My suggestion, leave the W.T.O.

Trade Talks Break Down Over Chinese Shift on Food

Seriously? I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I am.

China to Limit Web Access During Games

Sichuan Teacher Punished for Quake Photos, Right Group Says

Stupid China, you make me crazy.

I'm still here, Niels and I have been hanging out with my family and things have been relatively quiet at this end. We've seen some of my extended family which has been awesome, but other than that we've been farting around doing not much of anything and enjoying the calm before the craziness that will come in the next couple weeks with moving back to the D.C. area, starting work and school.

On a completely unrelated topic, I finally joined Facebook, yeah I know I held out for a long time, and am way behind the times. I blame it all on China, because I can.  

Stupid, stupid Chinese government.

China Presses Grieving Parents to Take Hush Money

I keep forgetting to mention that I posted the photos from our trip to Vietnam over on my Flickr page. In a nutshell, the trip was amazing, I fell in love with the country, but not the heat in Hanoi. The highlights were riding an elephant, snorkeling, and feeding sea turtles. So, go take a look and leave a comment or two.

Now back to preparing for our D.C./N.Va move.

Niels & I have been on the go since we've come to Wheeling, errands, hang out with friends consumed the early part of our visit. Now we're working on packing things up for our move to D.C./N.Va.

I was shocked to realize how much stuff we have, especially since we don't have any furniture, but I was wrong, oh so wrong. The scary thing is that it's pretty much all books. I thought we had gone through all of them, but no, I just discovered six more boxes of them and I've no clue where we're going to put them.

Wish me luck.

English teachers wanted for teaching positions in Nanjing, China.  North Americans preferred.  Must be TEFL-certified, and should ideally have at least 1-2 years' teaching experience.
 
Well-equipped campus in the heart of downtown Nanjing (a large city near the east coast). Teaching English on a new undergraduate foundation program for a leading Canadian college (the college will provide an experienced Canadian teacher to act as Director of Studies overseeing the program; there will also be full training and orientation for new teachers before the start of the first semester).  The students will be Chinese in their late teens or early twenties, probably initially of a low intermediate or pre-intermediate level in their English.  Class size: 15-20.  Less than 20 hours per week of contact time.
 
Salary: 8,000 RMB per month (around US$1,200).  Apartment and other standard benefits provided.  11.5-month contract, to run from mid-August to end of July 2009 - will include around 2 months of fully paid holiday.
 
Email me if you're interested.
 

I should be sleeping, it's 3.11am (as I write this) and most people on the East Coast are snuggling under their covers dreaming sweetly.

I on the other hand am wide awake. It wasn't so a couple hours ago, around 9pm, but I was hanging out with Wheeling family and friends and couldn't get to bed. When I got home around midnight I woke up and have been puttering around Niels' parents house since.

I've been using my time wisely, reading the news and looking for an apartment (the one we were supposed to move into fell through), but really I would like to sleep and have my sleep cycle be in the proper time zone.

Niels and I have returned! We had a good flight home, I slept most of the way (god bless Xanax) which unfortunately means I'm still on China time and completely wide awake. We're currently in Wheeling hanging out with his family and will be here for about a week, then we're off to Buffalo for a visit with my family.

It's good to be back.

In less than 72 hours I’ll be back in the States and it’s hard to believe that my second year in China is over. In many ways this year was better than the first but in many ways it was also more difficult. But it was still one of the best experiences I’ve been lucky enough to have and it has change me in ways I don’t even realize yet. I’m leaving my home of the past two years with mixed feelings.

 

There were days I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else and couldn’t see my life back in the States, and there were days when I couldn’t wait to leave. I suspect people who leave their home country for an extended period of time have the same feeling.

 

Of course I missed the comforts of home but the frustration of not being able to buy hotdogs doesn’t compare to the events I missed out on. Missing the special days, my parents’ 40^th wedding anniversary, a close friend’s engagement party, holidays, and birthdays were especially difficult. Missing these things, coupled with life sometimes making it difficult to keep in touch have made me worried about a disconnect.

 

When someone leaves for any amount of time relationships change. Sometimes they can cope with the distance and the time, but sometimes they don’t, and being someone who’s quite insecure in the strength of relationships, in all forms, it’s something I worry about. Will I feel a bit lost because of new inside jokes between friends? Will my niece and nephews still want to hang out with me after having been away for so long?

 

Will the connections that were once strong be able to cope with this transition? I think so, but I have to understand that I can’t just jump into my old life, especially since I’ll be moving back to D.C. and the desire to do so will be great. I have to accept that I’ve changed; my circle of friends and family has also changed. A balance will need to be found and it may take time. It’s going to take time for me to adjust to living back in the States and I can’t rush the readjustment process. 

For better or worse China has become part of me, I will carry the experiences I’ve had here for the rest of my life. But it’s time for this chapter to come to an end and another to begin and I can’t wait to see what will happen next. 

 

Niels and I got back yesterday from Vietnam to our very disheveled apartment. We'll be back in the States late Monday night. Lots to say, no time right now.

Trip was fantastic.

More later.