The end of this week, July 9th 2010 specifically, will mark the end of my English teaching position with Shaanxi University of Science & Technology. I’m a little sad to be leaving, I had a hard time telling my students because I felt bad, and I didn’t want to make them feel bad about it. I’m also feeling a little nervous about what’s in store for the future because I’ve gotten quite comfortable here. I know the foods I like to eat, the people who make the food usually know what I want, I know a lot of students, I know where and how to get things done, I don’t get lost around here anymore… I could go on and on. I would be lying if I said everything was sugar and spice and everything nice. But really, other than a few small problems, most everything else is just fine.

So why am I leaving? Where am I going?

Well the first portion of my summer plan is Taiwan. At the recommendation of a colleague, I’ll be taking a summer camp position with American Language Village for about 4 weeks in Taipei, Taiwan. I’m pretty excited about this because I’ve heard good things about teaching in Taiwan, and how the atmosphere and nightlife is “the way China should be”. I don’t know if these things are true, but I figure 4 weeks is enough time to find out for myself. Also, I think I’ll be more comfortable in Taiwan than any other asian countries (besides China), because they too speak Mandarin and use almost the same writing style (albeit traditional instead of the Chinese simplified hanzi). So I’ll be able to speak a bit, read a few things, and that means a lot. After the summer camp concludes, I’ll have another 5 days or so to travel wherever I care to, so hopefully I’ll be able to see the southern end of the island as well.

When I return to mainland China I plan to meet up with Marina in Shanghai, and see one of the most famous Chinese cities, that I’ve never been to. I’m especially looking forward to attending the Shanghai 2010 World Expo and seeing the amazing pavillions built just for the expo. Hopefully I can avoid standing in lines for multiple hours! From Shanghai we’ll see a few other things in the area, perhaps Nanjing, Yangshuo, Guilin, and other places in the southeast of China; before heading back to, what I’ve referred to as “home” for the last 10 months, Xi’an.

Next school year I’ll be starting a position at Xi’an International University, in the southwest part of Xi’an. This school is not really any better than SUST, in fact, students would tell me it’s not as good of a school (as far as rankings are concerned). But a good school for them doesn’t necessarily mean a good school for me. The main reason I decided to move to XAIU is that there are Chinese classes available to the foreign teachers. This is what I’ve wanted, I want to study Chinese, I want to be much better, and I want to read better. But without an organized class, it’s difficult to simply learn on my own, no matter how much help I have from friends. I just need some structure to go along with it, at least until I’m a bit more fluent. The school does have a better location in Xi’an, and much nicer teacher apartments, but those were simply icing on the cake. I’m making this move to continue experiencing new things, and to further my own education.

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