No, I am not dead, although I really did feel like it.

Phil was ever so kind to take this picture of me when I zonked out last Friday night after my first week of teaching. 20 classes at 40 minutes each doesn’t sound like a whole lot, and in a perfect world it isn’t, but when you are teaching little devils, those 20 classes feel like 2 years.

And the good news is . . . I get to begin those two years all over again tomorrow. Yea, for me, I guess.

This week I am teaching the little brats about friendship and best friends. Maybe they will be so into it that they will be hanging on every word that comes out of my mouth. Maybe they will actually ask me questions and want to participate and pay attention. Maybe they will actually stop talking in Chinese the entire class and become fluent in English. Ha. I’m allowed to dream, aren’t I? I’ll faint if just the boys behave themselves.

Guess this is enough for now. I will continue to post pictures over the next few days. I have a lot of them.

Until then.

Zaijian.

Ah, the good ole days. Or not.

I don’t think there ever was a day I enjoyed partaking in my expensive education at the University of Hell. Or at least not consecutive days in which I thought I was getting anything out of the never ending “blah blah blah”.

But I can look back on it now and laugh. Was the 4 1/2 years worth it? No. Not in the educational sense. Did I meet some cool people? Yes and no. Did I get anything out of it? Yeah, I found Jenny, my inner demon. Would I do it again? Probably. Why the hell would I do that? Because college is a necessary step in most of our lives. I wouldn’t call it important. No, that is a little extreme, but I think necessary fits nicely. It is just another stepping stone. A slippery one that usually leaves us on our buttocks, but at least it leaves us some where. Hopefully, not poor. Hopefully, more well rounded and wise. Hopefully, the experience leads us to our compass and true north. But if the world is always spinning, and we keep moving north – do we ever find happiness; an end?

Where is my diploma? Sitting between a wall and my dresser, still in the envelope it came in. Am I poor? Not yet, but it’s coming. Am I a well rounded and wise woman of 24, almost 25? God, I don’t even know. That’s not for me to know or to decide. And my true north? It is some where over the horizon, some where beyond that hill, some where beneath that star that I wish upon each night.

I thought Hell was over. But life has only just begun.

Yeppers. You read that right. I, Maniac Gone Awry, am indeed flying to the other side of the world to both live and work in the grand ole land of China. Taizhou, China to be exact. (It is several hours south of Shanghai. I’ll most likely get malaria and then right before I die from that, I’ll get trounced by a typhoon. At least I would be going out in style.) But that is some 54 days away. So . . . until then, I am going to stick to regularly scheduled programming. I am so very far behind. I’ve had to postpone so many enlightening assignments. My other day job, which was truly wretched and soul sucking, if you didn’t already know, kept me from expressing myself. My advise to you: Don’t ever, ever, ever read gas or electric meters unless you have a death wish or like to inflict pain upon to your soul. But now that that has passed, we can all move on to bigger and better things. The life of a Maniac Gone Awry. Stay tuned for brain cell exercises.

The pictures I have placed here for your viewing pleasure are those of my school. Oh, I guess I forgot to mention one key bit of information – I am going to be teaching. Teaching English. To Chinese students. God rest their souls. Heh.