A Year in China

Soon, I plan on doing a post of some of the blogs I enjoy reading. As I started writing it, I realized that this particular blog really could use a whole post of it's own.

Three years ago, my family had the opportunity to go to China to live for a year through my Mom's work. We would get to live at Beijing Foreign Studies University, where my Mom would teach English. This was terrific for us, since we are homeschooled, and had no other things that would not let us leave for a year. I was a little nervous about the idea, but also very excited. In March 2010, my Mom sent in her application, and found out that we were the only family who had applied.

Then, we were told that we could not go. Because of budget cuts, the China program was not going to be happening for the next few years. They did not know, when, or even if, the college she worked for would be able to bring it back.

Then, a year ago, they did. The China program was back. This was terrible timing for our family. We had just bought a house, and there were a few other personal reasons that made it something that we could not do.

So, instead, a friend and colleague of my mom went with his wife and daughter. This was not the first time they had done this exchange, and they were excited for another chance at this experience. He occasionally blogs about their year at his blog, http://thesmogblog.weebly.com/.

Currently, his blog is the closest I can get to China, but I very much hope that our family will be able to take this opportunity in the future. Hopefully within the next three years, before I am off to college!