Ni Hao

In August, I moved to China to begin a year of living and teaching abroad.  While I wanted to keep in touch with everyone at home, and share my experiences and my pictures, I have always had an old-fashioned reluctance towards blogging.  I wanted my connections to be more personal and special, like a battered postcard with a handwritten message.  Instead, I decided to send out weekly emails to a list of friends and family.  After nearly five months living in China, I have decide to add my voice to the world of expat/travel blogs.
I recently got into an argument with my co-worker here about how often it was appropriate to email home, and I rather grandiosely stated that writing home was the most important thing in my life.  I have often felt that the things that I see and do aren't actually real until I write about them, in my journal or in my emails.  Having realized the actual importance that writing has for me in experiencing life as an expat in China (or really life anywhere), I decided to take the concept further and give myself some more accountability by starting a blog.  So here it is, my life in China, starting at the beginning.