My journal in China unfolding here for you

Welcome to my journal in China. I knew this was not going to be just any kind of journey even before leaving my home in Spain. It's quite a while after my arrival and this thought is beginning to crystalise - this will be my home for a good while, in fact... I wouldn't mind if I would only have to return to Spain to sell my house when the economic situation improves.

This place is buzzing with life, people are 'alive and kicking', children are eager to learn and parents are willing to educate them the best way they can. I know it's not all rosy and I'm not blind to the shortcomings of contemporary life in China, but the energy is flowing over here, whereas in Spain I was suffering from the stagnation and apathy that seemed to impregnate everything and everybody.

Keep an eye on my journal, if you wish to keep informed with my news. Eventually, I'll even try my hand at reporting what's on the news and my interpretation of it, for what it's worth.

A smooth but long journey to China

Today (18 November 2012) is the three months anniversary of my journey to China. It sounds like nothing, but it feels like an eternity. So much has happened in the meanwhile that I can hardly think where to start my story. I don't even know where it started...

Was it with the idea of leaving everything behind and travel all the way over to a totally different culture? Was it when I finally decided to accept the 1-year contract with Aston School in Lianyungang? Or was it really when I finally received my visa, 4 days before my flight?

I'm now 8 months into my journey to China (end of April 2013) and my experience of it is taking a more intelligible and assured orientation. I'm still learning, mostly by discovery and a little bit by talking directly to the people, which I should do more of. I had a strong intuition not long after I arrived that I'm not going to stay in this town for another year and the vision of living in Suzhou, near Shanghai came as a strong possibility for a change of location. This week I had my first visit to Suzhou.

What does work over here mean to me?

Another entry for my journal is about my working life. I started to work straight away, on a 1-year contract as a TEFL English teacher with Aston School. Read my story about this, but keep in mind it's not finished, so keep an eye on it in the future.

Although this is an early stage in my thinking, one thing I do know is that I wish to learn a lot from my experience over here, so that I can use it as a stepping stone between my present position as a traditional teacher and a different working environment in the future.

I don't want to speculate on this matter, I don't like speculating. I want to flow with what comes my way and I shall take the road that inspires me most. This aspect of my life has become quite philosophical lately, so I shall dedicate a separate page to my thoughts and visions.

However, before I can live from philantropic activities, I'm still caught in the rat race to a certain degree for as long as I have to nurse a mortgage back in Spain. This calls for a realistic assessment of what can be done in parallel to my job that only takes care of my banksters' greed. My idea is to find sources of products in China and make them available to whoever is interested in them elsewhere in the world - an online agency as such. I have selected three products so far, but I need to dedicate some time in presenting this line of work on this website. This will take some time, so I advise you to return and check again soon.

So, what's it like, living over here these days?