Moving On (mass email 1.0)
Friend, how are you?
This is probably the most diverse mass email list I’ve ever composed, and I’ve never liked offering salutations in this somewhat impersonal form, but for now it is the most convenient way for me to reestablish contact with some, and let y’all know what’s been happening in my life recently. Who is “y’all”? Y’all includes: Swatties, Loveboaters, friends met in past and present travels, colleagues and students from Xiangtan, Beijingers, Queensbury folks, and any other category you fit into if none of the above. Thanks for bearing with this, and if we haven’t talked in a while, let me say that I have genuinely missed your company! I feel that there are many unfortunate omissions to this list; this is partly due to my inability to access my computer records during travel. The good news is this doesn’t affect you!
In the autumn after gradution from Swarthmore last year I journeyed back to China, not back to Beijing, but to the spicy heart of the mainland, Hunan, to teach English for a year. I ended up at the Hunan Institute of Engineering in the rapidly developing city of Xiangtan, the proud home of Chairman Mao, only an hour by bus from my sister who taught English in Changsha, the bustling capital of Hunan province. This was an incredibly rewarding experience and I honestly fell in love with all of my students; cute as they all are, how could one not? To see a webpage I maintained during my two teaching semesters, please visit:
http://www.ttwhy.org/~chai/teaching/hie/
Of course, having a cushy teaching position affords one lots of free time for travel and other engagements. While not reading too much into that last statement, have a look at some of the photos I took during the school year. There is much to add here; unfortunately there is little I can do about this while on the road!
http://www.ttwhy.org/~chai/travelogue/
And then what happened?
I’ve been traveling in China, mostly Western Sichuan, since the beginning of August, having a blast with my sister. Getting sick, recovering, enjoying good food and not-so-good toilets, cheap accommodations, intense games of Chinese Chess, yak burgers, Tibetan scripture printing monasteries, hints of acute mountain sickness, and making friends with monks and fellow travelers! Hopefully it’s only the beginning of a long circuit taking us through the subcontinent, Nepalese trekking trails, and Southeast Asia before our money runs out and we are forced to return to the world of the working!
I want to keep this recap of the past 12 months just this short, and will add more as the density or sparseness of internet cafes that lie in the shadow of my path allows. For now, I hope that you are well, that this year has treated you fairly, and that we may continue to keep in touch. Until next time, and may that time arrive shortly!
Warmly,
Haw-Bin (some of you only know me as “Bino”!)