Ready or not, here I come!

if you open yourself up other people open themselves up to you... what im tryin to say is i'm sure you'll be fine!!! plus you have blonde hair so you're gonna have so many friends you won't know what to do with them all! i've added you on fb... i'll let you know where i'm going but need to find out myself first lol! altho gonna do as much travelling around in China as poss so you could give me the tour of Wuxi! :D

if you open yourself up other people open themselves up to you... what im tryin to say is i'm sure you'll be fine!!! plus you have blonde hair so you're gonna have so many friends you won't know what to do with them all! i've added you on fb... i'll let you know where i'm going but need to find out myself first lol! altho gonna do as much travelling around in China as poss so you could give me the tour of Wuxi! :D

Okay there are too many of you on FB>>Try my name Denise Marquez Yorba Linda, CA or Wuxi

I will pm you on FB and give you email,not sure if it is private. On this site I am getting all these Nigerian Scams emailing me! LOL

Nick write my email down too in case FB doesn't work, I heard it doesn't...but you are so right I private messaged a few people in China to see what vpn they use, some responded and some didn't. I am so curious what city you will be in. I am hoping I will have some new friends. Yeah! When do you leave?

Yowza that's soon!! Live it up while you can cos i've heard teacher apartments are fairly rudimentary (well internship ones!) The internship for me was part of a package deal with the i-to-i TEFL qualification. I-to-i sort us out with a placement (we're all meeting in Beijing for an orientation and then get sent off to... we don't know where yet!!!) and organise everything... just thought it would be a fairly easy introduction to TEFL abroad... you seem to have chosen the braver option! It's good that your husband will be able to come out and see you if and when you need it I'm actually quite looking forward to abandoning my very cosy friends and family and seeing how i cope! :) I can't get a VPN cos I have a crappy netbook I'm just keeping my figers crossed that China legalise Facebook (I mean it's not heroin for goodness sake!) add me on facebook then we might be able to keep in touch more easily (search Nick Dugdale I live in York, England!) At the moment I think I might like to teach English in different places all over the world... but I shouldn't get ahead of myself! PS! you're only as old as you feel - do you have that saying in US?

Doug, Yes I am going to China TOMORROW! I am going to Shanghai to spend a week in a hotel! LOL>>mini vacation. My husband is going for 3 weeks then returning to Cali. He got a visa to go back and forth. I don't think anyone has explained the internship to me? I will teaching in Wuxi, a year contract (actually 10 months). Yes, they have a Walmart in Wuxi and a few other locations. I am so much older than all of you, old enough to be your mom! LOL> I couldn't get a job in Korea cuz I was too old and probably to heavy by their standards. A recruiter on Teach Away told me to post my resume on eslcafe. The response was overwhelming. I was able to have some great choices before I decided on a contract. What city are you going to? Did you get a vpn loaded on your laptop. You need that to get to some censored/secured sites. OMG>>I dumped some FB friends because the were so J. Those are the ones who didn't even have a passport. I have always lived my life out of the box!

Hey Dizy - I'm going to China for the internship! Are you too?? Fortunately i don't think they have Walmarts in China! :D Also I hope it's reasonably cheap living... if its not im in trouble! but my middle-name is Trouble :)

I can't believe some people are bbeing negative about this opportunity - they must be jealous that's all it can be! jealous they don't have the kahunas!!!

Denise, I definitely agree with your statement about the negative comments coming from people who haven't experienced life.  I haven't really received any negative comments, mostly just people not understanding why anyone would want to do something like this.  And that's okay, it's definitely not for everybody.  Just us special few.   :-)

Uploading to a lsptop woukd definitely be beneficial.  External harddrives are the best overseas. Take them everywhere with hardly any problems. 

I hope you all have safe journeys!!  We'll all be back posting soon enough here or FB. 

( cspiwak@menphis.edu ) Search for me!!

Doug Where are you going? I just got back from Walmart AGAIN>>and I still forgot one thing! If I have to spend another $$$$ I am going to scream! LOL>

I liked this post very much thankyou jen - summed up how I'm thinking... probably most of us going if we're honest! Unorganised and peeing our pants! However! the unknown is rather exciting! acting on impulse with non of the humdrum routine of daily life... you can't have it both ways unfortunately :-/ Wicked post really chuffed you're coming along for the ride Jen!!! See you in one week :-O

Spiwalk....thanks so much for the head up! Dang I forgot about being able to play them...hmmm maybe one of my daughters can upload to my laptop. The books are more for me...some times I don't do well with all the internet search etc. Sometimes I need the physical book. I am only taking one large suitcase and one small one, yet my husband is coming too. So I think I will be good to bring the duffle bag full of books versus shipping. The problem is getting this just 4 days before i leave hardly gives me time to sort this out. Can you believe all this stuff I got is made in China! LOL> Are you guys limited as to what you can bring. I think our Airlines lets you bring 2 50lb suitcases for each person. I only narrowed it down because when they pick me up I don't want them to think I am bringing the whole house! LOL> You guys have been the best. I am just not crazy about this forum! email or FB has been good for me! Nobody understands this journey. I have had more positive than negative; the negative comes from people who don't have a clue and haven't experienced life!

In the span of about 2 days, you two have become my best friends.  :-)  And I'm not kidding.  I'm off to drive 4 hours for the last visit with my boyfriend.  Maybe it will actually be the LAST if he doesn't chill out.  :)

I just bought a bunch of 'school supplies' yesterday.  Some stickers, stencils, cardboard letters, a game, etc.  Possibly a mistake...

I just did a prepack of my backpack and discovered I'll have to cut out a bunch of clothing in order to fit all the other stuff.  That's to be expected, of course.  I knew I had too many clothes!!

Talk to you soon!    :-}

Dizy, watch out on the DVDs... not everyone is in on the same region and might not be able to play them.  As for 20lbs of books.. Try bookmarking websites or finding ebooks to save to an external harddrive.  Might be a bit easier.  Or if you can have someone ship you the books, it might be easier as I know most airlines charge for extra weight. 

Good luck!

Jen - No worries! I'll still be on Chalkboard when I get to Ukraine! :)  Gotta have a venting point where others will understand what I'm going through. :)  As for the boyfriend situation, I hope it straightens out.  However, you're right you really can't worry about that right now.  I'm just thankful mine understands and isn't giving me trouble. I'd have to kill him. LOL  Good luck in China!!

Ladies I am so feeling your pain! LOL>I feel like my head is out of control. I drove for my hair appointment this am and don't even remember mentally driving the 45 minute drive. Spaced out! Then my school sent me a text that said to bring materials to decorate my room and books for the students, but then my recruiter said I don't want you to spend any money!! OMG>>>one more thing to worry about. So far I have an added 20lbs of books to bring just from what resources I had at home, guess I wont' be traveling light. Off to Costco to get a few Leap Frog dvds to break up the day with my classes. I just found out I will have 1st or 2nd graders and 7th or 8th graders, of course without the ability to access their level, I feel like I am working in the dark! 

Yeah, I hear ya.  I've been going crazy getting ready.  And my boyfriend is driving me nuts too.  I mean, he's really pissing off.  I'm not sure he's going to be able to handle this.  And at this point, I'm not even sure I care.  I can't really concern myself with that right now.

I looked the hotel up on tripadvisor that we'll staying at for the training.   It didn't get very good reviews.  Oh well.   :-)  Anyway, like I said, enjoy the train ride, and see you the 23rd!

Yeah, I've been a bit quiet online the last few days - so much  do in the real world!! I arrive on the 23rd, so 'll go straight to the training centre. It LOOKS ok on the google mapversin of the beijing metro... but we'll see...

Spiwak- No problem!!  Good luck in the Ukraine, and keep in touch!  Let me know how it goes!   :-)

Clare- I hadn't seen you on here for a while, I thought maybe you'd left already.  These last few days are so hectic!!!  I'm almost wishing I'd given myself a little more time, but that wouldn't matter.  It would still be hectic.  And besides, that's exactly why I am leaving early, so I can settle into actually being in China for a couple of days before things get going.  :-)  Enjoy your train ride, that's going to be amazing!!  I want t o hear all about it!  See you in Beijing!   By the way, when are you arriving, and if you're arriving before the 23rd, where are you staying?