Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Welcome and Intro to My Blog

     Howdy, All! Welcome to my Yichang blog! I can't even express how excited I am to finally start blogging. I went for a little over a week with no internet or phone and let me tell you, I thought I was going to go mad. Being in a brand new country in a brand new, giant apartment, with a brand new job, and a brand new language and culture-- it's the most overwhelmed I'd ever been in my whole life.

     Sitting here right now about a week later, it's difficult for me to believe how far I've come since that point. I will not deny that finally getting access to a phone and the internet played a large role in easing me through. At first, being completely disconnected from my friends and family, I was left alone, relentlessly consumed by feelings of fear and isolation. Today, I have several new contacts in my phone of my amazing new friends and colleagues at the Jin Dong Fang schools around the city, and with WeChat, G-mail, and Skype, I've been able to reconnect with my international friends and catch up, sharing experiences and photos. It's unbelievably relieving! On top of that, I have about 40 high school students who are totally stoked (yeah right) to take their standardized IELTS tests, and it's my job to make preparation for that somewhat bearable. It's only been 4 days, and we've connected  on a lot of levels so far. When I put the work into my lesson planning, the room comes alive with creativity, English, and laughter, and as a teacher there really is nothing more satisfying than this!

    So, as I emerge back onto the grid,  I want to say hello to all my family and friends who are reading this blog! I think about home often, and my memories with all of you help to keep me grounded in this crazy period of my life! Thanks for reading and please, find me on WeChat and Skype if you haven't already!
WeChat ID: kourada
Skype ID: kirstenourada



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2 comments:

  1. UnknownSeptember 4, 2013 at 9:30 AM

    Kirsten! Seeing your blog this morning was the perfect start to the day! Is the blog back round photo taken from your office?

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  2. Kirbubby69September 5, 2013 at 6:31 AM

    Hey mom, glad to see you're enjoying it :) The background photo is actually from a balcony at the Jr. High School. The Jin DongFang primary and junior high schools are actually right next to each other in a more central part of town. My high school is up on a big hill on the far edge of town, and my apartment is near the high school. I still can't even find it on Google Maps. I think this is because it may be a new location so it's not updated yet.

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