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.

Marina advised me  of a lesser-known ticket office semi-near my school so I went there. I was rather nervous because I’ve never bought a ticket before and don’t think I know enough Chinese to complete the transaction. Being the helpful girlfriend that she is, Marina sent me a text message to show the ticket clerk telling him exactly what I wanted. Long story short, I arrived at 7:30, waited til the window opened at 8 AM (3rd in line), showed the clerk my message and had my ticket in about 5 minutes. Pretty smooth actually!

So now that I’ve got my train ticket, and Marina booked us another train ticket as well as airline tickets, I can actually say that I have solid plans for this trip. It looks a little something like this:

(click the city link for info about the location)

• 2/3 – Pingyao, Shanxi
• 2/4 – Taiyuan, Shanxi (Marina’s hometown)
• 2/5 -2/9 – Beijing (Great Wall, Forbidden City)
• 2/10 – 2/12 – Harbin/Yabuli (Ice festival and skiing)
• 2/13 – 2/17 – Xi’an (Chinese New Year with my Chinese family)
• 2/18 – 2/25 – Shenzhen/Guangzhou/Hong Kong

My buddy Tyler from the U.S. is going to be joining me on this trip as well, and I’ll be picking him up from the airport in Beijing. This will be his first experience in China and we’re going to make it well worth it. Marina is also coming with as well for the first half, after Harbin/Yabuli she’ll be heading back to Taiyuan for New Years with her own family. Outside of Beijing and Xi’an, I haven’t been to any of these places either, so it’ll be an exciting trip for me as well.

I’m also really excited for Chinese New Year, as I’ll be spending it with my Chinese family. Just like the wedding in Xunyang I posted about a month ago, I don’t really know what to expect so it’ll be an adventure. I plan to have quite a few blog updates as well as pictures in the coming month.