This is the English Primary School near where I will be teaching in Guangdong, China.

A very interesting thing happened to me this morning while checking my e-mail on YAHOO. I received an e-mail from my friend Jeff Sikkema, author of "China Tales" living in Shanghai, China, introducing me to Scott, a soon-to-be expatriate who will soon be teaching in China.

I also received two e-mails from individual visitors to Jim's Quiet Musings...who will be teaching at the same facility in Guangdong as myself. Well, at least living in the same complex anyway. So welcome to Sheena and James. Not sure where Sheena is from but James is from Edinburg, Scotland - flying to Guangzhou at the same time as me, just about.

Small world huh? At least from a Google prospective....

-Jeeem-

I'm hoping to continue this blog while I'm in China but quite honestly I don't know if that is going to work out. The reason I say this is because I remember last March while I was in Beijing for two weeks, accessing the internet through the business center at Xindadu Hotel in Northwest Beijing...

I was never able to access blogger while there nor was I able to access my e-mail through the Earthlink website. It seems China has another Great Wall in it's midst.

The Great Firewall of China

or

The People's Republic of Proxy

Hopefully things have changed and I can manage to keep this site going, but in case I can't I am posting this message now so people don't just think I've dropped off the face of the earth when my postings grind to a halt.

I'm taking my laptop and most likely sending my printer and scanner ahead by sea freight. I've already looked into internet hookups, which we have available but it'll cost me about 150 RMB to have my own hookup in my apartment through China Telecom.

I'm wicked busy lately with my research paper for Social Psychology but that will be over soon, with class ending on June 30th. Meanwhile, my TEFL class on Saturdays is going pretty good and I'm learning a lot plus having fun.

The rest of my free time is devoted mainly to reading reaves and reaves of material about China. Some is informative and some is a waste of time. I hope to blog soon about one of my recent disappointing reads.

-Jeeem-

These are the apartments where the teachers live, who teach at the Phoenix Country Garden School and the Guangdong Country Garden School. Looks like we get a little terrace! I can keep my pet cricket and my pet bird there, along with my little mini garden to liven things up!

For those of you who are interested in sending me letters through the post, while I am in Guangdong, here is the address:

Jim Anderson
Phoenix Country Garden School
East Guang Yuan Road, Guangzhou
Guangdong, China
Zip code: 511340

If you've got a minute or two, drop me a line. I'm sure that at some point I'll be suffering from culture shock and perhaps even homesickness, so your cards and letters will be very welcome indeed. Otherwise, I'll be hooked up on the internet at the soonest convenience.

-Jeeem-

Phoenix Country Garden School

I've signed a contract for employment in China!

Things are beginning to piece together. I've signed an employment contract with the Phoenix Country Garden School in the Shunde District, Foshan City,
Guangdong, China. I'll be teaching 7 through 9 year olds in this relatively modern looking, pleasant school in Guangdong Province, China, beginning on September first. I reserved my flight yesterday, flying out of Boston to JFK, then Vancouver, BC to Hong Kong and finally a tiny little forty minute flight from Hong Kong to Baiyun airport in Guangzhou where one of my colleagues will be meeting me.

I'm leaving the later part of August, shortly after completing my TEFL certificate course in Boston, so between then and now, I'm gonna be a busy, busy boy. A lot of thought went into accepting this offer for employment and I can truly say I looked at several angles before making my final decision. My contract will be for a year, beginning on September 1st, 2003 and ending July 1st, 2004.

I considered a University in Jiangxi Province and another in Yunnan, but Phoenix Country Garden School had the best feel to it. I picked a province south of the Yangtze River for the sub-tropical weather as I am NOT partial to the cold weather of the north. Also, teaching children from ages 7 to 9 will be a good learning experience and hopefully a good start for my first year's teaching experience....

I know I can hear some of you snickering out there....Chris? Annie? Shirts? Others?

My good friend Anne Charmaine and I have been missing each other lately, just barely, when she calls from Malaysia. Annie mentioned in one of her e-mails, that the Chinese have a saying, "if you are able to catch a person who is always on the go, you will win the lottery." Hummmm. Do you play Annie?

Annie and I passed each other in the air, like two ships in the night, way back in 2001 when she was on her way to Portugal and I was on my way to the Philippines. It seems we will be coming close to doing that again soon as she is flying to Spain soon, this time on more of a permanent basis. Funny how peoples lives can change so quickly. I can sympathize with her in all the planning and preparation that it takes when not just planning to visit a foreign country, but actually live there.

I'm going to try to post more frequently now, since my Social Psychology class is finally winding down and I've already begun my TEFL course in Boston. I hope to post some pictures of the teacher apartments where I will be living and the sister schools in the Shunde district, soon.

-Jeeem-

THE GRISWALDS GO TO BOSTON....

Yesterday the whole bunch of us headed down to Boston for a day of fun and to plot out my route to the Boston Academy of English, which I'll be attending for the next three months of Saturdays. We arrived with time to spare and as luck would have it, the weather forecasters were wrong. We began our day strolling around the Boston Common and once 10:00 a.m. rolled around, we all got to take a tour of my new school, which seemed personal, friendly and convenient - albeit a bit hot and stuffy in the classrooms.

After our Boston Academy of English tour, we began our day in the Boston Common and wrapped it up at Faneuil Hall Marketplace, with a rather personal act of participation in "Davey the Clown's" street performance. All-in-all the day was a wonderful one and at around 5:30 p.m. we all headed home, a bunch of tired-but-satisfied day trippers.

Click HERE to see more photos of our day and the antics we shared...

Enjoy!

-Jeeem-