...up to speed

A few months ago, I graduated from New College...and had no clue what I wanted to do with my life.  Luckily, I was able to spend the summer in Albuquerque working for Lovelace Respiratory while I figured out a plan.  Getting paid to work and live in the most wonderful weather on the planet (maybe just compared to Florida) was the perfect interim between these two crucial stages of my life.  My only criteria was...not grad school.  I want to go at some point, but not now, at least not for a little bit. 

I had just finished my Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) course, and I asked the company in which I received my certification from for some job placement help.  Within 72 hours, I had two job offers in Guangzhou and Beijing.  Not entirely sure if they were a good deal or something I wanted to do, I consulted one of my friends from New College who was currently in China.

Dane helped me sort through my thoughts and identify what I wanted out of the experience.  And it became clear that teaching at a university would be an ideal situation because of the amount of free time it provides (14 hours per week).  The other jobs were for private schools and certainly payed more, but what good is more money if you don't have time to spend it?

Dane pointed me in the direction of the school that she was also applying to work at, the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.  And so I applied.  And after a series of comical exchanges with who I believe is their director of foreign teachers, they offered me a position!

With the prospect of teaching in China on the horizon, I started brushing up on my Asian geography and Chinese history.  I got the countries down solid, but the history...well yeah...there's a lot of it.  Not all countries are as young and sexy as America.  You just turned 234 this year...but believe me America, you don't look a day past 200. 

China on the other hand, dayummm.  One word:  dynasty.  We're talking older than Jesus.

But with a history that long, you're bound to find some absolute gems.  Like the following poster from the Great Sparrow Campaign:

The poster reads, "Everyone come and fight sparrows."

The history was coming along, but once I was 90% sure that I was going, I decided it was safe bet to start learning some Chinese...and the following video contains the breadth of my knowledge.  And yes.  This is an excuse to test out my camera.  (Watch it in 720p!)

The above video is a slight exaggeration for the sake of humor...my vocabulary also includes phrases such as:

• Where is the bathroom?
• Is [location of interest] over there?
• No, really, he was like my favorite genocide causing ruler of all time!
• Your English is very good.

Although I'm a bit angry at the Chinese language for not having an alphabet-like system of characters, it's slowly nuzzling up to me and making nice with the promise of no conjugation or sex-specific nouns.  But with that said, I'm well aware that I won't simply "pick up" Chinese while I'm there, I'm going to have to work.  I hope to get a tutor, or maybe take some classes.

Next post, I'll hopefully cover some of the aspects of my potential job and where I'll be living.

Dane also has a blog, and it has way more than one post, and is totally rad.  Check it out.