Well, I have not been blogging as much as I wanted or intended to over the last two months, but I have been dealing with life as a first year teacher and living in a foreign country, so I'm giving myself a break. I have found out that there are a number of ups and downs to this whole experience. 

On the upside, I feel free! I am happy that I am finally doing something that I have dreamed about for the last few years. I am proud that I went to university for five years, persisted and did my best, and that my hard work paid off to land me a great job. I do love being a teacher and what could be better than getting paid to do something I enjoy while also being able to travel the world. This is pretty great.

On the downside, life is not perfect. Ever. This is still a job, I am still a human being and there will always be challenges. All that is so good about being in China is also ridiculously challenging and scary. Being a first year teacher with a class that has its share of behavioural issues, dealing with the insecurities of thinking I should be doing a better job at times, and not having home, family and friends close by have been some of my challenges. 

I keep telling myself that I would be experiencing all of these things no matter where I was. Stress and worry is a part of life, but so are the really great parts like seeing something amazing in a new place and meeting great people. It all balances out.

The hardest part of living in China for me has been dealing with the smog and pollution. Some days the pollution just floats in the air covering up the blue sky and sun. I hate that just being outside might not be very good for my health. I now have a HUGE appreciation for clean Albertan air and wide open space. I really hope that we never let it get that way in Canada, it is further motivation to be GREEN!!

I am now on a 2 week break for the Chinese New Year holiday. I spent the first two days of the break at the school organizing my classroom and planning, today I let myself be lazy for a large part of the day and now am cleaning and packing because tomorrow morning I go to Hong Kong. My friend, her friend and I will spend two days there and then we go to Indonesia!! I am so excited for this trip.

I will post my photos and all my stories when I get back, and I also have a post on our day trip to Foshan, to see some temples, lion dancing and martial arts, coming.

Sorry, but no pictures for this post, I haven't had enough time to bring my camera out for awhile.
Have a great weekend :)