Today was Big Announcement Day.
My Peace Corps invitation packet arrived on Tuesday, so the week was a rush of reading assignments. After exchanging a couple acceptance verification and confirmation emails, everything is finally official.
At long last, we announced it after church today. I told my parents, my brother and sister-in-law, and a few other relatives, then I emailed what felt like the rest of the planet. Nearly. I’m pretty sure I didn’t email anyone who is actually in the Philippines.
So here is where I am in the process. At church, in the last five minutes before the announcement, I went through about fifty different emotions. It was intense. The most concise way to put this is that I am completely excited, a little sad, and a little terrified at the same time. A friend texted me a few minutes ago with a response of “:) also :(” That pretty much sums it up!
Fortunately, there is plenty to keep me busy for the next two months, so I won’t constantly be a ball of nerves. There is another pile of paperwork to deal with, this time of the logistical sort, shopping to be done, and reading, reading, reading.
I refuse, however, to think about the goodbyes until absolutely necessary.
Monday, April 2, 2012
It was a pretty usual day after a busy weekend. Nothing really special about this Monday. Well, until my phone rang, that is.
Suddenly, I was on a 45 minute whirlwind phone call with a Peace Corps placement guy. Two years after I first started pursuing this, it’s finally happening! Placement Guy had a Good News/Bad News scenario, though.
My request and initial nomination had been for Eastern Europe, and pretty much any country in that region would have been fabulous. I have to admit, though, that for several reasons I was hoping for Bulgaria. Everyone knew it, too, to the point that I regularly had to follow someone else’s “Bulgaria” with, “or Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia…”
But Bulgaria, it seems, was not to be. Eastern Europe, even, is not going to happen. Placement Guy explained the factors that went into placing me in a given region, and he told me that he had a spot for me in Asia in July, or I’d have to wait for January in Sub-Saharan Africa.
I took a deep breath. I’ve been to Asia. I like Asia. Asian friends have told me I’m Asian on the inside. On the other hand, Sub-Saharan Africa has been my dream longer even than Eastern Europe. If I must be disappointed, hey, this is the way to do it! It’s difficult to stay disappointed long with alternatives like that!
There was still the main reason for my regional preference, though. Eastern Europe is predominantly Orthodox Christian, which would be huge for me, being Orthodox myself. Most of the Peace Corps countries under the “Asia” heading have little or no Orthodox presence. I can be flexible, but I don’t think I can be without a church for 27 months. For a couple minutes, then, I was incredibly torn. I thought I was watching the Peace Corps slip through my fingers.
Placement Guy to the rescue! He mentioned this factor and that he knew it was important to me, and he informed me that he had already done some research, and the country he wanted to send me to in Asia has an Orthodox presence! SCORE!
Ok, I’m interested. I’d like to see where this goes. Keep talking.
Well, it’s so different from the others that we can eliminate Mongolia. That leaves China, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. I can’t tell you which, but I will tell you that it is definitely a Roman Catholic country, and there aren’t many, but there are Orthodox Christians.
I took all that in and instantly knew what he wasn’t telling me. China is officially atheist and, in practice, largely Buddhist. Thailand and Cambodia are Buddhist. Indonesia is Muslim. My two years of teaching at a school heavily populated by Filipinos made it pretty clear that the Philippines is primarily Catholic. I immediately googled “Orthodox Philippines” and came up with an OrthodoxWiki article that confirmed his research. It also reminded me that a certain saint of whom I’m rather fond actually lived in that country briefly!
As the call progressed, I grew more interested, fascinated, even excited by the possibility.
When do you need my decision? I’m leaning toward a yes, but I need to talk with my priest.
No problem! I’ll give you a week.
Of course, I texted Fr Patrick immediately, and, it being Lent, there was a service that night. We talked. He gave his blessing. And he suggested that we keep quiet until I had specifics.
I emailed Placement Guy that night with an emphatic yes.
Actually, it was three emphatic yesses.
To be continued…
I was talking to my friend House yesterday on MSN. He asked me to give him a good English name. When we first met him, we asked why his English name was House. It seems his family name means house, so that’s his English name. When he asked me for a new English name, I mulled it over for a bit, then asked what his name means.
“True man and lovely,” he informed me.
I went on a couple name web sites to see what I could see. I also looked at my picture of House to test each name. I came up with two that worked- Gabriel and Justin. I like Gabriel better for him, but it would be cruel and unusual to ask a Chinese man to pronounce Gabriel, so I went with Justin.
Tomorrow morning, when he logged on, we had the following conversation (yes, my verb tenses are correct. It’s Thursday there).
me: I think you should keep the name House. It makes you special and easy to remember. If you want to have a more common name, Justin is good, and I think it fits you.
House: thank you very much. you are so kind to consider my english name. i shall sellect my enlish name between House and Justin. when i decide, i shall tell you—my warmhearted friend.
Edit: A certain Justin I know thinks this is hilarious. He keeps typing hahahaha at me.
Upon our Friday night arrival in Beijing, Becki and I caught a shuttle to the Sino-Swiss hotel. Wow. Nice hotel. Never stayed 4 star before. Hee hee! We were so tired we just kicked back and ordered pizza for dinner. We did make use of the indoor/outdoor pool though, after the thunderstorm abated.
Saturday morning we had a rocking good breakfast at the hotel then caught a shuttle into the city. We shopped at the pearl market and Silk Street. We had lunch at Grandma’s Kitchen, a restaurant started in Chengdu by an American expat from the South. Imagine a restaurant run by a southern woman that caters to expat Americans. Lunch was incredible. I had a huge philly cheesesteak sandwich and iced tea served with a tiny pitcher of honey, and we split a banana shake. There was actual banana in the shake. Mmmmmmmm!!!! Grandma’s Kitchen is also right in the middle of the foreign embassy area, so we walked past several, including Austria’s.
After our adventures, we went back to where the shuttle would pick us up. I should mention here that it was hot and unbearably humid Saturday. We were at the shuttle stop for about five minutes when we saw a couple that had been on our morning shuttle. The four of us waited together and talked until almost 4:15. Still no shuttle! So they decided we’d take a cab. The man tried to get one, but no luck. Becki knows how to hail a Chinese cab, so she found us someone who knew where we were going and would take us there. All four of us piled in, and 60 kuai later we were back at the Sino-Swiss. The couple paid and gave us a free taxi ride. Woohoo!
The next half hour was a dizzying series of phone calls. We were planning to meet Joy, Paulo and Wendy for dinner, but making the arrangements was very interesting. Joy is Becki’s friend from Chengdu (her name used to be Twinkle). She lives in Beijing now, as does her boyfriend Paulo. Wendy is another Chinese friend from Tianjin, but she lives in Beijing now as well.
Wendy
So we finally met for dinner a bit after 7. Since Joy and Paulo are from Szechuan Province and Becki used to live there, we went to a Szechuan restaurant. Wendy and I thought we were going to die. The food was SO spicy! Oh my goodness! It was agony. Paulo felt bad for me and ordered a bowl of rice. Wendy and I shared it. It was all good, but so very spicy. After dinner we walked to a restaurant/lounge (that’s what the sign says). It turns out we were back in the embassy district, so almost everyone there was waiguoren. What was REALLY funny was this group of Korean guys who were at the table next to us at dinner also showed up there. We hung out there until 10:30, and as soon as we left, the sky broke open and let loose an incredible downpour. We were on foot.
We finally found a taxi for Becki, Wendy and me to get back to the Sino. We had decided Wendy would stay with us. We said goodbye to Paulo and Joy and climbed into the taxi. Wendy forgot the Chinese name of the hotel though, and the driver took us to the Holiday Inn! Oops! We turned around and tried again. It was still pouring. Parts of some roads were already flooded, and before long we saw hail bouncing off the road! It was a dark and stormy night, indeed!
Well, I didn’t manage to get any sleep Saturday night, so Sunday was certainly fun. Actually, I fell asleep for an hour… 10 am to 11 am. 11 am!? Checkout in an hour! ACK! So we all went into a packing frenzy. Three girls, one hour, and one bathroom. Yikes. We made it, and before long we found ourselves at a local restaurant area that offered several dining possibilities. We chose the Greek one. I’m a Greek food geek. I’ve now had Greek in Paris, Moscow and Beijing. Never been to Athens… After lunch we sat in the Starbucks next door and talked for a few hours. Then we grabbed sandwiches to go from Subway and headed back. Wendy got a shuttle into the city to go home, and Becki and I got an airport shuttle.
Greek and Starbucks in Beijing
Goodbye Beijing.
