I am a volunteer of the „Zentrum für Mission und Ökumene“, which cooperates with the „Amity foundation“ in China and German government organisation „Weltwärts“. My voluntary service will be for 11 months in Yumen, Gansu province.
On the 6th of August, I started my Germany from Berlin and now I am in China for almost seven months already. I learned and experienced a lot during this time period and am very happy with my living conditions and general situation in China.
I applied for this volunteer service in China in October 2012, hoping to get to know the culture, improve my language skills and to teach English in China. When I got accepted, I was very excited and had the bigger cities Shanghai, Beijing or Guangzhou in mind. A few weeks before my departure, I found out that I would be living in Yumen, a small town in the Gansu province. My expectations were definitely quite different, I have never heard of Gansu before and I didn’t even know whether or not people also speak 普通话 (putonghua) in the rural and poorer province Gansu. By the time we got to Nanjing and had our seminar with the „Amity foundation“ and got more information about our future home, especially from Martin Scheffel and I was relieved and excited about going to Yumen.
My first impression of China was in Nanjing. The streets and infrastructure, the people and the way they drive, the Chinese language, the cheap prices, especially food and clothes and the humid air. At first I was surprised, that only Seven, a student, took care of us, but in the meantime I noticed, that we are expected to be independent, mature and responsible young adults, absolving a year in a new country. I had a great seminar in Nanjing with the Amity staff and the two Chinese teachers. I also enjoyed the Church services I attended and contributed to. Nanjing is a great commencement for volunteers.
By the time I got to Yumen and finished arranging my apartment, I concentrated on preparing my lessons and accomplishing these successfully. I teach ten 7th grades and ten 8th grades at the age of twelve to fourteen years old. One class contains about 50 students, which adds up to 1000 students in total who I teach. I mainly followed the topics in the textbook which complements their vocabulary. The problems that made me conspicuous is that there are quite many students, having no interest in learning the English language. It is quite a challenge getting everyone to follow my lesson and to complete the tasks. This is also because all students have a different education. Their English level is very widely stretched.
The teachers on my school are very nice, particularly Lydia, our mentor. She helped us a lot in the first few weeks, repairing things in our apartment and answering our questions. When my dad came for a visit, they invited all of us to dinner and making his time very pleasant. Also we have no problems, going to different places on the weekends, like Jiuquan, Dunhuang, Zhang Ye, Jiayuguan etc.
Since I am in Yumen, I had two major holidays: The first vacation was from the 1st of October for a week, where I went to Xining with two volunteers. The second vacation were the two month winter vacation. It started with the Christmas celebration in Jiuquan with the other german volunteers. We had great homemade german food, listened to and sang traditional Christmas songs and everyone had presents to open.
After New Year I went to Chengdu, Sichuan with two Chinese friends, visiting the panda research base, climbing the Qingchen Shan and experiencing Sichuan opera. A friend of my moms, XuWei Ayi, brought me to many places, taking very good care of me!
In Lanzhou I had a seminar together with the other volunteers, Martin Krieg, Olivia and RuHong. It was nice, spending time with everyone again for a few days, going to KTV and visiting the Bingling Together we spent four days in which we analysed and reflected our spent time in China. We didn’t only talk about our life circumstances and experiences, but also discussed our problems and low points. Martin had the great idea of making an introduction video for the next volunteers, in which we could share our impressions, experiences and give tips.
After the seminar, the great journey started. From Xi’an we took a flight via Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We lived there for about two and a half weeks at my uncles house, enjoying the time with my family from my mothers side. Chinese New Year was clearly the highlight of the trip, followed by the Pangkor Island on the beach. In Malaysia there are about 30 percent Chinese, most of them speaking Fujian style. In Yumen, many people tell me that my Chinese sounds like people from that area and I was happy to be in Malaysia and no one complaining about my Chinese.
After three days in the financial center Singapore we flew to Hongkong and met most of the other volunteers. Our rooms condition gave us the first impression of the huge city: It is very expensive. Caspar, Jakob and I paid 240 Yuan (30 Euro) for one night and I had the worst room I had ever had in my life. We survived anyways and continues to Macao, a nice, one ruled by the portuguese, colonial city. Guangzhou, our next stop, was a great city with a big variety of different spices and weird food, which could be bought on the exotic markets. Our last destination was Xi’an, where we saw the terracotta warriors and the big wild goose pagoda. These two months were a great experience and the window of opportunity for me to see so many parts of China.
Compared to my life in Germany, I changed positively. I am more mature and independent. I am even more spontaneous and got to know so many new people, which I all get along with. My biggest challenge is still trying to study the Chinese characters. Since every word has a different character, it is very difficult for me to remember them. My goal for the end of the year is to accomplish HSK 4 successfully.
Now I am back in Yumen, continuing my daily routine of teaching, studying, going to the gym and cooking. On the weekends I often go to Jiuquan because of my friends and entertainment, because Yumen doesn’t have that much to offer. All in all I really enjoy the life here in China, facing challenges every day and continuously getting more experienced and self-contained.
On the 6th of August, I started my Germany from Berlin and now I am in China for almost seven months already. I learned and experienced a lot during this time period and am very happy with my living conditions and general situation in China.
I applied for this volunteer service in China in October 2012, hoping to get to know the culture, improve my language skills and to teach English in China. When I got accepted, I was very excited and had the bigger cities Shanghai, Beijing or Guangzhou in mind. A few weeks before my departure, I found out that I would be living in Yumen, a small town in the Gansu province. My expectations were definitely quite different, I have never heard of Gansu before and I didn’t even know whether or not people also speak 普通话 (putonghua) in the rural and poorer province Gansu. By the time we got to Nanjing and had our seminar with the „Amity foundation“ and got more information about our future home, especially from Martin Scheffel and I was relieved and excited about going to Yumen.
My first impression of China was in Nanjing. The streets and infrastructure, the people and the way they drive, the Chinese language, the cheap prices, especially food and clothes and the humid air. At first I was surprised, that only Seven, a student, took care of us, but in the meantime I noticed, that we are expected to be independent, mature and responsible young adults, absolving a year in a new country. I had a great seminar in Nanjing with the Amity staff and the two Chinese teachers. I also enjoyed the Church services I attended and contributed to. Nanjing is a great commencement for volunteers.
By the time I got to Yumen and finished arranging my apartment, I concentrated on preparing my lessons and accomplishing these successfully. I teach ten 7th grades and ten 8th grades at the age of twelve to fourteen years old. One class contains about 50 students, which adds up to 1000 students in total who I teach. I mainly followed the topics in the textbook which complements their vocabulary. The problems that made me conspicuous is that there are quite many students, having no interest in learning the English language. It is quite a challenge getting everyone to follow my lesson and to complete the tasks. This is also because all students have a different education. Their English level is very widely stretched.
The teachers on my school are very nice, particularly Lydia, our mentor. She helped us a lot in the first few weeks, repairing things in our apartment and answering our questions. When my dad came for a visit, they invited all of us to dinner and making his time very pleasant. Also we have no problems, going to different places on the weekends, like Jiuquan, Dunhuang, Zhang Ye, Jiayuguan etc.
Since I am in Yumen, I had two major holidays: The first vacation was from the 1st of October for a week, where I went to Xining with two volunteers. The second vacation were the two month winter vacation. It started with the Christmas celebration in Jiuquan with the other german volunteers. We had great homemade german food, listened to and sang traditional Christmas songs and everyone had presents to open.
After New Year I went to Chengdu, Sichuan with two Chinese friends, visiting the panda research base, climbing the Qingchen Shan and experiencing Sichuan opera. A friend of my moms, XuWei Ayi, brought me to many places, taking very good care of me!
In Lanzhou I had a seminar together with the other volunteers, Martin Krieg, Olivia and RuHong. It was nice, spending time with everyone again for a few days, going to KTV and visiting the Bingling Together we spent four days in which we analysed and reflected our spent time in China. We didn’t only talk about our life circumstances and experiences, but also discussed our problems and low points. Martin had the great idea of making an introduction video for the next volunteers, in which we could share our impressions, experiences and give tips.
After the seminar, the great journey started. From Xi’an we took a flight via Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We lived there for about two and a half weeks at my uncles house, enjoying the time with my family from my mothers side. Chinese New Year was clearly the highlight of the trip, followed by the Pangkor Island on the beach. In Malaysia there are about 30 percent Chinese, most of them speaking Fujian style. In Yumen, many people tell me that my Chinese sounds like people from that area and I was happy to be in Malaysia and no one complaining about my Chinese.
After three days in the financial center Singapore we flew to Hongkong and met most of the other volunteers. Our rooms condition gave us the first impression of the huge city: It is very expensive. Caspar, Jakob and I paid 240 Yuan (30 Euro) for one night and I had the worst room I had ever had in my life. We survived anyways and continues to Macao, a nice, one ruled by the portuguese, colonial city. Guangzhou, our next stop, was a great city with a big variety of different spices and weird food, which could be bought on the exotic markets. Our last destination was Xi’an, where we saw the terracotta warriors and the big wild goose pagoda. These two months were a great experience and the window of opportunity for me to see so many parts of China.
Compared to my life in Germany, I changed positively. I am more mature and independent. I am even more spontaneous and got to know so many new people, which I all get along with. My biggest challenge is still trying to study the Chinese characters. Since every word has a different character, it is very difficult for me to remember them. My goal for the end of the year is to accomplish HSK 4 successfully.
Now I am back in Yumen, continuing my daily routine of teaching, studying, going to the gym and cooking. On the weekends I often go to Jiuquan because of my friends and entertainment, because Yumen doesn’t have that much to offer. All in all I really enjoy the life here in China, facing challenges every day and continuously getting more experienced and self-contained.