Thursday, June 28, 2001

From: Meg Thomsen meginchina@yahoo.com
Subject: From the other side.

Hello Friends!

Nimen hao! I'm finally here in China. It's been thoroughly enjoyable so far, but I can see that I'm in for a heckuva two years. The training schedule is hectic; I'm not sure if I'll find time to breathe, let alone comprehend the fact that I'm actually here in China! But it's good at the same time. They have us scheduled for six hours of language training per day. During the rest of the time, we teach model school (they have scheduled classes with actual college students that we have to teach for three weeks), learn about health and safety, Chinese culture, technical environment training, etc.

It feels good. My mind feels like it's stretching and awakening to accommodate all of the new things that I'm learning. I've already learned some useful things: how to ask for soy milk in Chinese, behavior in the classroom, information about public transportation, and what you eat for breakfast in China (rice porridge with vegetables floating around in it topped with sweet soy milk and strips of bean curd. Yum!)

I've also managed to meet a whole lot of nice people. You'd like them. In fact, three of them had to help me today. We learned that excessive earrings are inappropriate in the Chinese classroom, so I had three guys helping me to pry them out, as they've been in my ear since I was fifteen (the earrings, not the volunteers). I feel like this starts a new phase of life somehow.

Sichuan is beautiful, full of green and water. The Waiban (Foreigner Building) that we're staying in for the week is a depressing concrete building, but upon leaving, one finds beauty everywhere. Along with people. At any hour of the day, and late into the night, there are thousands of people walking around, and all of them are staring! But in a friendly and curious way, many more "hellos" than "laowai" (foreigner). There are about eight people in a dorm room here at Sichuan Normal University, so it can be a crowded place!

I'm going to so soon to get my Japanese Encephelitis and Rabies shots soon, but before I do, I wanted to tell you about the fantastic meal that I had last night so that you know that I'm not starving. We had a hollow-leafed spinach, fried tofu, another leafy green called ona choy, an eggplant dish, a giant potato pancake, a huge bowl of rice, and bananas fried in caramelized sugar, washed down with "Snow Beer". Everything, with the exception of the bananas, was fried in about a bushel of delicious hot peppers, and a ton of garlic and ginger. The cost, for dinner for six? 36 yuan, or $4.50. Now I see that the Peace Corps meal allowance of $3/day is very generous, since they feed us breakfast and lunch!

Miss you all very much. I hope that all is well with you folks. China would be perfect if only you all could be here with me.

Lovelovelove,
Meg