Spring in Portland

I'm having a hard time comprehending the fact that it's already been almost a year since our recruiter called us and uttered the word "China." Since accepting our nomination and then, our official invitation, we have made what I like to the think of as our own little two person Evergreen program out of preparing for what awaits us there. While Kimmie is at work on weeknights, we have a habit of ordering pizza and trying to decipher the meaning and significance of Chinese films and documentaries. We've attended Mandarin Chinese classes almost every week since last June, and have recently discovered that we can understand each other for almost an entire conversation without speaking English (especially after a drink or two). We have been reading books, studying characters, following news on US-China relations, essentially doing everything we can to beat China into our heads.

I have tentatively decided on a Chinese name for myself, something that I originally didn't want to do. At first I feared losing myself in the wash of another language and didn't want to try to remake myself too much. I was also afraid of appropriating a name in a culture not mine. Now that I have a bit more of a grasp of what my life will be like over there, and a bit of a feel for the language, I realize that I need to create bridges where I can. I'd like to think a name is just another bridge to help people connect with me. In Korea, I realize that with my foreign looks, language, and otherwise strange ways, I made people uncomfortable. It was the students who eventually became the most comfortable and accepting of me that gave me their own version of a Korean name: A-Goo-Lin. Which as sweet as it was for them to try to make my last name sound like a full Korean name, just sounds horrible (especially when screamed at me from down a long concrete hall). I like the surname An because it means "peace" and what surname would be more fitting for a Peace Corps volunteer (also it begins with A)? I have also always had a fondness for the name Mei (in English, Mae, and May, my birth month) which in Chinese can mean beautiful, or plum depending on the character, and is also the first character of the word "meiguoren" which means "American." Finally, I looked for something that might go well with Mei for a first name and found Lin, which means jade and also starts with the same letter as my middle name (plus jade is green, which is my favorite color). So I still need to run it by my Chinese teacher to make sure I haven't combined any words to make a strange euphemism or some other awkwardness, I think I'll try to go by An Mei-Lin in China.

This week, we will picking up and shipping off our labs from what I am hoping will be the very last of our health screenings. This one was for the actual Chinese work visa, and it's always funny to see a relatively pragmatic doctor go over the tedious and unusual health requirements of the Peace Corps and the Chinese government. June 29th, here we come!

By Katie

The Next Adventure?

We got a call from our Peace Corps recruiter last week that the DC office had requested us to move forward on university teaching positions in China. He told us to talk about it, research it, and get back to him in a few days. We talked it over at length, did some research on positions there and possibilities for placement and despite changing our minds every few hours, decided to go for it.

Next we do the medical checks and the background screenings, and if all goes well we'll be set for departure for our 27 month term of service in June 2010. I'm really looking forward to totally immersing myself and learning Mandarin to complete my goal of being fluent in a foreign language by the time I'm 30.

And some of you better start saving up to come visit us in China! 

home again, home again, jiggity jig

We've been back home since March 3rd, the day before Richy's 25th birthday. We had an awesome time in Mexico and the Southwest US and are looking forward to our next chance for adventure. We made it to Carlsbad Caverns, Roswell, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas and Reno on the way home!

In the meantime we're planting victory gardens and searching out non-exploitative ways to make livings. We're officially Peace Corps nominees now but they won't have positions open for us until spring/summer of 2010. We'll keep people posted.

There might be a cross-country road trip in the works with Korea friends for this fall... lookout midwest and east coast friends!

Just a little update.

To our pleaseant surprise, we found a lovely place just north of
puerto angel called zipolite. It's a little hippy beach community with
a nicer spot for us to camp for only 10 pesos more than the last place.

We're just basically getting tan, trying to cook authentic Mexican
dishes on the camp stove and relaxing. Probably heading out to Oaxaca
city on Friday for a few days then start the trek back northward.

Love,
Katie y Richy

Mechanical Misadventures and Simple Pleasures

Despite covering a few hundred kilometers with our drive shaft held in place with nothing more than a whittled stick, duct tape and glued together cardboard, we made it to Manzanillo with enough driving capacity to get directions to four different places which might have the necessary bolt. Of course when we found it, the guy spoke English and didn´t charge us since he didn´t want to break a 200 peso bill. Yo quiero Mexicanos! Other than that, the only mechanical misadventure despite the unpaved roads, unmarked speedbumps and numerous potholes was catching our battery before it nearly bounced out of our car. Glad we invested in that spiral core vibration proof one!

 

Yesterday we made it finally to the relatively untouristed section of the Pacific Coast of Mexico (thanks to long lingering rumors about drug operations and rip tides). Which is now thankfully occupied by abundant federale forces and the "ecotourism" crowd. We´re still pretty hesitant about going more than ankle deep in the water though. The village of Maruata is a beautiful, warm, relaxing and hammock swinging place where I had the best lobster dinner of my life last night with beer for less than 10 bucks.

 

We´re planning to head out toward Acapoulco tomorrow and will hopefully find a cheap relaxing beach near there, but not holding our breath after seeing the expensive resort wastelands north of here.

 

Besos!

 

Katie (y Richy)