Life is full at the moment, everyday is new in Shanghai. Been here for a week, on the 22nd floor of a Holiday Inn with purple carpeting, free water, and a nice view of buildings stacked over the landscape. I start the mornings with an abraham hicks recording, meditation, stretches, writing, and complimentary breakfast. I’m with a group in the new teacher training. We’re a diverse bunch in discipline and nationality, here to teach English for a year. One has a doctorate in physics, another is a published poet and used to be an all star rugby player, another is tone deaf and sings.
Everyday I find new pockets of insight. Today I searched all over and could not find my envelope of money. Then I remembered a friend had once told me that if I’m frustrated with something, to sing it in Oprah. So, I did, “Today I lost all my moneyyy” in a deep Oprah voice. Later I found the envelope deep in the trenches of my backpack. Fun exercise.
People at the company are friendly. The office building looks like a Googleplex, with a rock climbing wall, a wooden meetings area that looks like a large sauna, lot of windows, ping pong tables and the like. Oh and free coffee.
Thinking back to last year, I would have never imagined I’d be here. It’s a complete surprise. There are moments when I realize how much I don’t know and how lucky I am and my mind is blown. And there are those moments of utter panic or frustration and I relish in taking my time and letting the world catch up to me.
I’m working on four main projects this year: write a short story everyday, read 2 books per month, learn 3 Chinese words everyday, and just practice being a good teacher (measured in feedback and reactions I get). And there is the ongoing appreciation project which involves noticing and writing the things I appreciate. This project includes learning to say “thank you” in as many languages as possible, in posture and speech, so when I die my tombstone could say “Thank you!” in 71 languages with a bare skeleton laying there underneath.