Processing the Second year.

Hi it's Dana....
How do I describe my 2nd year in China? The first year was so amazing I wondered when I returned how it could be any better. It is sort of like how can I love another child the same as I have loved the one I already have. Like that situation where love can always be added to and made better.

This year started with me liking a thing called dumplings or in USA they are called hot pockets. In fact when I returned that is the first thing I knew I had to have. Sort of like Roakes hot dogs in Oregon City, Oregon. When I arrived this year it wasn’t trying to figure out where to go to buy things or what bus to catch to go some place or even how to tell the taxi driver the direction to some place. (It all comes down to how well you can point and say stop – “daola”). Arriving was like coming home and going to sleep in my own bed and knowing how and where to go to get simple things like toilet paper, milk, butter and the ingredients to make bread.

So with this feeling of being home we started to discover the wonders of Jinan. I really didn’t know how beautiful this place was or what wonders there were to see here. It was also fun to be able to show the people who were new all the things that we had already discovered last year. Of course, since many had been here for a couple weeks before we arrived they were also able to tell us a lot. They showed us some great powder milk that actually taste like real milk and we also found this wonderful real milk that was a hundred percent and taste just like being home in USA. Of course we don’t have it very often, but it is really close to our apt. And so we do know where to get it fast.

Teaching has been even better than last year. Last year I loved teaching a lot because I loved the students. This year I love the students but I figured out how to do it better and feel I am doing a much better job. My students are learning how to listen and speak better and because I know my campus better I have been able to do more things with them and be more a part of their lives. As this semester comes to a close I don’t feel as sad as I did last year at the end of the semester. I will be able to teach the same students next semester and perhaps even next year. It means more work and adding to my curriculum but makes excited about the next 16 weeks of teaching.