dream out loud

From here, I am facing another new adventure, I think of it as China: Chapter II. I had always been eager to spend time working and living in China. I was sad to learn that Suzhou wasn’t the kind of place I was looking for. So I feel like I am going to go to Guangzhou with a fresh start. It’s true, it still might not be the place I’m looking for, but I’m determined to tap into some of the opportunities I wanted that didn’t exist in Suzhou. It will just take some self-reminders and initiative.

That said, I made some incredible friendships and relationships in Suzhou, which I had to sadly leave. I don’t think it’s possible to live in a place and totally throw it out of your memory and life when you leave. For me, anyway. But for everything that annoyed me about living in Suzhou, there is something or someone that I loved. In all parts of my life that I’ve moved on from, I don’t just leave friendships behind. So, this is not goodbye

Also, looking back, I can check off many of my goals for going to China in the first place. Pay off student debt, improve my Chinese, save money, travel, gain more teaching experience. Hopefully in Chapter II, I can extend on these goals and make new ones. Improve my Chinese further, save more money, chip away at my mortgage, gain more teaching experience, travel more, meet some native Chinese friends, and learn more about local culture and cooking.

… to be continued!

For family and friends, I haven’t yet gotten to update, I have some news. In January, we went to an international school job fair (just like the one that brought me here.) We both got jobs at the American International School in Guangzhou. I will be back to Kindergarten and Glen is still high school math. This past week, we were fortunate enough to be able to visit Guangzhou. Our school had a week off, but they were in session, so it was great timing. During our visit, we had a tour of both campuses, (elementary and high school are in separate locations) had our medical check, opened bank accounts, and picked an apartment. Very exciting, very productive.

Guangzhou isn’t all that well known when I refer to it to friends back home. But when I describe it as “Cantonese,” then people have an ‘aha’ moment. Guangzhou, along with Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen are considered the first tier cities of China. The tiering system includes business, population, and real estate. Guangzhou is also the host of November’s Asian Games.

In the four days we were in Guangzhou, we experienced things we miss out on in our current home: public transportation, a myriad of restaurants, bars and entertainment, movie theaters. We also loved having western style shopping malls, then a Chinese style alley with street vendors upon just turning the corner. Even more exciting is our close proximity to Hong Kong. It is just a 2 hour train ride from the city center. Guangzhou is also a hub for flights to Southeast Asia.

There will be a spare bedroom for you, so come on down to visit!

I was blocked early on for even considering a major in linguistics, but everything about language is fascinating to me. History, evolution, and usage of language. My first words were in Mandarin, Cantonese, or a combination. I learned English later on, when I was four years old in nursery school. Even then, I remember delineating them as mom-language, dad-language and school-language. In high school I chose two languages, when only one was required.

My translation career started early. While still in elementary school, I navigated for my grandmother who couldn’t speak any English. My parents would often ask me to check whatever they’d written for grammar and spelling. It would make sense that my first job was something like that of a translator – I translated between executives, marketers, programmers and graphic designers. (None of those people speak the same language, right?)

So when I first arrived in China, most of my friends who arrived with me had a huge challenge to face – that of being displaced in a country whose language was not even remotely similar to their native language. I was often asked to translate in a variety of contexts and situations – some smaller than others. This experience was familiar to me, sometimes educational, sometimes fun, sometimes irritating, always amusing.

Looking back on that time, just slightly more than a year later, I am realizing that my transition was nowhere near as difficult as it was for my friends. I complained a lot about many of the other transition pains, but the truth is, mine was severely reduced by lack of a language barrier. For that which I was spared, I’m happy to help – especially in situations that would essentially be impossible without language skills.

One of my resolutions coming back to this school year was to continue to improve my Chinese language skills. I have improved leaps and bounds in this past year and am able to recognize a lot more characters than I could before coming here. But admittedly, I haven’t done more to continue that pattern. I’ve over-committed myself to various activities again, which probably means I have prioritized those things over learning Chinese.

Every few years, I find myself at a crossroad. It usually means that I’m ready for change – whether it is with my scenery, my job or my home. Now, it’s a combination of all of the above. Or rather, they all impact on one another. A year and a half ago, I signed a two-year contract with my school. Aside from attending various educational institutions, I’ve never committed to anything for an extended period of time as in this situation.

Personally, socially, and professionally, I am happy but also ready for some changes. I have made wonderful friends where I am now and would most definitely be sad to say goodbye to them. At work, I am quite happy this year, but have also realized that I’m at the point in my teaching and learning that I’m ready for some different and new challenges. I think it’s dangerous when you start to become too comfortable with what you do and where you teach. I’ve seen that happen to many quality teachers. As for my surroundings, I don’t live in the most ideal place for me, but I’ve finally gotten to a nice comfort level where I know where to find what I want and need. So leaving or staying would definitely would both come with a whole host of pros and cons.

When I came to Suzhou, I was a mixture of excited, nervous, and wistful. I felt a certain level of fear and insecurity about going so far away and establishing new roots, but someone (possibly smarter than me) urged me to push myself. “Pushing yourself outside of your comfort level is what makes you grow.” I am comfortable where I live and where I work now – so that either means it’s time for more growth or revel in it a bit longer. Time will tell. In the meantime, I’ll keep you posted.

I was doing so well at the blogging and updates! But now, I’m back in China. This is an intermediary update on why there have been so few updates to the blog, Flickr, or Facebook. The internet has been incredibly slow, far slower than I remember. One night, I started loading a web site, went to take a shower, came back and it was still not complete yet.

Taking the information local-side-streets is only part of the problem. The other reason for my lack of updates is the… how shall we say? Road blocks and dead ends? That’s right, the Great Firewall of China is at work again. While I was in the US, friends and family in China told me about all the sites added to the blocked list. I got a little spoiled with the fast and uncensored wireless access back home. Now I’m frustratingly annoyed with the need for a proxy server. (Which doesn’t always work, anyway.)

A mini-update for now… perhaps I will be able to elaborate on any part of it later.

July 28 Returned to China with parents, met with my aunt and cousin in Shanghai.

July 29 Saw Glen for one day when he got to Shanghai.

July 30 Returned to Suzhou with family. Sightseeing for a few days, including dinner with Ryan and Maggie.

August 2 Began traveling in China with family to Xian, Taiyuan, Pingyao.

August 8 Met Glen in Chengdu. Ate spicy food and saw pandas. Continued on to Leshan, Emei Shan, Chongqing.

August 16 Returned to Suzhou. Flight was delayed so got home at 10:30pm.

August 17 Went back to work! Set up classroom and had meetings all week.

August 22 Went to work to meet families (Saturday morning, mind you.) Went out with friends at night for my birthday.

August 24 Birthday! And first day of school.