We're Not in Kansas Anymore

I couldn't sleep at night. I would lay awake, wondering what the next step in my life would be. Up until that point, my life had been somewhat planned out for me- go to school, then college. But nobody tells you what to do next.

The thought of getting an 8-to-5 job job in a cubicle terrified me. The thought of getting married and having kids terrified me. The thought that I had no idea what to do with the rest of my life terrified me.

One day during this freak-out period, I was at work checking my email and read a message from my former coworker, Nate, who was spending a year in China. Nate was majoring in Chinese and had heard about the year-long program through school - spend a year in China teaching English and learn Mandarin in the process.

His mass email updates told about the new cities he was seeing, the people he met and the Chinese students he taught. I responded to his email and said that it sounded like he was having a great time. Nate and I were never very close, but for some reason, I decided to open up and share with him my unease. I told him that I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do after graduation.

In a few days, I received a response: "Come to China! You will love it!"

And for some reason, I thought, "why not?"

Nevermind that I had never even been overseas before. Nevermind that I had never lived outside Kansas. Nevermind that I had no teaching experience or experience with the Chinese language. It sounded like an adventure and I was desperate for an adventure.

Nate gave me the contact information for the program coordinator. The year-long program was organized through the University of Memphis. I emailed the professor at Memphis and told him I was interested and would like more information. He wrote me back and told me he was thrilled and in a week I received an informational packet.

The cost of the program was approximately $3,000, which included airfare and tuition for the Chinese and Teaching English as a Foregin Language (TEFL) class.

The year was set up like this: since people from all over the country were participating, we would all fly to San Francisco and meet and then fly together to Beijing. We would spend the first three weeks in Beijing where we would take intensive Mandarin and TEFL classes, get our feet wet in the classroom at Beijing University and see the sites of the city. After three weeks, we would take a train to Shenzhen, a coastal city of seven million people in southern China (next to Hong Kong) where we would live the remainder of the year. In Shenzhen we would each be assigned to a school and given an apartment.

The more I heard about the program, the more I wanted to do it. The day I told my mom was interesting. Our conversation went something like this.

Me: "Hi mom, guess what. I've decided that I want to go live in China for a year and teach English."

Silence.

Me: "Hello? Are you there?"

Mom: "No you're not."

Me: "What? Yes I am"

Mom: "No, you're NOT."

You get the idea. Unfortunately, my family never did really warm up to the idea, but at least they finally accepted it and quit asking me why in the world I would want to do such a thing.

I'm not going to act like it wasn't hard to leave. The morning of my departure I stood in the bathroom crying as I brushed my hair. I cried in the airport as I said good-bye to my boyfriend and walked to my gate. Boarding the plane I couldn't help but think, "What in the world am I doing?"

I arrived in the San Francisco airport and looked for the gate where I was to meet the other people in my group. I came across a group of about 10 people and a kind-looking woman who looked to be in her 40s smiled and introduced herself to me. Her name was Amy and she would be our teaching liasion while in China. A fluent Chinese speaker, she would help us with the transition and assist if we had any problems.

I sat down next to a bubbly blonde girl named Amanda. We made small talk about how we had no idea what we were getting into. Looking around, I noticed that most of the people looked about my age (22). I guess I wasn't the only one who didn't know what to do with life after college.

After surviving the 16 hour plane ride, we finally landed in Beijing. I've never been so exhausted.

Our group consisted of 35 people, mostly all under the age of 30. People came from all over- Michican, Mississippi, West Virginia, Kansas and Tennessee. For such a small group, we were rather diverse ethnically. We were white, black, Korean, Chinese, Malaysian and even Romanian. Three of the women were lesbians.

While in Beijing, we stayed in a hotel. We stayed two to a room and ate most of our meals together in the hotel restaurant. I paired up with the Romanian, a girl named Ionna. She had spent the last couple years as an exchange student at Michigan State University. She was 24, cute and opinionated.

Since we could not tell what a lot of the food was, and because it didn't take long for me and everyone else to start having serious stomach problems, I stuck mostly to noodles and rice. Because of this, I was almost always hungry. I swear I probably lost 10 pounds in those first three weeks. I will never forget how happy we were when we arrived in Shenzhen to find McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut. Three friends and I went straight to KFC and ordered a bucket of chicken and then went right next door to Pizza Hut and ordered a large pizza. Nothing has ever tasted so good in my life.

The first three weeks in Beijing are a blur. We visited the Great Wall, Forbidden City and the Ming Tombs. We had Chinese class three hours a day and TEFL classes in the afternoon. We were given our own class to practice teaching. My class was a group of 12 high schoolers who had enrolled in the summer workshop to help improve their English. At night we went to the bars and drank, drank and drank some more.

We were paired up to teach the four-hour class at Beijing University, which met twice a week. My partner Michael and I had developed a full lesson plan; unfortunately, because we had never taught before. what we thought would take a couple hours only took 30 minutes. If you've never stood in front of a classroom with no idea what to do next, you should try it. It's like a living nightmare.

Once we arrived in Shenzhen, I was assigned to an apartment with two of my fellow Americans, Hannah and Zach. I was assigned to teach at an elementary school, grades one through five. I was to teach 17 different one-hour classes each week. During the year when we had a break from school, I visited places throughout China, as well as Thailand and Cambodia.

Obviously I can't write about my entire year in China or this would turn into a novel. I will summarize by saying that the experience was one of the hardest, but most rewarding experiences of my entire life. There were times when I was so homesick and felt I would not be able to make it. There were times when I felt more alive than I had in my entire life. The experience opened my eyes to the strength within me and the beauty and diversity in the world. Though I may never see some of the people again, I will cherish the relationships I made in China for my entire life. So if you are in a place in your life where you are thinking, "what do I do next?" You may want to consider teaching English in a foreign country. It just might change your life.