I’ve reviewed some Mandarin characters, especially numbers, to help when I initially arrive and a little more about the language (i.e. tones, phonetics, common phrases, etc.). I also created an Advance Directive, which is a legal document spelling out my decisions for end-of-life care. I know, it sounds a bit weird, but anyone over the age of 18 should create one. I would hope that none of you would have an experience like this, but life happens and I wanted to make sure that was in order before I left.
Personally, I am trying to spend as much time with friends and family as I can before I leave. I have also asked for their addresses as I plan to do some pen-paling and post-card writing as a different way to stay in contact with them. Additionally, because I will be in China, I have researched ways to “get around” the Internet Censorship in the country as most expats wish to use websites such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. and plan to use StrongVPN as a means; let’s hope this works!
I am about 11 days from my departure and I cannot believe it is here! Dalian, China here I come.
Stephanie is teaching abroad with API in China.
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