Hello All

Hello all...
I thought my blog would not work as I can not access blogger. However!, my brother set up my account so I can e-mail my posts and they should show up on my blog. This will take a little getting used to because I can not edit my posts (like I did about 3 times per post before I left...well not the final one when I was half asleep and not really making sense).

Wanted to let you all know that I made it safely to China with Emily and we are glad to have each other. We pretty much just figured out how the PCs in our rooms work so we could e-mail then watched Family Guy and went to bed. She slept over so we weren't lonely going to bed or waking up! (her AC started leaking and peeing on her bed too though haha).

As I write this it is 9:23pm Monday night in New York & Massachusetts but it is 9:23am Tuesday morning here. Isn't that weird?!?! Today at 4pm our time, we are meeting up with one of Kim's friends who said he will show us the cellphone store and help us purchase Chinese cellphones! Exciting!

I am kind of missing my cellphone for texting right now but having Emily hear makes it easier. The only thing I really want is something to drink! I have snacks galore (thanks mom and dad!).

My parents put a little fake lizard in my DVD case which surprised me and almost made me cry because it was a touch of home. We have passed it around to my Aunt Peggy in East Berne and my Aunt Shirley in Atlanta - now it's in China! It also reminds me of that spider my Aunt Mary Jo left at our house once and we sent to Michael another time. Maybe my lizard will get a name and get to travel to the Great Wall?!

Hope you all sleep well as I enjoy my first full day... testing testing..

I Would Dig a Hole All the Way to China

I should be sleeping. The first flight leaves in less than 7 hours. Can you believe it?! Because I certainly can't! As I should be sleeping right now, I will explain what I am doing up and "blogging." I thought I would share with you all (Hi, Mom and Dad) what kind of tough research of China I have been conducting. I've been reading, watching movies, and listening to music!!!

I have read and skimmed books like Culture & Etiquette in China and Culture Guide & Phrase Book. Of course, a novel caught my attention as well. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See is an interesting book about two sisters living a wealthy, carefree life in 1930s Shanghai. You can feel the tension within the family in every line. May is the beloved, beautiful daughter; Pearl is the narrator you feel for. And that's all in the first chapter! I don't want to give anything else away because a lot of crazy stuff happens. Not to mention I actually didn't finish it.

Films provide a great source of entertainment and history too! Here is a list of Chinese movies I viewed this summer: Farewell, My Concubine (theatre, history, war!); Blind Shift (indie film about economic hardships); Raise the Red Lantern (don't be a Chinese woman in the 1920s!); Eat Drink Man Woman (the original Tortilla Soup, family/food story); Balzac & The Little Chinese Seamstress (cultural revolution and romance); and The Last Emperor (Puyi!). If I wasn't exhausted and going to wake up in several hours for my flights, I would go more in depth on each of these movies. However, let me say they were all enjoyable, especially being able to listen to Mandarin and learn some Chinese culture and history.

Hold on a second here. Read this article about historical movies. I know a lot of films take liberties with facts so it really is a tragedy "students remember Hollywood fiction versus historical fact!" Personally, I just had fun with Chinese movies and got more of a feel for the landscape, food, traditions, and general history. I am sure I will learn much more in the upcoming months.

Personally, I love immersing myself in other cultures through books and films...and music! This is where I failed though. I do not know any great Chinese pop singers or groups! Katie Bodnar DID play a fun Chinese pop song for Marcelle, Emily and I in the car this week (during our epic ride home from Sarah Holman's graduation party! I loved being insane with my closest friends one more time!). Music will DEFINITELY be something I want to learn about from my students. Upon returning from my month in Ecuador, I blasted Juanes and Belanova in the car. A year from now I will add Chinese music to my playlists.

What I did look up was what American songs are about China. My search yielded very little but I found some great lyrics from the Dave Matthews Band. The first few lines of their song "Dreamgirl" are:
I would dig a hole all the way to China
unless of course I was there
and I'd dig my way home.

The song isn't really about China....but those few lines resonated with me! Hahaha. Everytime I am homesick in China those lyrics will pop in my head. I have attached the video to this song right here if you want to watch it (Julia Roberts is in it! weird!).

I really need to get a few hours of sleep...

Bad Body Double

Okay, today it feels real. Like really real. A week from now, I will be in my own apartment in Baoding, China. A week later, I will begin teaching college classes (who knew it was this easy to graduate from college then turn around and teach people your age?). Of course I am nervous about all of this; however, I see it more as an 'adventive adventure' than something to be afraid of.

Now let me tell you the silliest reason I had the tiniest inkling to leave for China three or so days later than I am. Imogen Heap, my favorite musician, releases her third solo album Tuesday, August 25th. Ellipse, my most anticipated album EVER!, already sounds fantastic because Immi has made two of the songs available for download (First Train Home and Canvas). Ok...I'll come back to Ellipse later. Back to my last Monday in the USA...

Admittedly, what started out as a boring day turned into an emotionally eventful one for me. I tried on clothes, tossing aside pants I have not worn in ages, and stored my hammock, SAC chair, and didgeridoo in my closet. Finally, I found enough energy to dress for the day and had lunch with my mom and Aunt Peggy at Chili's. After, we shopped at Wal-mart for all the last minute things I need to pack for China. I started getting grumpy and exhausted (okay...I went to bed at 2am after finding 30 second clips of Imogen's new songs. My slight headache right now as I write is probably a direct result of this lack of sleep too). My emotional rollercoaster of the day continued as I had to say goodbye to my Aunt Peggy (knowing I won't be able to be with my family for almost a year is a tought idea to wrap my head around). Umm, so, the other thing that happened to me today was the fact that I fell down the stairs...while eating chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream (covered in the last of our reese's shell, mind you!). I gracefully missed two steps and walked away unscathed except for a hurt toe and butt cheek. Wait...why am I sharing this again?

I actually did have a good day spending time with my mom and going out to eat with my aunt. It's just that saying bye to a close family member and buying everything left on my list made the idea of me leaving the country sink in. Two things definitely picked up my spirits though. My parents and I watched Hotel for Dogs this afternoon. It surprised me with how much I actually enjoyed it but I would have been just fine watching all the little puppies run around for 100 minutes! (okay, they are not 'puppies' per se, but I call dogs of all sizes and ages 'puppies'). The second pick-me-up is the fact Imogen Heap is streaming her full album online right now!

See, I knew what I was doing when I mentioned Imogen Heap's upcoming album earlier, hahaha. Does it sound like I am obsessed at this point? I am listening to the album as I write this blog. The song 'Bad Body Double' just finished playing and it is currently my favorite. Even though I haven't even listened to every song. The whole idea of the song is how we each have a 'bad body double' aka a negative self image of our bodies and he/she shows up every once in a while. My favorite lyric is "We look very similar, except she's got some greys, and a little extra weight on the sides, and dimply thighs."

We all go through phases of being body concious but I thought maybe each of our 'bad body doubles' could even go as far as to summarize all of our negative thoughts, fears, and anxieties. Sure, I have a "bad body double" full of nerves about everything attached to teaching for a year in China. I think I analyzed some of those pretty well in my first blog. However, the best moments in our lives are when we have plenty of fears yet still follow the path we know we are meant to follow. This often brings us to our grandest memories. I hope you keep this in mind the next time you are on the verge of taking a plunge into an exciting and 'adventive adventure.'

Personally, I can already see my "bad body double" (full of negative thoughts and anxieties) disappearing as I walk off the plane in Beijing.

This time, I leave you with Imogen Heap's third solo album, Ellipse, streaming in full online.

It's a Small World

My parents took my brother and I to Disney World in Florida when he was 9 years old and I was 4 years old. The two rides they always reminisce about around me are the Haunted Mansion and It's a Small World. Why, you ask? I cried the whole time I was on the Haunted Mansion ride; I clapped and giggled the whole time I was on the 'Small World' ride. See! I loved the world and every culture even when I was 4.

Everything I've learned from traveling so far tells me it really IS a small world. A large street market looks the same in Guayaquil, Ecuador and Barcelona, Spain. Mountain ranges provide beautiful views, whether it's the Adirondacks or the Andes. So far, my journeys have taught me first hand each country has something special but all are more similar than I could have imagined. At the core, at least, people are people. It doesn't matter where they live. Hey, my "Ecuadorian mother" that housed me for a month reminded me of my very own Nana!

Speaking of Disney...did you know there is a Hong Kong Disneyland?! The description of the street entertainment in Main Street USA boasts, "Enjoy the simple pleasure of pure, sweet American feel-good nostalgia." If you check out the interactive map you will soon realize "American feel-good nostalgia" translates to a marching band in Hong Kong.

By the way, if I do end up going to Hong Kong Disneyland, I am definitely taking a ride on "It's a Small World."

Oh, and do not worry, you mainland Chinese! China and Disney came to agreements this year which will lead to a Shanghai Disneyland in 2014. Yay!

I will post at least once more before I leave for China. I have plenty of movies, music, and books I've been "preparing" with that I will discuss! (Ooops...I forgot to watch Disney's Mulan).

For now, I leave you with a young Singaporean girl singing "It's a Small World." Click here to watch the adorable video.

Not Now But Soon

This is my first ever blog entry! I hope to keep up with it as a way for friends and family in the USA to keep up with my silly activities in China throughout the year. I am also imagining myself looking back a year from now reading stories and laughing, reliving each day over again. So, blogs are pretty selfish, huh? I am going to write about "me, me, me" for a whole year, hoping you read it and if not I will still read it myself. Because it's all about me. Haha, no I really hope this is a good way to keep in contact with everyone back home.

Anyways, let me explain the title of my blog. According to the Free Online Dictionary (already being frugal for my upcoming trip), adventive is defined as, "not native to and not fully established in a new habitat or environment." The thesaurus on the website provides the synonyms "foreign" and "strange." Oh and...is adventive even a word? A few online dictionaries included the word in their database but spellcheck does not seem to agree, haha. Well...these coming months will be my own 'Adventive Adventure.'

This blog itself is adventive to me. Hopefully, I will become more accustomed to writing out my thoughts to no one in particular. Oh and please leave comments! Now, onto this entry...

Not Now But Soon

I am not leaving for Hebei University today...but it sure is soon. I leave in 11 days. Can you believe it? I can't. I am in that mindset of knowing I am leaving very soon but my head has not really wrapped around the fact that, in less than two weeks, I will be in CHINA. That huge country beloved by Senator McCarthy. Wait...I'm going to CHINA?! Look at this picture of a random street in China:Those aren't even letters on those signs! I have no idea what that says! What am I going to do?! I graduated from college with a minor in SPANISH. Also...never took any education classes. I am hoping my blood has a love for teaching in it - I mean approximately 50.5% of my relatives are teachers. I DID say this was going to be an adventure....

Really though, I am more excited and eager than anything else. These worries are real but I knew what I was signing up for. If I graduated college and signed up for anything other than a crazy experience, I would be disappointed in myself. In fact, the process of preparing to leave for China has had its share of trials. Multiple trips to multiple doctors to fill out one health form, stressful research for the 'perfect' airline ticket, and obtaining that damn visa. But I somehow already know it will all be worth it.

Engulfing myself in other cultures, cities, foods, music....this is what I want. As a kid (because I'm so old now), I thought of visiting each continent by the end of my lifetime. At the age of 22, I will have reached my 6th country, 4th continent. When asked what my goals are or "Where do you want to be in 5 years?" I always struggled but know if I am a jolly, old man with memories of foreign nations, hilarious friends and family, I will have succeeded.

As I have stated, writing a blog is new and 'adventive' to me. I am not sure what I am 'supposed' to say. Don't fret, my blog entries after landing in China will include wild and crazy stories. PG-13 rated, of course.

Anyone have any fun suggestions for my blog? Comment and let me know! For example, I thought I would choose a song as the title for this entry. Look below.

song of the moment:
Not Now but Soon by Imogen Heap.

sample lyrics:
"Not now but soon
the most beautiful light
will wake us to pillow fighting excitement

Not now but soon
right into every corner
satellites maneuvering beams of change

Standing by the best days of our lives
Magnificent, the best days of our lives."

I thought I'd add a video clip of this song in case you have never heard it: Not Now but Soon by Imogen Heap