So it seems I have somehow haphazardly accepted a short-term position as a summer camp counselor in China. I could have chosen to stay for 4 weeks, but I chose to stay for just 2 weeks. It’s unusual that you find an English teaching program in China that has such a  short-term requirement in exchange for a free return flight.

They call it an English village, and the company is based in Toronto or something. Most of us seem to be from the Northeast, and notably New York. The program is actually only 9 days long, which makes it much more bearable. As one of the former participants advised me over Skype, “You can travel to the worst place in the world for 9 days, and be OK.”

I was never one of those people who was really into Asian stuff, anime, and accompanying culture, and never was interested in travelling to Asia. But, considering I have Chinese ancestry, and the fact that China is this huge and influential country–not only in culture-but in politics, economics– I figure it can’t hurt to visit. I’ve also never been to Asia, after several trips to Europe, so it seems like the next best thing to do.

I have heard mixed reviews of China, but there is so much diversity in the country, that I intend to hold off my preconceptions until I see it myself. I am mostly intrigued–taking it in stride that I will be thousands of miles away with strange children who don’t speak English, likely working several hours a day into exhaustion–by the whole thing. I think this attitude is precisely how I’m so flexible in unusual situations, and what makes me an easy traveler.