As some readers may recall, last year my school participated in a teacher exchange program that sent one of our teachers to a school in China and a school in China sent one of their teachers here to Maine. You can read about my colleague’s experience here or here.

Yesterday, I found out that I was selected to be the teacher from our school to go to China. After discussing it with my wonderful girlfriend, Denise, I have accepted the opportunity. I have always wanted to visit China and Asia in general. As a poor school teacher this is my best opportunity to see some of the places that I been fascinated by since this first time I read about Marco Polo in my elementary school textbooks.

Here are the details that I can share so far. I will be teaching in Jinhua, Zhejiang beginning in mid-February and returning to the US some time in June or late May. There are other Americans teaching in the same school that I will be teaching in. I will have some time to travel while I’m in China. I am going to try as hard as I can to see Western China including Tibet although that may not be feasible depending on visa restrictions and, of course, the ever-changing political climate in China in regards to Tibet. Other than those details there aren’t too many specifics that I can share right now.

While I am in China I plan to continue blogging (my colleague that went last year was able to blog on the blogger platform). I’ll continue to try to share free resources I find on the web, but I will also be sharing as much of my experience in China as I can.

Obviously, I’m very excited about this opportunity. I am also a little nervous. As the logistics are worked out and my departure nears I’ll keep everyone posted.

If you have been to China I would love to hear about your experience. I also welcome any advice you might have for a 30 year old man going to China for four month.

Here is a Google Map of where I’m going. Be sure to click the “explore” this area link.

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