The Future.

For the longest time I've been struggling over what path to take next year. I've been unsure of myself and what the future holds for me once my teaching contract in Dongyang expires in June.

But things seem to have fallen into place recently and I'm ecstatic. Really. I realize my writing has been less than enthusiatic lately, but I'm going to blame that on Canadian Culture Shock, not my life falling apart. Au contraire.

I have been discussing with my good friend Veronica the idea of her coming over to China for a few weeks near the end of my contract. She has a plan to follow through with (A big movie-type plan) before she meets up with me, but then I walk into the picture. If all goes as planned she will stay with me at my apartment for a few days leading up to the end of my contract, then we'll travel around China for 2 weeks, sleeping on beaches and benches and up in trees... Okay, perhaps we won't be roughing it this much, but money will always be an issue so we're likely to take the BUDGET hotels and hostels route.

Then I come home to a job (hopefully). I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this one as it's the plan I'm most unsure of at the moment. My dad recently started up a new job downtown Toronto at Young and Eglington. He works for Canadian Tire Corporate now, some sort of Project Manager type deal. I've never had this sort of corporate connection before and I'm looking to milk it for all it's worth. I've already spoken to somebody at HR and my newly revised resume is floating around the building somewhere. Here's hoping that I won't be broke and lazy come summer upon my return from the far East.

But what this post is really about: University. I only learned today that I've been accepted to University of Ottawa for this fall. I'm stoked. Screw U of T. Screw Western. I'm heading where it's cold and cultural (not that there aren't enough Chinese people at U of T). Also I've been given a scholarship that I didn't even need to apply for. What Luck. Actually I'm going to call this one hard work on my part, not divine intervention or voodoo or luck of the draw. I worked my ass off my last year of highschool and this is my reward.

What would I have done if university was not an option? I had planned this one out too. I've actually written my 10 year life plan already, and I have 2 versions of it. Plan A is the one I'm following through with now that I'm going to University of Ottawawa. But Plan B could have been quite an adventure as well. I'm not about to divulge to you my inner-most dreams and aspirations, but I'll give you a hint: it's called the Island of Women. Had I not gone to university, I would have headed straight from China to the Coast of Mexico. To this tiny remote little fishing island only 5 miles long, where I would have searched for a teaching contract at one of the 3 elementary schools on Ilsa Mujeres and soaked up the sun right above the equator for a year or 2. It's nice to have these kind of options. But it's also nice to not have to resort to Plan B. It's always better to be pale than golden brown - at least they say so in China.

They even have whitening cream and powder for your face!