Yesterday I received news that I have been accepted to the Masters in Urban Planning program at McGill in Montreal. Wow! Not a bad e-mail to roll out of bed to. I’m still waiting to hear from the London School of Economics to make any sort of final decision (I have until April 16th to accept McGill’s offer), but this means that one way or another I will once again be a student starting next fall.
This also means that, sometime this summer, I will be saying goodbye to China for a few years at least. So I’m really going to try to make the most of my last few months here: I’ve been talking with some fellow teachers about a big “Goodbye China” tour when the term ends in June. 杭州 （Hangzhou) up to 北京 (Beijing), maybe a bit of 东北 (Northeast), then gradually make our way out west all the way to 新疆 (Xinjiang). Most of my travelling in this country has been in the South and Southwest; time to give the North some love.
There are two things I have to do before I leave, otherwise I will kick myself for years to come:
1) See the Great Wall （I’m still not a real man)
2) visit 黄山
Am I ready to leave China? I’m not sure. I’ve developed such a crazy love/hate relationship with this place that, one way or the other, I won’t forget about it any time soon. However, I am definitely ready to give up teaching Oral English.
Oh yeah, make sure to check out this site.
Urban Photo has some great photo-essays on North American cities. A good chunk of them concern Montreal, but you can find interesting pieces on Vancouver, New York, Chicago, etc. This site has great “daily life” pics, I recommend it especially for Chinese readers hoping to see beyond the wealth, flash and skyscrapers so often presented in popular entertainment.