再见

The Internet in Mainland China is highly censored. Websites such as Facebook, Youtube, and Blogger are banned. Many people refer to this as the “Great Firewall of China.” This firewall is blocking my blog, so I cannot post while in China. This is where my friend Stephanie comes in. If you look to the right of my posts and down a bit, you’ll notice that this blog now has two contributors. Whenever I write a post in China, I will email it to Stephanie. Stephanie will then post it on this blog for me.

Last post I mentioned that I will be attending the Chinese division of a local school. Right after posting, I found out that I might be placed in the international division for two months to give me a better transition. After two months they would transfer me to the Chinese division and have my teachers talk to me about what grade and class would be ideal for me. It sounds like I will be able to learn a lot of different people this way. Anyway, I leave tomorrow! These past few days I’ve been organizing a lot of my clothes, overdosing on all the cheese that I will not be eating for an entire year, and today I finally packed. I was pretty successful in packing a year’s worth of clothes, gifts for my host family and a few people I will meet throughout my stay, and a portable pharmacy formed by my mother.

I depart Friday morning at seven, and I fly to San Francisco. I then fly to Beijing after a short layover. I will spend two days in Beijing for a YFU orientation, and then on the 15th I will take a train to Tianjin where I will be met by my host family. I will try my hardest to post as often as I can in China. Until then, 再见！