Tuesday 2 June 2009

Can't Believe It's Been So Long

I can't believe that it's almost a year since I posted anything.




I actually returned to Australia mid October 2008 with the idea of finding work near home as the isolation in Jeju was getting to me. I didn't have a solid social network and found myself spending way too much time reading or staring at the walls of my apartment. The odd dinner with my Korean friends turned out to be insufficient to maintain my equilibrium. Thus after ten ever increasingly long months I had enough. In hindsight going back to a place I had taught twice before was a mistake. The island of Jeju is very small and there was nothing left of any interest that I hadn't seen at least twice. So for sanity's sake I returned home. I thought I would be happy doing anything provided I was in my little house in Fernvale and even tried a stint at two or three different jobs in totally different streams of employment. Now almost 8 months later it would appear I am off overseas again. It does look like I don't know what I want doesn't it. You may well be right. I do love teaching ESL though and there is nothing within commutable distance for me here. So this time I am off to China near Guangzhou.

I will be back doing what I like to do best, preparing students for university entry. At this stage I'm only committed to two semesters so that I am not tied up for the full year if it turns out to be too unpalatable. The weather is definitely more to my liking than Jeju, as it is sub-tropical. Thailand was too humid for my taste, so hopefully Liujong, which is about one hour's bus drive north east of Guanzhou in Guangdong province, will be closer in climate to home. We shall see. I am due to start work mid July which would bring me home towards the end of Feb 2010. Let's hope teaching trip number 5 will be more enjoyable than trip 4. At least I will have a cousin and approximately 14 other English speaking colleagues on campus. This has to be a great leap forward to being totally isolated.