China 2015

So, it has been decided: I am returning to China to teach at an International High School although I am unsure of which city or province I will be working in. The company has branches in Xi'an (where I was originally going to go before I turned down their offer), about 3 different cities in Shandong Province (Qingdao and two others) and Chengdu in Sichuan where I originally wanted to work when I decided I wanted to spend another year in China.

Honestly, I would be happy to work in any Chengdu, Qingdao or Xi'an and probably in that order but I can live anywhere for one year and if I like working for this company and they like me I can renew my contract and possibly change my location which is something I am open to.

Putting the paperwork together has been a bit of a chore but I think I'm about 80-90% done with. I went to the Sheriff's Office and obtained a 'Letter of Good Conduct' which shows that I have no arrests or criminal record from 2005 - 2015, scanned it (took me a while to find a scanner but there was one in my parents' house), e-mailed it to the school and today, at the school's request, mailed them the actual physical copy.

I also printed the contract, signed it, scanned it, e-mailed and did the same with my passport, my degree, my TESOL certificate, 3 reference letters and I forget what else.

I also re-wrote my resume 2 or 3 times until they were fully satisfied with it and e-mailed that to them.

Today I went to the Veteran's Affairs Office or Building or whatever it's called and registered so I am now in the system whatever that means, lol. I still have medical benefits for 90 days so I scheduled an appointment on the 26th of this month (15 days from today) and I think that is the last document that I need to scan and send.

I imagine at some point they will put a packet together and send me an invitation letter which I will take to the Chinese Embassy in Los Angeles to obtain a Z-Visa which is considered a working visa and will allow me entry to China.

All I have to do after that is pack up my bags and buy a plane ticket on-line.

Packing might be slightly challenging because I will need to decide what to bring and what not to bring. I'll bring at least one of my laptops and maybe my desktop also. Obviously, I will bring clothes and my Kindle, probably no physical books this time because they take up too much space (I used to bring a lot of books with me in the past)....no...wait...I take it back. I will bring my Chinese language workbooks which are physical books but that won't take up too much space.

I'll bring my Nintendo 3DS, my PS Vita and probably my PS3 too and some games but probably no DVDs or Blu-Rays because I can just buy those there and I have movies on my laptop so my entertainment will be covered.

And, of course, I will be bringing my camera and lenses because one of the reasons I want to go back to China is to take photos and lots of them. If I am able to work in Chengdu then I will certainly explore Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces. If I end up in Shandong than that area as well as Shanghai and Nanjing and whatever else is close by.

It's going to be fun and if it goes well I will consider staying for a second year, especially if I end up making lots of you tube videos (kind of like a video diary documenting my day to day life there) and take lots of pics.

After the year finishes I can decide if I want to stay on for a second year or come back to California and use my GI Bill.

The future looks bright.

Photos taken in Ventura County, California - June 2015