Passport. Visa. Vaccinations. Mandarin CDs. Currency exchange. Packing. Gifts for homestay families... Gifts for homestay families...
This is the first thing that trips me up. The first thing that makes it real. All of the other travel preparations are somehow more abstract, and nihilistic even (How will I get into the country? What will I wear? Which traveler's diarrhea meds will I buy?), but this, this is a gift. I have to imagine these people, individual people--not the Olympics, not Mao Zedong, not The Three Gorges Dam, not all the facts and figures from the books and the news, but real people, and think: what would they like from a stranger from America? We'll see what today's trip to Pike Place will yeild...
Launchtime: Saturday. Seattle to L.A. to Hong Kong to Kunming. That's going to be a lot of time spent in a flying box.
Am I scared? Incredibly. Excited? Immensely. Mandarin language skills? Rudimentary. Mentality? Hold steady, yon sailor, hold steady.
So here's the itinerary, as the program director puts it:
Sept. 1, 2008 Arrive in Kunming
Sept. 2-7 Program orientation in Kunming and Tonghai
Sept. 8- Oct. 19 Intensive Mandarin Language Study, Life and Culture
Seminar, and Field Study Seminar (FSS) with concurrent
homestay in Kunming
Oct. 20-Nov. 4 Minority area educational excursion; continued Intensive
Mandarin Language Study and Life and Culture Seminar, and
FSS with concurrent minority homestay
Nov. 5. 26-Dec. 4* Independent Study Project (ISP) in Yunnan Province
Dec. 5-13 ISP presentations in Kunming; Educational excursion and
program evaluation: Beijing
Dec. 14 End of scheduled program; depart Beijing
*Nov. 5. 26-Dec. 4? One too many numbers there... I'll figure it out when I arrive, I guess.
That's all for now. Time for more packing. Happy trails.
-S
