Hello from Yantai

[silentreverie]

(I keep forgetting to cross-post to LJ... This is the latest blog entry, more can be found at www.rapturina.comWell, I’ve arrived safe and sound in Yantai. The journey from Hong Kong to Yantai was pretty smooth, no problems at all getting into China, so I was all worked up for nothing, as usual. :D

Comments

[rakusanka]

awesome! can't wait to read more and see pictures of course :>

[silentreverie]

I will try to put up some pictures soon. I haven't really taken any yet, 'cause the weather has been pretty bad. :D

[kvetina]

wow. so you have arrived. good to know.
what classes will you be teaching?

i am curious about your experiences... i guess china must be a LOT different from central america. mentality, culture etc.

how long will you be staying???

[silentreverie]

I'm teaching both kids (several different age groups) and adults. It's nice to have a bit of diversity, I think. :D

I have signed for a year, so that's the minimum amount of time I will spend here. But maybe if I really like it I can stay longer (though maybe not in Yantai, I don't know...).

I think China and Central America are probably as different as any cultures can be! I'm still sort of letting things happen to me without thinking about it too much, but I'm curious to see what the general mentality of people is. It's hard to have any ideas about it right now as I don't speak any Mandarin and I feel very isolated from the people here!

[kvetina]

i seriously keep it in the back of my mind for my Asia trip after i come back.. so the end of 2012 or beginning of 2013.
do you have your own place in the meantime?!

i think it is very hard to bulid a life without speaking the language.. so good luck. but i take it you had chinese before, it is just no language you can learn within 2 months, right?

[silentreverie]

I have not really studied any Chinese before coming here... Just a few words and phrases and I've been having a look at the grammar (which is very simple anyway), but that's it. So I'll be starting from scratch! I really believe it's not all that difficult to learn spoken Chinese, as long as you can get your head around the tones! Written Chinese is something different of course, I don't know if I want to focus much on that. We'll see how it goes. :D

Yesterday my boss said they had found an apartment for me, so that's good news! We're now waiting for the landlord to clean the place and then I can move in. That could be today, or sometime next week, things like that never seem to be really clear here. :D Ah well, at least I know I'll be moving soon!