Right Back At It

After a long and relaxing summer break, I am back in China for another year.  I spent most of my summer at home with my family, and touring around B.C. to catch up with friends.  I was in Canada for a total of seven weeks, and I was actually feeling ready to head back to China.  Upon my return I have already encountered humidity of 100%, clogged toilets, and the water turned off in my apartment.  Returning to an apartment with almost nothing working was a lovely wake up to life in China.  On the positive side I just finished spending three hours one on one with my mani/pedi lady as she scrapped away my summer feet.  It was a truly disgusting sight.  I also missed Chinese food!

Before I get back to school work and the hard task of travelling Asia I will share a few of my fav events from the summertime.  I didn't bring my camera around too much, as you can see!

Chillin' with my boy Sniffles

Catching up with friends from home

Boating with the fam (yes, that is Sniffs on the tube!)

My brother got married to this lovely lady!

Lastly, pretty much everyone I encountered in Canada asked me the same questions.  I figure I may as well recount them on here.
Q. Why the heck would you go to China?
A. Why the heck not?  I have a full time job in the profession I am trained in, I get to travel a new part of the world, and I can actually afford to live.

Q. Do you speak Chinese?
A. Nope, sure don't.  I am terrible at Mandarin, as I was not able to put any time into studying last year. I know enough to direct a taxi, order my dinner, and let people know I am teacher from Canada.  I would like to know more, and get incredibly frustrated that I do not know more.  However, I don't have a ton of extra time to devote to it, and I find it very difficult.

Q.  How much do you make?
A.  How much do YOU make?

Q. When are you coming home?
A.  I am not sure yet.  I am hoping to teach abroad for a few more years, but you never know what could change.  I would love to teach in at least one different area (probably another continent), so that I can have the opportunity to travel in a different sphere.  

That's all for now!

PS.  I have having troubles with my VPN and extremely slow China internet these days - hence the slow start on returning to recounting my adventure.