life is sweet.

So, recently I've had some really exciting things happen. I can't believe that life is unfolding as it is.

The first one piece of news - I got accepted into graduate school. I opened my inbox a couple weeks ago to find an email from the admissions office at St.Francis Xavier in Nova Scotia, with these words: you have been accepted. I sigh of relieve immediately came over me. As of April 2011, I will be an official graduate student in the Master of Adult Education program. Again, I feel like life has shifted. I feel like I've entered a new phase again. Its so easy here to feel like I'm in a bubble. I know this experience I'm having here is a unique one, but now its transformed: I see my students differently, I think more about the exchanges that happen in my classroom, and more importantly, I'm coming to view my self as a teacher. I think I shyed away from the term "teacher" for a while, but I've learned to pay attention to what I love about the field of adult education. I have grown to love working with adult learners from different cultures other than my own. We learn from each other, laugh together, and build relationships with one another.

What I thought would be one year teaching in Japan, turned into now almost 4 years of living in two foreign countries.

Over the past few years, I've also grown to love taking pictures and I have felt the need to share them with others. A good friend of mine here in Beijing put me in contact with a woman who owns a small culture centre here. She took a look at some of my photos online, and almost immediately emailed me to ask if she could have them posted at The Culture Yard. Getting the chance to do something like this was so exciting. I poured through photo after photo from the past few years to select the ones that meant the most to me.

I've heard of those lists that people have of the things they want to accomplish or do before they die. If I had a list like this, I feel like I'd be able to cross a few things off.

These past two weeks, everyday I have found a reason to smile. I ride my bike to work, I teach my classes, I visit with friends, and I feel so full of joy. I used to feel guilty or bad about being happy, but I've learned that everything in life - no matter how small or how big, needs to be celebrated. I'm so excited about how life is unfolding, and where it is taking me.

And, so the countdown begins. I have 9 months left in China. I'm going to make it my best yet.