Xiamen

My next stop after Hong Kong was Xiamen, a multipurpose stop. I plan to move there in the next few months, so I was scouting for jobs and places to live in addition to doing the whole rah, rah, fun, fun holiday thing. I stayed with a foreigner that actually used to teaching in Songyuan, but left because he was miserable. We had only met once before, but obviously had a lot of mutual friends, and the world kind of gets a lot smaller once you leave the English speaking parts, so it's not as weird as it might sound.

In total, I interviewed/met with seven different schools (including teaching two demo classes), met a bunch of cool people, figured out how to get around town and what area I want to live in. I didn't end up doing too much touristy stuff, but I had a blast and fell in love with the city. My friend made for a great tour/life guide. Xiamen seems like a place I can actually have a life. In Songyuan, I do a lot of stuff, but it feels like a suspension of the real world there, not progression for me. Xiamen is definitely more western, but you can still find authentic China there as well; it's a good balance. I'm so jazzed for my move!!!