First time, definitely not the last

Hi! I'm a US citizen currently teaching English in Guiyang, Guizhou, China. I'm starting this blog primarily to keep my friends and family updated on my travels. I'll be posting pictures, stories, and random thoughts about living here. Updates will be as regular as I can make them.

Feel free to leave a comment about what you'd like to hear about. I'll do my best to make it happen.

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A little taste of Singapore

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Yesterday I got to Changi airport at 0600 for my 0730 flight. I didn't end up on a plane until 2300. Why did I spend the entire day at the airport? It's actually a funny story about a stupid person: me. My original flight plan was Singapore to Ho Chi Minh, then Ho Chi Minh to Seoul. I would get into Seoul in the early evening and have some time to explore the neighborhood before settling in. I failed to check the visa requirements for Vietnam, though. I couldn't get a boarding pass, and the minimum time to process a visa application was 24 hours, so I was stuck here. The easiest solution was to book a flight to a country that didn't require an advance visa to visit. Luckily, there was a direct flight to Korea from Singapore. The catch? It left at 2315 at night. It was cheaper than rescheduling both of my original flights and paying for a visa, so I did it. There are worse airports to be stuck in than Changi. It's beautiful, clean, and there are plenty of sho...
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Why I left the US, and why so many teachers leave the profession

I've read a few news articles recently about how many people are leaving the teaching profession in the United States. As someone who recently did just that, I have a lot to say about it. I love teaching. I  can't imagine doing anything else. I think it's the most important job in the world. I can't imagine going back to doing it in the United States. Why do passionate and dedicated teachers leave the profession? Teaching in the United States sucks, and it's not likely to get better any time soon. Why am I qualified to talk about this? I was an elementary school teacher for 12 years. I taught at the Kindergarten, 3rd grade, and 5th grade levels. I mentored new teachers and served on district curriculum adoption committees. I was a site representative for my teacher's union during and after contract negotiations. I've seen the ways the sausage is made up close from multiple perspectives. I worked in the Berkeley Unified School District, and my experie...
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Summer Plans

The end of the school year is almost here, and it's been a very slow couple of weeks for me. The foreign staff gave their final exams about two weeks ago, and the Chinese staff have taken over all of the classes to get the students ready for their exams. We had a week to grade our tests, and haven't had much to do for the last ten days or so. We still have to show up for work, but there isn't really anything for us to do except clean up, organize, and spend some time on the internet. It's not the worst way to draw a paycheck, but it's not that much fun, either. So let's talk about what I'm going to do with my summer. I'm leaving Guiyang on the 13th of July at 0730 local time, arriving in San Francisco on the 13th of July at 1220 local time, after a combined flight time of 16 hours and a 5-hour layover in Beijing. I will most likely sleep little to none on the flight, and collapse into my hotel bed for 10-15 hours. I'll stay at the Crowne P...
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