Alia iacta est (The dye is cast)

While, they certainly made it suspenseful. First they called our names and gave us little slips of color coded papers with our names on them. Then, they explained that each of the three sites is coordinated with our final placement. That is, our placement will broadly be in the region assoicated with the site. So for me it means I will be slated to go either to Chengdu or Chongqing.
But for the next two months the campus I am at is supposed to be in a relatively scenic place on the edge of the city. Also, all of the apartments are on the campus in the same compound, so it means we won't have far to walk. The interesting part will be dealing with our new Chinese family. There are a number of rules. For example, we need to tell the host family when we are going to be home each night. We are supposed to eat with our Chinese family and are provided with two meals a day during the week and three meals a day on weekends. We pay for any phone calls and have to negotiate regarding the internet. And we are responsible for our own laundry. But I gather most places they tend to do your laundry in part because the Chinese do laundry every day and can't stand to see laudry pile up, so they will probably offer to take yours. I won't refuse. I gather also that Chinese take showers at night and they are thrown off by the American habit of taking a shower in the morning.
We were given the name of our family, and all I know is that I have a husband and wife. Some of the volunteers have kids and grandmas in the household, and one even has a dog. The level of English we are told can vary significantly, and not much more is required of the host family than that they can speak basic words. So that should be interesting. Well, gotta pack. It will be nice not living out of a suitcase finally.