However lets move onto more pressing issues like my big move to China. I am really nervous and really excited. I think it is going to be amazing, interesting, and I am going to learn a lot. However it is kind of scary. Plus I am an organizer and a planner. I usually don't like the unknown. So that is getting at me. I know everything will fall into place. I just want to be all settled and have things figured out.
I think I was meant to go to China though. I went to China for the first time in the Summer of 2005. I went with my choir Heart of the Valley Festival and Chamber choir. It was my second international tour with the choir. I am glad that we ended up going to China. I got to see a lot and meet a lot of people. My eyes were opened up to a new and interesting land. I was interested in the culture and the art. So when I returned I ended up reading lots of books about Chinese history and culture just for fun. This inspired me to take lots of courses on Chinese history and culture. I took an amazing Chinese Art history course that helped me learn more about the art that I admired greatly. I was then blessed to be asked back to go on a special alumni tour to China the summer of 2007 after my freshmen year in college. I was excited to see lots of the art and be able to talk about the meaning behind it. It was this second opportunity that inspired me to look into being a Chinese minor. When I looked into I discovered I had already taken several courses that counted towards the minor. I just needed to take the language. So I signed up for beginning Chinese for the following term. The second time I went I got to see smaller cities (at least smaller for China). We went to Guilin which was absolutely beautiful as you can see in the photos below.
So after returning from my second trip to China I started studying the language. It was tough and takes a lot of work to learn. It did not come as easily to me as French did. I never really had to study French and it sort of just came to me even in college. However Chinese was hard. If you really wanted to be good at it you had to spend a lot of time outside of class studying. We learned how to read, write, and speak Chinese. A lot of my friends who are Chinese only knew how to speak the language and often spoke the language at home. So learning all three of those skills was really difficult and I did not put in enough time into it. I did not want to put that much work in it because I was a lazy college student and my math classes were my real priority. However I stuck with it. I was determined to get that minor. I took two years of the language and then a semester of the third year class. The last semester of the third year class was focused on reading and writing the language like most third year language courses in college. Suddenly Chinese class was in nothing but Chinese and the syllabus was completely in Chinese. I was not prepared for this by the previous teacher and got through by the skin of my teeth. Some of my classmates wondered why I wasn't taking the course next semester. I didn't need to take the class for the minor though and that is why I was taking the courses. I also didn't want to take the class while writing my thesis. I enjoyed learning the language, but not as much as the culture and history. I think I would have enjoyed the class more if I was not being graded. So now I have a real chance to master the language while I am living there. So this will be my first time in China after studying the language. I am looking forward to that and using those skills. However my skills were not good to begin with and now they super rusty.
I also took a course called Chinese Microcosms. It was an interesting class about how the Chinese saw and represented the world or society. One unit was on Classical Chinese gardens. I enjoyed this greatly. We also visited the garden in Portland and wrote an entire paper on it. I will be teaching in Wuxi which is very close to Suzhou. Suzhou is famous for its type of Chinese gardens and has many famous Chinese Gardens. The rocks that are often used in Chinese gardens come from Lake Tai hu which is right next to Wuxi. So I am really excited about seeing the gardens of Suzhou after studying it for so long.
So that is what lead me to start teaching in China. So I think I was meant to go to China and after my Chinese Microcosms class I was meant to go to Wuxi. I will be teaching AP Calculus in English. I will have to help my students improve their English, but I am told they have great English. I thought about teaching in China, but I figured that meant I had to teach English. You wouldn't want me teaching English. So this job combines my love of math, my interest in Chinese culture, and all of my coursework towards my minor. I will do my best to keep everyone posted on my adventures in China as best I can. Hopefully using this blog and if not using a Chinese blog site. If I do end up using a Chinese blog I will post the link on this site as well.
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