Skype.

This is a real and hilarious conversation my friend Allison sent me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Btw, if you're searching for me on Skype, it's frisk.anna, though the name down below could be a nice change.

did you find her?
[9:55:15 PM] Allison Rose Zetts: lol
[9:56:30 PM] Danny Dubbaneh: 14 of them are from sweden
[9:56:33 PM] Danny Dubbaneh: is it annafrisk
[9:56:40 PM] Danny Dubbaneh: or is there like a dot or some sort of variety there
[9:57:19 PM] Danny Dubbaneh: one of the anna frisk's skype name is youngpandahug
[9:57:23 PM] Danny Dubbaneh: i think i want her to be my friend

Good night to everyone back home.

New Life.

Foreigners here are few and spoken English is equally sparse. Zhengzhou may be the capital of Henan province and a bustling city of 5 million, but by China's standards that's a small drop in the bucket. So, I thought I'd share this funny tidbit that was included in my guidebook for new teachers at HMC (Henan Marshal Cooperative). "So much of being out here is great, the cliche once-in-a-lifetime kind of experiences, but some of your time out here really will be hard. I'd say it's important to not deceive yourself and admit when life is difficult. Talk to your friends and family, talk to the other teachers, get some Ben and Jerry's (that was a cruel joke--there is no Ben and Jerry's)." Or real cheese for that matter.

Zhengzhou (ZZ) certainly isn't Shanghai. More observations to come and details about our first dinner out in ZZ, a "western place" of Brazilian bbq with cow tongue (something I've already had in Iowa) and Chinese waiters dressed in German folk attire. Time for dinner!

Gray skies (literally).

To escape the smog of China, you must leave the country.


I got lazy and thought I would just post some pictures from the World Expo, not an option as I am in China and pictures have been disabled. So, I'll write about it soon enough.



On a positive note, we toured the new campus today. It's separated from the old campus (where we are living) by corn fields, construction and shanty shacks, equating to a 40 minute bus commute, in good traffic. The new campus is soon to become the only campus, however, as of now they are still in construction of many buildings, including the large, central library. Once complete, the complex will shine with a blue lake enclosing it. Traditional Chinese manner, it must be built to be better and bigger than everything else. Across the road, a building 2 km is being erected, called the Longest Asian Building, it just seems absurd. This, we saw overlooking our rooftop to our second apartment, yes, that's right. Along with our personal chef, who serves us upwards of 10 different dishes each meal, we have a full apartment (with a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room), we have another newer apartment on the new campus with the same, plus a dishwasher and flat screen t.v. Thanksgiving has already been planned to be there. It's our home away from home, I suppose. The classrooms, however, are pretty basic. They include a chalkboard, multi-purpose computer station and an exalted stand. I still can't believe I'll soon be standing behind the podium teaching freshmen English Listening and Speaking 101. However, I got lucky. Unlike the rest of the foreign teachers, I don't start tomorrow. Freshmen, before moving into school, must complete a stint of military training. So, as a teacher of only freshmen, my start date is in two weeks. This leaves me plenty of time to relax, create a syllabus, check out the nearby ostrich amusement park (that's real, if I desire, I could ride an angry ostrich) and what I really want to do, travel to southern China and float down the Yu River while looking at the Karst limestone. I think that sounds wonderful and relaxing.

I'm alive!

I've finally begun the ascent of climbing the great firewall! I'm still working on facebook however.

After just a few days in this curious country, I have much to share and update you with, but alas, I want to go for a run and it's an urgent matter. Holed up in Hangkou, an area in Shanghai, our Swan Hotel overlooks Luxun Park. It's a mad house of a park and people watching at its best. It's green, lush and everything you wouldn't expect to be hidden within one of the world's largest cities. Falling somewhere between 20 to 23 million, Shanghai is a concrete jungle with high rises popping up everyday and creating dense concrete cover similar to the Redwoods of Northern California, but with the flair of Hello Kitty meets Las Vegas. Like a jade jewel wonder, the park is the hubble of activity. Kites, tai chi, sword dancing, ballroom dancing, fist pumping, I can't even begin to explain it. Named after the famous poet Luxun, the park now holds his mausoleum, among other things. The first day I arrived, I ran up to his body in surprise. An unexpected delight, if you would like to call mausoleum encounters that.

When my sweaty self returns, I'll write more. FYI, Shanghai is a sweatbox, think Iowa humity sans cornfields.

Anxious.

I'm China bound in an hour. I'm crazy anxious for my next new adventure. I have dark chocolate and dried edamame packed and in hand. Mid-flight stress, I've already planned ahead.

I can't sit still. Nor talk to anyone. If I do, I only feel word vomit with the combination of deer-in-the-headlights gazes. It's real and it's today. No syllabi, navigating new classes, seeing old friends. Only mandarin tones, chopsticks and dark hair and I'm still in the San Francisco airport. Ready or not, I'm heading to Shanghai.

Goodbye School. Goodbye Family and Friends. Goodbye Iowa. Goodbye party in the U.S.A. ;)

Ni hao Zhong guo.

Things to come:part II.

Images from Zhengzhou University, where I will be teaching English. http://english.zzu.edu.cn/cam.sce.2.htm Check out the website. As expected, the campus looks like a small city and the student population rounds out around 45,000 students.

According to the English version of the website, however, Zhengzhou University is looking to turn into an international hotspot! I hope so. However, I was pleasantly surprised by an email from Amy, who I have been corresponding with from the China Daily. According to her, after a recent trip there on business, it's a pleasant enough city that I should enjoy living in! (Yes, she included an exclamation point!)

Located near the Yellow River, at a key transportation hub, Zhengzhou should be good. The countdown begins!

Goodbyes.

Goodbyes are rough. Sometimes I purposely try to avoid them. It may seem personal, but it's not, it's just me. For some reason, it seems much worst this time, but as I tell myself, it's only One Year.

Perhaps, it's because I know one year may turn into more. My sister has warned me of this already and she seems like a knowing source as she is about to board a plane for Australia for her next yearlong stint abroad. Therefore, as one of my good friends has said, see you in 1 to 20 years, could be true, but I hope not.

It seems strange to most, but I can't deny the allure of life abroad. If you asked me why I lust for foreign lands, I can't formulate a just response. In person or in a blog post. When speaking about China, the vague explanations deepen. China, they say, is big, hard to understand and full of contrasts. I think I could haven figured that out from the Chinese version of Dora the Explorer. Yet, the importance of looking East cannot be emphasized enough. During my junior year of college, in the midst of my journalism courses at Iowa, I was inspired and excited to explore and write about the world. My enthusiasm apparently translated onto my paper scholarship essay as worthy and honest enough to award me money. I'm facing this new step, journey or whatever you would like to call it, with that same enthusiasm to learn about the world, fulfill my journalistic dream of freelancing and perhaps learn enough Chinese to speak without getting laughed at, this time around.

I say goodbye to my lovely home state early Sunday morning. I'll be leaving it water soaked and in turmoil. Not much unlike the time I left for China in 2008, only it was a different collegetown, mine, that was tossing sandbags and preparing for the worst.

See, goodbyes are always weird.

Time flies.

It's so odd to think, just two years ago, I was already in China preparing for the biggest event of the summer, the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I was prepping with Olympic tennis events, spying on the Williams sisters during their practice bout, sneaking into one of Rafael Nadal's press conferences, no? and plotting which bar was the best to watch the Opening Ceremony. Needless to say, I felt on top of the world and I had the credentials to prove it.

This return visit will be something quite different. I may still be treated like a celebrity, on the basis that I am a foreigner, and an obvious one at that. If you ask, I will regretfully tell you, ni hao and zaijian are about the only pinyin words that stick to my mandarin mind. Forgotten vocab, oh right, that's what happened in those two years. Yet, I'm still as excited as I was before I landed in the Middle Kingdom for my first round. I'll be employed and I suppose as a recent grad that is something to celebrate even if it isn't as magnificent on a global scale as Olympic medals.

(I get to brag at least once, right?)

Things to come.

Flying overnight to West Virginia at this moment, or so I like to think, is my passport and teaching contract.

Teach, I will.

Until I begin my journey West--Colorado, California, then, China, here are a few images of things to come.