Goal-Setting

Inspired by Will's TFA blog, in which one of his latest entries talks about the goals he has for the next two years, I've decided to write a similar post!  Thanks, Will, for the idea :)

The Program Manual for Yale-China Fellows outlines three succinct goals that the Yale-China Association has for its teachers:

1)  Professional commitment to excellence in teaching

2)  High level of proficiency in Chinese language

3)  Knowledge about and involvement in the local Chinese community  

As these goals have been the backbone of the Yale-China program for nearly 100 years, it goes without saying that I will be taking these to heart, and will do the best I can to honor the traditions of Yale-China.  However, I will also be setting a number of personal goals for myself for the next two years, many of which involve ways of meeting the Yale-China goals, and others just to prove something to myself for the future.  Here's a rough preview:

1)  Language learning  -  Languages and I have never been the best of friends.  I was passable at French in high school, and just barely decent at Italian in college, but I never was top of the class, exactly.  Given that Cantonese is, well, decidedly harder than any of the Romance languages, I will admit that I am approaching my upcoming language classes with a not-so-small feeling of queasiness, but I keep telling myself (by way of telling others) that because I will be surrounded by the language, I CAN learn the language and I WILL learn it!  Though I've heard that I could likely get through my two years without much Cantonese proficiency, owing to the high level of English speakers there, I want to get to know the city on a deeper level than just a passing tourist, and to do so, I need to work hard at learning the language.  Of course, mastery of the language may not come immediately (if at all), but I hope I can approach the task gamely.

2)  Teaching  -  Teaching is an art that I have much reverence for, much in part because I admire the patience it takes for a teacher to work with students.  I am hoping that I will somehow find this patience within me, or gradually develop it over the next two years.  This has always my biggest fear when thinking about teaching, or considering it for a job, that I would not have the patience it takes to guide students through the learning process at the pace that is right for them and not just the pace that is convenient for me.  I hope I can achieve this both in and out of the classroom, and perhaps most importantly, have patience with myself, knowing that I will not be a perfect teacher right away but giving myself the chance to enjoy the learning curve.

3)   The Culture - I definitely do not want my attitude towards China to be something akin to "Oooo, let me study you, strange and different culture!"  I want to absorb much of the culture and the ways of life in Hong Kong without constantly comparing it to life back home.  I had a hard time with this when I was at Yale - every time I would notice something peculiar about Northeastern culture, I often immediately compared it to life in Texas, many times viewing the northern counterpart in a negative light.  I want to appreciate Hong Kong life just for what it is - and honestly, I have no idea what that is yet.  I have heard so many different things about Hong Kong, that I truly do not know what to expect when I get off the plane in about 40 hours from now.  I hope when I get there, I can just go in, face forward, and soak it all in.

4) Responsibility - When it comes to my personal goals, working on this whole personal responsibility thing is right at the top of my list.  Managing my own finances, cooking for myself, taking care of my health - I'm eager to prove to myself that I can manage these tasks and not let the stress of them overwhelm me.  This is one of the things I have been looking forward to the most about graduation - a sentiment I'm sure anyone who has been out of college for a while will mock me for - but it's a challenge I've set for myself, and given the sink-or-swim nature of these responsibilities, I'll have no choice but to succeed at them :)

5) Keeping in touch  - I really want to commit to stay connected with friends from back home, as well as the latest news in the US, while remaining fully engaged in my life in Hong Kong and the goings-on of the city.  I don't ever want to be one-foot-out-the-door while in China, but I also hope that I do not become so involved with my life there that I neglect all of the relationships back home.  I feel pretty confident in this, given that I was able to stay in touch plenty well with my family and best friends from high school while at college, but then again, we weren't dealing with a 13 hour time difference.  So whether it's just through a quick e-mail, Facebook, or this blog, I'm setting a firm goal for myself to stay in touch with people back home, no matter how crazy and busy life in Hong Kong gets! 

So I'm hoping when I read this post two years from now, at the close of the Fellowship, I will have met most, if not all, of the goals along the way.  I'm sure I will set (and succeed, and probably break) many others along the way, which is why I didn't make these toooo specific (I apologize for the vague tone of this post).  What do you think?  Any other big goals I should set for myself for living abroad?  Here are two that are important for this blog:  1) Take lots of pictures!  2) Become more adept at humor in blog writings!

Ok, team!!  Off we go to Hong Kong!!