Our Next Big Move

Bill and I are excited to announce that we will be moving to Hangzhou, China at the end of July! It is going to be a big change, and it's difficult to leave a city that we have absolutely fallen in love with, but there is much to look forward to as well. Hangzhou is 110 miles southwest of Shanghai, and is a main city on the Yangtze River Delta. There are about 3.5 million people in the urban center of Hangzhou, and around 6.2 million when considering the surrounding suburban areas. Hangzhou is considered one of the most livable cities in China due to its beautiful natural scenery, and appears to have a long and rich history as well.

A couple months back we received job offers at Hangzhou International School. Bill will be teaching middle school history. I am so happy that he will be teaching something he is so knowledgeable and passionate about. He will finally have a chance to teach about so many of the things we have learned during our time in Europe (now I know the 100+ photos we took of the WWI Italian trenches in the Julian Alps of Slovenia were totally worth it). I will be doing college counseling and various teaching assignments as needed (there was mention of teaching a few sections of art, and some substitute teaching across all grades and subjects). As of now the school does not have an established college counseling program, so my hope is to be able to develop that during my time there. 

Just as we did two years ago, in two months we will be adjusting to a new city, culture, language, workplace and lifestyle. It will be a lot different coming to learn and understand about a country that is made up of over 1.3 billion people, rather than a small country with just under 10 million people. To be honest, with just one more month to spend in Budapest, it is hard to look towards the future and think about what our new life in China will be like. I want to really focus on the here and now. I live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, in a country that is filled with a unique culture and incredible people. Although we are leaving, this will always be home to me.