This trip is the result of wanting to explore teaching/working ESL opportunities outside the U.S. My collegue Robert Mann recommended several Chinese educational agencies which allow non-Chinese ESL teachers to teach in China during the Summer. For the next two weeks i will be teaching the teachers of Jiangsu Province. As usual, any trip is worth the effort and I am sure this one will have its share of surprises.

Joan is not on this trip with me, she is staying home taking care of Mowgli and Inka, that's the downside. But, on the plus side we will learn to use Skype to stay in touch with each other for the next two weeks.

To begin with the weather in Shanghai has been hot and humid so it will be a shock to leave the nice weather of Santa Barbara and arrive in Shanghai on the 5th of July to temperatures in the high 90s and humidity over 70%.

I've been working on my Mandarin and feel I know enough to get by and probably confuse those around me. Can you say 'ni hao ma?"

I'm traveling light, both with photo gear and clothing. This is something new for me since normally my baggage is 70% camera gear and 30% clothing. Still, it's been a bit of a chore trying to figure out what light-weight clothing to take and reduce my camera gear to the basic essentials.