What a Summer

Posted by Michelle Ross on 09/03/2007

What a summer! Since the beginning of July, Thad and I have been all over China. We started with a trip to Chengdu to help train the new group of Volunteers (who are currently on site visit and getting ready to be on their own finally!) in Chengdu. Then it was off to Jiuquan, which is in the north part of Gansu province, where we did Summer Project, training current teachers (this is also the venue of the bus pushing/flood incident!). From there it was onto a whirlwind trip of China with Mom and Dad: Beijing-Shanghai-Chengdu-Chengxian- Xi’An (and then they continued on to Japan). So, with that crazy schedule in mind, I will try to give a brief rundown of the first part of our fabulous summer. Getting the whole summer in will take a few entries…

Let’s start at PST: Pre-Service Training. The China 13s got into the country on July 1, so Thad and I had a chance to come down the second week of July to do some training. We were asked to talk about teaching lower-level students, since that is what our school is for the most part. Thad put together a great Power Point that we used as the basis of the session (his goofy pictures were a hit!) and from there we just told stories about our experiences with the students and tried to answer as many questions as we could. We were only with each training hub a couple of hours, so we really didn’t get to know the new Volunteers very well, but we are hoping to be able to hang out with the Gansu kids this fall sometime. One night we took the three married couples out to dinner to talk about how life as a married Volunteer is different than single. I remember doing this last summer and thought it was a nice evening, so I asked our program manager if she could arrange it again and she happily did. Thad and I enjoyed getting to chat with the marrieds and they seem to all be off to a great start.

Overall the training was wonderful. It was great being in-town on Peace Corps business since it meant we got bused around by them! While in Chengdu we also had to do our mid-service medical visit, which was no biggie, other than the dentist. I am not a fan of the dentist at home, so having to go while abroad was not an idea that I relished. Of course, I had two cavities! (How is it that no matter what I do, I always have a cavity when I go to the dentist? I think it is some conspiracy against me!!) That meant I had to go back the next morning and get them filled. The dentist kindly offered to do it without Novocain if I wanted. I quickly turned that proposition down! I got my two cavities filled in the morning and then headed out to the train right after that to head to Lanzhou.

The next stop on our summer agenda was Lanzhou, for just a day. Peace Corps wasn’t able to get train tickets all the way from Chengdu to Jiuquan since it is so far away, so we went as far as Lanzhou, bought tickets for the next night and hung out with some Volunteers in town. While Thad was in buying tickets, I stood outside the train station guarding the backpacks. As I stood there, I noticed a familiar face in the crowd: Julian! Julian was one of the Volunteers who went home last summer, but before going home he was the head trainer for our group! It was crazy to just be standing outside the train station and see him. He was in the country with his brother, who is studying Chinese. We chatted for a few minutes, but he and his brother had a train to catch, so after a brief discussion, they were off again. With out tickets in hand, we headed to Kristen’s to hang out. Along with Thad and me, her apartment was home to John and Erin and Ben. As last comers, I got the couch and Thad got the floor! No problem though!

From Lanzhou, it was off to Jiuquan for Summer Project, which warrants an entry of its own, but I’ll leave you with this image: Thad and I rode the 8-hour train north with Simon and Thomas, who spent the ride playing a “wonderful” baseball game called Strat. When they would hit the seventh inning stretch in the game, we, along with the entire train car would be serenaded with a beautiful rendition of “Take Me Out To The Ball Game.” Just trying to meet that second goal of Peace Corp--sharing our culture with others!

Stay tuned for Summer Project and Traveling with the Parental Units.

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This webpage expresses the views of Michelle Ross. It does not express the views of the United States Peace Corps.

Last updated Sep 29 2008