it was a good day in china...

As I sit here on my bed, with internet at my finger tips, I feel back to myself again. I now have more time to write, pour over ideas and wrestle with new ones.

Recently, I have been reading "Riding the Iron Rooster." About a man who travels around China by train. It has given me a real sort of perspective on the things I am seeing and the people I am encountering. Its so strange to be reading a book and already have experienced a few of the things the author mentions. Like a deja vu or something.

At times, when I am working with the students here, I feel like I experience this from time to time. Teaching english, I'm noticing, is sometimes not really about teaching at all. Its almost as if a cultural exchange is happening. I was thinking to myself as I left work today, what an incredible chance I have had over the last couple years of my life to ask questions and wrestle with ideas around language and culture. The students I have worked with have been my pipeline to these countries and a large portion of what I have learned about Japan and now China, is from them. This is also sobering, in that, the same is true that they learn about Canada through me. This is still a little scary for me but I'm realizing what a special oppourtunity it really is.

The best part of my job, I think, is helping people find a voice and giving people a chance to share their opinions and thoughts openly. This is what I look forward to when I come into work. It is sustaining. Even further, part of what I love most about my life right now is being able to examine the things I am seeing and experiencing, and attempting to come to turms with it. Obsessively attempting to document everything through photography, writing and talking with people have become my passion. The more I learn, the more I want to soak it in and try not to miss a drop.

But, as I learn more and more, I'm realizing how impossibe this actually is. And how I fail to give the right words. The more I learn about China, the less words I seem to have. My existing vocabulary doesn't lend itself to describing what I'm seeing and experiencing here. Maybe I am being taught that it is often the most impressionable experiences that teach us to listen to ourselves better and the environment around us.

On that note, I'm going to get back to my book and let the words soak in.