I'm going to China.Currently I have a little less than three weeks remaining - the thought often jolting me into a state of mad organizing and list making, although, it often feels as if I am not actually accomplishing much more than reshuffling. For anyone who has prepped for a trip such as this one, you may agree that the process is a typical one. I will pause to fill you in on how I came to this decision to being my teaching career on the other side of the world...at least as we know it.
The final move was made to embrace teaching English in Wuhan, China while sitting in the forest preserve with my sister one Sunday morning. I had spent a number of months in utter discombobulation over some of the biggies - family and future. The word to define these months: indecision.
That morning I returned to three major areas of confidence and calling which I had previously felt, the first being teaching.
I have desired to teach since the fifth grade, a clear passion that I feel is specific to few people. (I do not know anyone else who began to gather future teaching materials in the 6th grade. If that person exists, I want to meet you.) In any case, we should all use the gifts we have been given. In that line, I anxiously await the opportunity to develop in an environment combining native English speakers with language learners, western style education within an eastern world, and my large state education with the philosophies of a small, conservative, international school. Sounds like a lot. It will be, I think, but I hope that there will be more days in inspiration and learning than in overwhelming confusion. (I'll save the confusion for my first attempt at Chinese characters - ah language learning.)
The second confidence I remembered that Sunday morning was my desire to be apart of a global spiritual community, knowing that there is so much to be revealed about our divine from observation and integration with other cultures. China fits the bill.
The third recollection was the reminder that in the financial division, we are mere stewards. There are other aspects of wealth other than finding my teaching position in the suburbs of Chicago - which was the original plan after graduation. I could pay off the student loans quickly and then be free to fly in any direction. Well instead I'm flying out a bit early. Loans may take a little longer...and I am confident that the riches to be gained (and shared) in the experience are such as finding a pearl.
I hear strings of pearls are readily affordable in China.
I also hear that as a new graduate with few strings attached, there is no better time to go abroad than now.
