This is the Final Countdown

"Oh the things you can find if you don't stay behind!" 

-Dr. Seuss

I am officially less than a month away from boarding a plane and winging my way to China for at least a year. That milestone came over the weekend while I was visiting family in Florida; I returned back to my hometown yesterday and thought to myself, It could be years before I walk this way through the airport again. I admit, it makes me sad. I am a bit of a juxtaposition--I live to travel and see new things but I am also a bit of a homebody. I love being in my bedroom and snuggling with my cat. I love hanging out with my small group of friends. I love spending time with my parents and the rest of my small family. But I also love adventure.

"I want adventure in the great wide somewhere... I want it more than I can tell!"

-Belle

Ever since I was a little girl, I've had an urge to constantly be moving, seeing new things, trying new foods, and meeting new people. I've been traveling internationally for over ten years now starting in 2002 when I traveled to England and France as a student ambassador. 

"Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends."

-Pat Conroy

I'm not a religious person (though I do consider myself to be very spiritual) but I do like to believe that this is my destiny (excuse the cliche but it gets the point across). When I was a little girl (we're talking two or three years old) my mom had a dream that I was married to a black man. At first, she didn't understand it--the dream seemed a bit random but nothing out of this world. In her mediation and prayer, she came to realize that it was a simple heads up: I would be off doing things in the world far from home and she would have to be okay with letting me go. It's almost unbelievable to see something that happened twenty years ago, now, finally coming to be. 

I think that dream is what is keeping me calm. I wake up at night and think to myself, "What are you doing?!? You can't live in China alone and teach at a college! You don't have the training or the experience!" But I have to tell those fears to keep quiet. Life is the best school--I'll learn as I go and get a lifetime of experience while I am over there. After I do this (and I know I will), I'll be able to do anything. 

"Women are like tea bags--you never know how strong they are until they're in hot water."

-Eleanor Roosevelt

Today is really the beginning of the end of my time in the US (at least for a little while). I (finally) got my official letter of invitation from Hangzhou Normal University so I can send out for my visa (no longer a tourist visa!). Today I got my first wave of vaccines--Hepatitis A with typhoid taken orally next week (still not sure if I'm willing to drop about $800 on Japanese Encephalitis).  Booking my flight, getting my visa, and getting shots make it all feel so much closer than ever before.

I still have a few things I have to do before getting on my Delta flight to Pudong Airport:

• Get my VPN because if I can't get on Facebook and Youtube for a whole year, I might just cry.
• Order a Kindle and get some books on there for the flight. [For those of you who know me, you know how painful it is for me to do this, being such a staunch eBook hater for years now... but I'd rather have digital books than no books at all]
• Exchange money (do it at the airport)
• Actually pack
• Go to the drive-in one last time
• Visit my schmoops
• Brush up on my Chinese
• Eat as much cheese as I possibly can
• Enjoy the little time I have left with my parents, my brother, my cat, my aunt, uncle, and cousins, and my friends.

 I don't have too much time left in little old Tonawanda, New York but I intend to make the most of the 29 days I have left. I start to panic a bit when I think of boarding that plane that will take me away from my home and family and the life I have worked so hard to build around me... but I would never forgive myself if I didn't go out and find out what China has in store for me--it could be even bigger and greater than anything I had planned back home.

"There are seven days in the week and SOMEDAY is not one of them."

-Unknown

Until Next Time,
Amanda

Let the Countdown Begin...

It's been talked about a lot and weighing heavily on my mind for months now but I suppose since I just bought my plane ticket yesterday, the time has come to actually start thinking about moving to China.

I wasn't always planning on going to China (my first choice was actually South Korea) but after having the opportunity to visit not only the city but the university that I will be moving to, it seemed like serendipity... too perfect to pass up.

Even though it feels to me that everything has happened for a reason (not getting the job in South Korea, staying an extra semester for my undergrad and taking Chinese), the moment I bought that plane ticket, I felt terrified!  Yes, I've visited China, and yes, I have friends who have gone through exactly what I am going through now and they are an endless source of help and advice, but I am still panicking a little bit on the inside.

Why? Two reasons:

1). Teaching. I really don't know if I am made to be a college teacher. I've been what you might call a "visiting speaker" with my talks on the Viking Runes and Takarazuka. I love speaking in front of a crowd but I don't have any real training in education. I've never made a lesson plan and I've never created an exam. I fear that if I fail at this, I won't just fail myself but I'll be failing my students too.

2). China. Just China, period. Navigating the transportation. An inability to communicate. The food. The apartment (no kitchen--EEK!). A completely new currency. Grocery shopping. Getting my hair cut. Finding clothes in my size. And the ever so painful process of starting over and trying to make friends once more.

I am excited to finally prove myself. All my life, I've lived at home or in the shelter of my dorm building. I've always had someone offering me a (semi) balanced diet, I've been basically financially supported by my parents if I was ever in a bind, and if I ever felt frustrated or scared, I would have that safe place to fall... but with this adventure in China, I will have to depend on myself. I've traveled alone before but I've never lived on my own before... I've never started such a high stakes new job... and I've never moved to another country. These are three things that are huge milestones in anyone's life--individually--and I am doing them all at the same time!

Luckily, I have been fortunate enough to have a bit of a taste tester in what to expect so I have a leg up on my predecessors so that does make me feel a little better.

Of course, already having been to China also gives me a better idea of what to look forward to (I always like looking on the bright side of things):

-Seeing the friends I've made while I was in China last year as well as friends that I made in college who live in China now.
-REAL Chinese food (let's just say I'm slightly obsessed)
-A chance to become proficient in my chop stick skills
-Bubble tea EVERYWHERE 
-Hefang Street and REAL Dragon's Beard Candy
-A chance to learn more Chinese
-Living in another country (something on my Life List)
-(hopefully) A Chance to travel all around Asia

Yes, it is stressful thinking that I may not be home for the next two years (still haven't decided if I'm going for just one year or the full two) and I won't be seeing my friends and family as often as I would like (though the invitation for you to visit is always open) but to give up the chance to not only live in a completely different country but also help shape the skills of young students is a chance that I would be crazy to pass up. And you know what? I'm not going to... despite the anxiety I feel right now.

再见 (zai jian: "goodbye" in Chinese)

Until Next Time,
Amanda