Ancient Chinese Secret...

Thinking of trying to pack for five weeks had me contemplating what to bring in the way of clothing. Knowing that our schedule is going to be packed everyday, including the weekends, I was thinking, "when will I ever have time to wash clothes?" We had been told that the dorms had laundry facilities available, but if we're gone all the time, how would it get done? Well, it turns out that they actually have a laundry service available for us. Yes, someone else will be doing my laundry. I wonder if it'll be like this?

It's been so strange getting ready for this trip. Aside from reading the books and the occasional e-mail from the director of the program every couple weeks, I feel under prepared compared to my Australia trip. For that trip, the team met fairly frequently, not only to get to know one another, but also to learn about Australian culture, prepare our presentation for the Rotary meetings, hearing from past GSE participants, etc. I have spoken to the one other teacher who is going on this trip from Michigan. He's from the Lansing area, and we chatted for a few minutes on the phone about packing and what types of gifts we should bring.

I did find out that I will not be getting the single room that I had asked for in Xi'an. The university had only four single rooms available for the group, and I drew the short straw. I'm not really upset though. I'll now be in the "Foreign Experts" building. (Makes me sound important. It's nice that I'm finally getting the recognition that I deserve.) I'll be sharing a suite with another teacher. Of course, I have no idea who that will be, which is odd. Oh well, this is all an adventure right?

Bring Deodorant

You may laugh at the title of this entry, but I've been warned twice today to bring deodorant. Did I forget to shower? This morning I met up with my friends Connie and Kyrsten at Central High to go over economics resources for next year. As I'm an "experienced" econ teacher in the department, we met so that I could share the things that I've done in the past, and I lent a whole stack of resource books to Connie to peruse over the summer. Anyway, Connie is a pretty experienced Asian traveller, having spent time in Japan. Aside from asking me to buy fresh water pearls for her, the one major piece of advice that she gave me a couple of times was "bring deodorant." I'm thinking, do I bring enough for just me, or should I bring trial sizes to pass out to all of those who may be around me in the crowded city of 8 million people? Then once I got home, I finally received the next information packet from the China Institute, which included a list of Ten "Must-Haves." Item #3? You guessed it, deodorant. I get the hint; I'll pack deodorant.

Looking over the information I received today, there's nothing that's overly surprising about what I should bring. The list includes items such as hand sanitizer (already loving supplied by my mother on one of her numerous Bath and Body Works visits), OTC meds, prescription meds, sunscreen, camera, Tide stain sticks, etc. The toughest part will be the weight of the bag. As we are flying within China, Chinese domestic air regulations apply. This means the one checked bag (you heard me right) that we are allowed can only weigh 20 kilos or 44 pounds. The standard in the US and internationally is typically 23 kilos or 50 pounds. So it's going to be a challenge to pack all the supplies I need and be under the weight limit. Fortunately, this trip is in the summer, so lots of light clothing! As far as clothing is concerned, I'm going light on the amount as well. I'm thinking a couple pairs of shorts, a pair of khaki pants and a pair of jeans, ten tops, and enough underwear to get me through a week. So I'll be wearing the same things all the time. Oh well! As long as I can wash things once a week, who cares if I wear the same thing all five Mondays of the trip? I do like the warning that we were given. "Avoid and T-shirts or clothing bearing political or offensive messages...i.e., no 'Free Tibet' T-shirts!" We were also advised to bring several small gifts to give to people that we meet while there. In many Asian cultures, gift giving is quite an art and is expected. I already know what I'm going to buy. The museum sells packs of postcards with historic photos of the shipping industry in Bay City. They're small, compact and light! So now I need to make a list, start buying the things I need, and if I'm lucky, William will pack for me again. When I went to Australia, he had everything packed for me with printouts of everything telling me exactly where I could find it in my luggage. I think he should rent out his services!

Some More Details

So what will happen after the orientation session in Newark? Shortly after noon on July 7th, well be taking off on Continental Flight 89 to Beijing. The flight is only 12 hours long. Only 12 hours, you ask? Yes, after the 19 hours in the air, not counting the two lay-overs in Chicago and LA, the trip to Sydney, Australia was longer, by far! I was kind of curious, though, how a flight from the east coast going all the way to China could only take 12 hours. Well, the plane basically flies due north over the Arctic! I'll get to see the non-existent ice cap first hand.

After arriving in Beijing (北京), we'll spend a couple days there, acclimating to the time change. (It's exactly 12 hours different there from home.) We will be playing the role of tourist there, seeing sites like the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. (Hmmm, kind of sounds like a couple Chinese restaurants, doesn't it?) It will be interesting spending time in Beijing, a city of 17 million people. Yeah, that's right. Let's put this into perspective. Michigan has a population of just 10 million. So there are quite a few people there, and as Katie Melua sang, nine million bicycles.


From Beijing, the group will be headed to Xi'an (西安) in Shaanxi Province. Xi'an is one of the ancient capitals of China and sat along the famous Silk Road, which brought silk and other precious materials from China to Europe and vice verse. In Xi'an, we will be studying at Shaanxi Normal University. (No jokes that I belong at the Abnormal University.) Like the term we used to use here in the States, a normal university focuses on teacher training. We had several rooming options: alone or sharing a room with another group member, staying in the "Foreign Experts" housing (which is designed to house teachers from overseas) or staying in normal student housing. I chose a room by myself in the student dorm. After having gone on a few long trips with groups, when the end of the day comes, it's nice to have a place where I can decompress and have some alone time. I chose the student dorm because it would be interesting to meet a variety of students from around the world, including China, and it's quite a bit cheaper. While this is paid for, everything is deducted from a $3800 stipend that we are awarded. This will then free up more of that money for me to enjoy my time, see the city, buy souvenirs for friends and family, etc. Factory direct Nikes anyone?

One Month from Today

As it is one month from today that I'll be leaving for an adventure of a lifetime, I thought this would be a good time to start blogging about the experience. So for the next month, you can read about my preparation for my trip to China, and then during the five weeks that I'm there, you can keep up with what I'm doing.

First, it may be helpful to have a little background on the program. I am one of 25 teachers from across the US who was selected to take part in the summer institute From Chang’an to Xi’an:Ancient Capital to Modern Metropolis offered by the China Institute and the National Endowment for the Humanities. I have participated in NEH summer workshops in the past, such as one on the Industrial Revolution at the Henry Ford Museum/Greenfield Village, the US Constitution at Mount Vernon and Pearl Harbor in Honolulu. Those have all been one-week programs. I have learned so much from them that I've been able to bring back to the classroom. This is the first five week seminar I'm doing and it happens to be in China. I really consider it an honour to be selected.

So far, what have I been doing to prepare? Since I have received notification at the beginning of April that I was selected, I have received three good sized books that I need to read before going. (Luckily, the participants are not expected to lug the books to China.) I am still making my way through the first one, Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook. It's a collection of primary source documents dating back to 1200 BCE all the way to modern times. That's over 3200 years of history! Some of it is incredibly fascinating, some of it is rather boring. I am just over half way through. Next week I will be heading to the Wirt Public Library to find a quiet place without distraction to get that book out of the way. The next one I have to tackle is 700+ page book, The Search for Modern China, which is more of a straight-forward narrative history book. I should have no problem reading that. In retrospect, I should have read that one first in order to make more sense out of the primary source documents I'm now reading. Oh well, I'll survive. The last one, Buddhist Sculpture from China: Selections from the Xi'an Beilin Museum, is a lot of pictures, so I should be able to get through it very quickly in the last weeks before the trip.

In addition to all of the reading, I've had to send my passport in to the China Institute so that they could get and Chinese entrance visa for me. All Americans (and I'm sure other nationalities, as well) must have a visa to enter China. Of course the Chinese government charges a hefty $130 for the privilege to enter its country. I was very nervous about sending my passport through the mail. I think that comes from travelling around Europe while in college. We were taught to NEVER let our passports out of our sight. So the thought of being separated from my passport now still gives me an anxiety attack.

Also, while not required to enter China, I received a battery of recommended shots for the trip: hep A & B, polio, tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough and typhoid. I am now ready for the next outbreak of the plague. Bring it on! I now have a neat yellow booklet with my vaccinations listed that I get to staple into my passport when I'm reunited with it in Newark.

Newark? Yeah, that's where I'll be headed on July 5th for a one-day orientation session. Makes sense since the China Institute is located in Manhattan and Newark is one of the major international airports nearby. We're actually being put up at the Marriott Spring Hills Suites right by the airport. We then fly out on the 7th.

Well, we're supposed to be getting another information packet this week. I'll post again when I receive that. Until then...