Training for a Life of Spontaneity

Before heading to China, I made a pit stop in Baltimore Maryland for training. When I got to Baltimore, I was able to finally meet Dane and Jo. They are the two from ELT Edge that hired me, and they are in charge of training and helping us out while we are in China. It was awesome to be able to finally talk to them in person and really get to know them. They are a great couple and have already been such a support for all of us teachers. Throughout training, we stayed at a lovely house that belonged to one of the ELT Edge board members. It was a beautiful area, and a great place to feel at home while we learned all about China. Training week was very helpful! We spent time learning about the Chinese culture, our goals and vision for the year, and lots of team building! We were even able to do a high ropes course one day. It was quite enjoyable. I pretended to be super adventurous about it, but I was definitely a bit nervous. Haha.

I also finally got to meet my new team for the year! There are seven teachers overall. We are split up between 3 different Universities. I will be teaching at the Northeast University (aka Dongda) along with Brett, Kelley and Kevin. Alex and Katie will be teaching together at the Hebei Normal University of Science and Technology (aka Sci-tech.) And finally, Danny will be teaching at the Hebei Vocational College of Foreign Languages (aka Nandaihe.) All of the universities are within 45 minutes of each other, so we will all see each other every Sunday at least. We will also have a girls night each week. Yay!

I was so excited to meet our team. I was curious to see how we would get along and work together. Turns out, we have an awesome dynamic! I have loved getting to know everyone so far. We have all been able to laugh together about ridiculous things, but we are also able to open up and talk about deep stuff. I have a feeling it will a great year with these folks!! Here is a picture of the team, so that you can get an idea of all the crazy kids that I will be living life with:

Picture Caption (Starting from left to right): Alex Ianno - kind, outgoing, hilarious, honest and beautiful heart, Nikki Stoll - curly hair, slightly awkward, enjoys long walks on the beach, Danny Beall - smart, also hilarious, great story teller, Kevin DeKreek - curly hair, California surfer (obvi) witty, Brett Hine - quite intelligent, team leader, funny, Katie Worthen - bubbly, lovable, honest, quirky in the best way possible, Kelley Wolbert - sweet, kind, warm and open heart, future roommate!

Going into the week of training, I was definitely nervous for the year ahead. After training, I was even more nervous...haha. But it really helped me to envision and prepare for the real China that I would be stepping into. I was excited to get to China and start living this adventurous and exciting lifestyle that I heard all about!!