We have now officially been here for six-month and it feels equal part much longer and much shorter. In a short half a year period I have taught my first semester of school ever, traveled hundreds of miles all over China and managed to feel comfortable in a culture which is completely different from my own.
At our three-month anniversary I wrote a long blog post about all the things I missed or didn’t miss from America. (It never made it to the site so don’t bother looking for it.) It included things like cheese, dryers and sandwiches. I was planning on polishing it up, making the appropriate changes and put it up now.
The only thing is I realized that I’ve changed, and the 3-month old post doesn’t fit me anymore. The longer I am here, the less I miss things from home.
Don’t get me wrong, I still ask my parents to mail me some Trident gum every few months (not a fan of the stuff here) and I would kill for some modern English books that don’t cost an arm and a leg, but overall the urges, the cravings and the must-haves of the past are less and less. I now crave certain types of Chinese food, or want stuff I know the local Chinese stores carry.
We’ve also grown more confident which is beginning to open new experiences for us. A few months ago we wouldn’t step foot in a Chinese restaurant by ourselves because we didn’t know how to read a menu or order food. Now we know enough to venture out and try new places without getting too worried.
Many people have already guessed but I might as well announce that we are likely going to stay here for another year. The first semester went by so quickly, as I’m sure the second semester will, that we just can’t imagine leaving in July when our contract is up. (If we stay for a year we are planning to visit America over the summer which I’ll talk about later.)
It’s funny because originally we planned to only go away for 6-months. We signed a 6-month contract; we looked for a renter for 6-months. But at some point the 6-months turned into a year. Now the year has turned into two years. What will happen after that?
Who knows?
Are you up for the same type of cultural exchange between our students as we had this year? (Our letters back to you will probably get in the mail by the end of next week. We’re going to be including some photos of Easton.)