Roya Bicher ^{1 2}

   FamilySearch ID: LF2L-5BS.

  Noted events in her life were:

1. Newspaper: The Daily News: Jonestown navtive to teach English in China, 7 Mar 2015, Lebanon, Lebanon, PA. ³ With only one suitcase and an extra supply of courage, 24-year-old Roya Bicher is always ready to go where her heart leads her. The Northern Lebanon High School grad traveled to Costa Rica while in high school, went on a mission trip to install water purification systems in Honduras while in college, and has studied abroad in Ecuador and Peru. For her latest jaunt, the Jonestown native traveled halfway around the world to stay in China for a year, where she will teach English. By herself. With all her worldly goods in one bag.
For a year. Traveling just comes naturally to Bicher, who, indeed, prefers to travel light. If it doesn't fit into one suitcase, it doesn't go along.
"I don't like being dependent on material things," Bicher said before she left for China on Monday. I guess I've always been like that; didn't like brand names since I was little; I saw it as a hassle.
After learning about the possibility of traveling to China, Bicher searched online for a comprehensive, official TEFL course: Teaching English as a Foreign Language.
At the time, she was cooking in a restaurant at State College, so her spare time was spent studying how to teach English.
It's easy to get a job in China. They just want someone who knows accurate pronunciations and grammar, Bicher said.
Travel is the best way to learn anything, she added.
"I like to learn about myself and how I see things and when you see a different culture, their traditions and their way of thinking stand out," Bicher said. You can learn more of their way of life by being there."
Bicher heard about this particular opportunity when a friend she knew from college told her of another friend who was teaching the English language to the Chinese. She contacted an agency, the East Foreign Language School, for a job, and after finishing her online training, headed toward the city of Ma'anshan, an industrial city of about 2 million people in eastern China.
After arriving, her hosts will pick her up at the airport, and provide her with her own apartment close to the school, where she will be teaching English to adults.
"It's an up and coming culture and anxious to learn English," Bicher said. "It's a powerful country and I'd like to learn more about it."
While attending Penn State University, Bicher made friends with a number of Chinese foreign exchange students, too.
"Their language is one of the most used in the world, and I want to learn their language," Bicher said. "Right now, it's the best place to teach English, and if I want to travel out further into Asia while there, I'll be able to do that."
While her understanding of the Chinese languages is limited, Bicher is sure to pick up a decent amount of the language to get by. In the meantime, she's not worried.
"No fears, I like adventure," Bicher said. "I like that I don't know what to expect and I don't know what their lives are going to be like. It's like a whole new world."
The Chinese system of teaching is that the teacher doesn't translate, Bicher said. She'll have 45-minute-long classes, with 12 classes for about 20 hours a week.
She'll have days off but isn't interested in hitting the tourist destinations, she said.
"I like the people and the culture more than seeing the sites," Bicher said. "Learning about wisdom is important. When I went to Ecuador, I read the Bible to learn about God."
While in college, Bicher had three majors: nutrition, global development, and Spanish. She is fluent in Spanish.
Bicher said both the hippie lifestyle and philosophy suit her, and that combines with her Christianity to define who she is.
"But I'm not going there as a missionary. That might be like, kind of illegal," Bicher said.
Her family consists of mom, Carol Bicher of Jonestown; dad, Greg Bicher of Harrisburg; and brothers Zane, 25, and Isaac, 16.
"It's sad to leave everyone. I love my family," Bicher said."But it'll be OK. I can do it."
But for her mother, these long trips aren't so easy.
"I think it's exciting for her, but also the apprehension," Carol Bicher, a registered nurse, said. "Ecuador was four months. This is a year."
Bicher will "skype" with her family to maintain visual and verbal contact during her year in China.
"We did that when she was in Ecuador, so this isn't new to her," Carol Bicher said, glad for the technology that will at least allow them to communicate.
The school organizes vacations for their teachers, including one to Beijing, Carol Bicher said, and while that's nice, it would be even nicer to have Roya home during a break. But Carol Bicher is understanding of the wanderlust.
"She needs to follow her dreams, and she loves to travel," Carol Bicher said.
Bicher's travels began when she was 13, and she boarded a plane to visit relatives in Boston. She loved it, her mother said.
But it wasn't always that way.
"When she was smaller, she wouldn't sleep over at her girlfriends' homes," Carol Bicher said. "And now I can't keep her in the country!"
After China, Bicher is considering Nepal or India or both.
"I want to learn about their different beliefs," Bicher said. "I'm not sure why I want to go to India; I just feel called there."
PHOTO: Roya Bicher of Jonestown poses with her dog before heading to China for a year to teach English. PHOTO: Roya Bicher of Jonestown holds the one suitcase she takes when she travels. She said if it doesn't fit in the suitcase it doesn't go on the trip.
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