I am now a Beijinger

Although I’ve been in China for quite a few days now, the Great Firewall is not letting me access either my blog or facebook (sob!). Hopefully, I can fix that when I get to my village but for now I’ve asked my sister to post this up for me. I can still get email and am also sent any comments posted on my blog through yahoo.
Anyway – I’m loving Beijing. It’s a much cleaner and calmer city than I was expecting. When I took the subway to work during rush hour on Monday morning, you would never know that 23 million people were doing the same thing.
The VSO Chinese office staff are great – we all went out for a banquet lunch together on the first day and they’ve all been taking time to chat and answer questions.
On Tuesday, I had my first Chinese lesson here and as the level was too easy, I said I would just practice alone. However, VSO have found me a private tutor and I had my first 3 hour lesson with her today. After a bit of dialogue practicing asking for directions and finding my way about, we went out into the streets for a real life practice and it was hilarious. She would be walking beside me hissing in Chinese, “Ask him how to get to the nearest subway station,” and when I did, she would be standing right behind me (clearly a local) so our victim would be looking at us both suspiciously while answering my halting Mandarin. Once when I asked, “Can you tell me which number bus to get to Jianguomin?” the guy gave me a very strange look and said, “The bus timetable’s right behind you.” Oops!
Yesterday, I took the afternoon off and went to Tian’an’men Square. It was great just to have the chance to wander around on my own, taking photos and people-watching. Once I get to my placement, I can hopefully post some pics. I wandered up to but not into the Forbidden City and also went into Mao’s Mausoleum which was very interesting although I won’t explain why here (on a public site.)
On Saturday, I’m heading out of the city to visit the Great Wall. Soooo looking forward to it!

One day to go!

I've now said goodbye to Edinburgh and moved out of my flat. I'm back home with my parents in Fife for the final two nights. I finally feel that I've done everything I can do before I go. All the packing, all the cleaning, all the many,many telephone calls to various companies to cancel things...
So far, I have two big bags to check in and two fairly big bags to carry on. My job for tomorrow is to try to whittle things down a bit. ;-)
Today I got some details from the Beijing Office about my in-country training. The two weeks are a nice mix of cultural awareness, VSO training and language skills. Plus, next weekend I get to pay a visit to the Great Wall! Can't wait!

Trying to fit in a bit of packing

Just over a week now until I leave and the whole packing thing is taking much longer than I expected. Perhaps that's because I'm spending a fair bit of time trying to fit in some one-on-one time with my friends before I leave and also because I seem to be having a fair number of leaving parties.
Party number 2 was last Sunday in a friend's flat with lots of my closest friends there and it had a Chinese theme. In the pics, you can see me standing by a sign which says "Bon Voyage" and a plate of cakes that say "Good Luck." There was also a Who's Kirsten's Best Friend quiz (judged on who could answer the most questions on my likes, beliefs and travels) and a slideshow of photos of me over the last ten years in Edinburgh. Awww, thanks you guys!

Two weeks today...

Two weeks today I'll be in China!
Got my passport today with a cool Chinese visa with a picture of the Great Wall on it. I also got a bit more information from VSO yesterday about the plans for my initial few weeks.
I arrive in Beijing on Saturday morning and have Saturday and Sunday to rest and relax and hopefully see a bit of the city (Tiananmen Sq, here I come!) I start my in-country training on Monday and am then in Beijing for almost two weeks with culture/VSO/language training. On the night of the 18th, I take a sleeper train to Xi'an and then have 3 days there for an education conference where I'll meet the other education VSO volunteers working in China.
After that, my new boss will come and pick me up and take me to Danfeng which, all going well, will be my home for the next two years. Eeeee! Exciting!

Less than three weeks to go...!

Things finally look like they're coming together. I fly to London with BA at lunchtime on Friday 4th Sept and then on to Beijing late afternoon, arriving early morning on the 5th. My passport is now in London waiting for the work permit to arrive from China so I can get the embassy to give me a visa and I have (I think) a tenant for my flat. I'm starting to pack up my things, which is a much bigger job than I thought it was going to be, and most (but not all) of my financial stuff is sorted out. Although I'm really excited about going, I'm starting to feel like I'm in freefall towards departure. There are so many little things I still need to do, so many things I still need to buy and so many people I need to say goodbye to. I'm incredibly busy and have things booked for almost every day and night until I leave now. Still, I wouldn't change it - I've had some great moments. A group of work friends took me out on a fantastic night to say goodbye - the highlight of which was a boozy limo trip around the crags! (see pic) I'll have lots of great memories to keep me going in my dark days when I'm missing home.

Or not so definite a date...

I got back this evening from a week's VSO course in Birmingham to find an email from my Volunteer Placement Advisor saying that the start date of my training in Beijing has been changed. So I'll now be flying out a few days earlier than planned (well, VSO's motto is 'be flexible.') It's not a huge problem but it will mean I won't have a final weekend with all my family together - sob! I don't actually know the date yet but it'll probably be the 3rd or 4th of September.
I also got an email today from the VSO language tutor in Beijing asking what my level of Mandarin is - ha!!!!
Anyway, I'll let you know as soon as I actually get a flight date confirmed. Either way, it's less than a month now. EEEEEEK!

A definite departure date

VSO confirmed my departure date as Sunday 6th September today, flying from Heathrow on the 1640 flight direct to Beijing. Hooray! Presumably they're also flying me from Edinburgh down to London on a connecting flight but I haven't been told about that yet.
Also today, I bought a Chinese dictionary which I'm very much looking forward to using - my Mandarin has hit a block these last few weeks and I seem to be making very little progress despite the excellent efforts of my teacher, Zhou Wei. I wonder if this blog will support Chinese and pinyin script? Only one way to find out...

下 个 九 月 我 去 中国

xià ge jiǔ yuè wǒ qù Zhōng guó

Which says (I think) In September, I'm going to China. :-)