The Plan
Go to Changsha, Hunan, China for at least a year or two (with no definite endpoint) and support myself (primarily) by teaching English.
Progress So Far
Ok, well I'll have to admit I've still got some planning to do. However, I have booked my flight already and am therefore fully committed to whole thing. Now it's just a matter of sorting out some more details.
- The flight was a reasonable $580 via StudentUniverse. Granted there are a few stops along the way, but I'd have to say I'm even looking forward to those as well. It's kind of like three tickets for one.
DEPART Delta Air Lines
Flight: 4709Monday August 09
Depart: International, Los Angeles, CA, US (LAX) 9:15am
Arrive: International, San Francisco, CA, US (SFO) 10:27am
Delta Air Lines
Flight: 0635Monday August 09
Depart: International, San Francisco, CA, US (SFO) 1:15pm
Arrive: Narita, Tokyo, JP (NRT) 4:45pm
Tuesday August 10
Delta Air Lines
Flight: 0647Tuesday August 10
Depart: Narita, Tokyo, JP (NRT) 7:05pm
Arrive: Pu Dong, Shanghai, CN (PVG) 9:20pm
To Do
So that brings me up to tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll be taking the Metrolink from Rancho Cucamonga, CA to Los Angeles to pay a visit to the local Consulate-General Of The People's Republic Of China.
I'll be trying to sort out some visa questions. In particular, I need to find out what kind of visa I need due to the fact that I'm planning on working there, but don't yet have a job (speaking of things to do). I'm hoping to wrap up visa stuff tomorrow if at all possible.
In addition, I'm looking into getting a cell phone that I can use there and I'll still have some more loose ends to tie up before I take off. For now I'm mostly concerned with making sure I have the three most important things for actually getting there; a passport (which I have), a plane ticket (which I also have now) and a visa (which I hope to sort out tomorrow).
Overall, I have a lot to do (mostly things I haven't mentioned here), but I am really looking forward to the whole move and all of the experiences and uncertainties that go along with it. I also think blogging about the whole process will be somewhat illuminating as well. Originally I thought about blogging as a way to keep friends and family updated (FB-ing without FB-ing), but it might prove to be even a bit more interesting than that. Perhaps my steps will inspire someone else to do something bold in their life. To those people: 加油!
