In-Service Training 2013

For two weeks at the end of January, all China 18 volunteers had to go to Chengdu for mandatory training sessions, about TEFL, Secondary Projects, Safety and Security, Chinese language, and so on, plus sessions on Chinese culture and history.  It was the first time in about 4.5 months that all of us were together again: the last time we all saw each other was when we had our Commencement of Service back in August.  I had thought it might awkward to see everyone again but I felt that our relationships easily picked up where they'd been left off, and in some cases were even stronger for the time apart and the growth we'd all experienced living at our sites.  We all have had very different times but many of our struggles have been similar (getting sick, being stared at, adjusting to teaching in China, etc.).  It was great to share stories and laughs and catch up with people's lives.

I was nervous for my first Chinese class because I hadn't really studied much since PST.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to find a tutor at site and thus had to rely on myself.  I found some different websites but wasn't super thrilled with their methods.  I did finally find some CDs with audio lessons that had been left in my apartment, which was a good review.  Despite my worries, when I was in my Chinese classes I felt like I was back in PST.  Yes, I had forgotten some things and the other volunteers in my class had learned more words than me, but I was just proud of how much I remembered and how well I was able to understand and speak despite my lack of practice.  I was lucky to have Guo Laoshi who had been at our summer training site and who’s hands-down the best Chinese instructor we’d had, of the four.  She challenges us but still speaks clearly enough for us to understand.  The Chinese classes at IST were a confidence boost and a reminder that I can speak Chinese, but the obstacle at my site is the strong use of regional dialect, Sichuanese.

And of course, no Peace Corps get-together would be complete without several late nights clubbing and dancing.  If you know me you know I love dancing so it was very exciting to be able to dance with friends again after all these months.  We hit up all our favorite spots from the summer.  Actually our hotel this time was right next to one of our favorite areas, which has Jellyfish club and some restaurants with (expensive but delicious) western food.  I live pretty frugally at my site and just eat Chinese food (that’s actually my only option) and I think this is true for many volunteers, so we definitely splurged and got western food several times.  I love Chinese food, but having a burger or tacos or pizza again after so many months is quite an enjoyable experience.

Another highlight of IST was the talent show because it was fun to see my peers’ talents, and Peace Corps treated us to pizza.

Enough pizza to feed an army of hungry volunteers

Jason, Izzy, and I used our one day off to go see the People's Park

Dan and I were able to re-connect with two of our students from model school last summer.  We went to dinner at an Indian restaurant, and then they took us to one of their favorite bars.

We went back to that bar later for Dan's birthday, and many volunteers showed up

One of our sessions was about Chinese music, and willing volunteers could try playing this instrument, the Gǔzhēng

Gangnam Style is very popular in China, and it's even influenced WoWo, our favorite convenience store

During the final session at IST, we had to brainstorm in groups how to reach out to our students and communities.  This group decided to have a little fun and produced this humorous list of "emboldened" ideas

I was very excited to re-connect with all my friends, especially my girls Lindsay and Sydni!