Ready... Set... Go?

I have been given an incredible opportunity to teach English to fifth and sixth graders in Shenyang, China for one month.  This is a huge opportunity for my own students, too, because I've been in a lesson-planning rut for quite some time.  Using the Smartboard and presentation software for nearly every grammar lesson I teach, I lull my students to sleep, or at least a glassy-eyed daze.  It is a challenge to present dry material in an organized but exciting way.  So, when my colleague asked if I might be interested in traveling to her friend's school to expose the students there to a native English speaker, I thought it would be a good exercise in finding innovative ways to communicate.  Surely, one couldn't rely on a PowerPoint to teach 1000 ten-year-old, Chinese-speaking students a week common expressions and irregular verbs, could she?

This is a learning experience in more ways than one, however.  I've never been abroad.  I've never had to apply for a passport and visa, or buy a voltage adaptor, or place an international phone call.  I've never had to wear long underwear for anything but skiing in the dead of winter or use a non-flushing toilet.  I've never had to use traveler's cheques, convert dollars into anything else, or barter for something at the market.  I've never had to use a phrase-book to ask for help, figure out if a tour guide is ripping me off, or keep a pick-pocket out of my purse. I've never kept a blog, skyped, or made a podcast.  And now I can look forward to all of those things.  I leave in just two days!

Planning and packing for this trip has put my obsessive, perfectionist tendencies on hyper-drive, and the whole process is taking much longer than I expected.  It does feel good to line up all of my new purchases on the guest room bed and cross them off of the list.  I dread the inevitable moment when, just as I am congratulating myself on remembering cuticle cream or some other pointless thing that I was worried about having, I realize that I have left behind my flash drive or socks.

Thanks for joining me on this journey! Wish me luck.