A Letter:

In the last month I have been working to secure a six-month job with Aston Schools teaching English. In the last week I was told my Chinese visa was just about secured, I bought my plane ticket, and I found out that my traveling partner was a 100% “go.” So I concluded there was little more that would change my new direction.

I have taken a job in Hohhot (alternately spelled Huhehaote). The city is the capitol of China’s Inner Mongolia with a population of about 2.5 million and densities ranging between 400-26,000/sq mi. The weather and rain fall is fairly mild and many of the images I’ve seen make it look like the American Southwest. While ‘briskly’ cold (current temp is some -20′ C) during the early winter months, it would seem that it warms up quite quickly as it’s only at 3,500 feet. My friend, Dan Tuttle, whom I’ll be traveling and working with, is a close friend from school and has spent a good deal of time in China studying already and knows a great deal of the language. He assures me I’ll learn something of the language, which is nice to think about. However, while in China I hope to enhance my teaching skills and my language skills, understanding more of the language is a large priority with perhaps learning more about the cultural expectations in business as an unlikely second. Who knows what will really come across my plate. In any case it should be a neat way to explore another corner of the world while being paid (meagerly) to do it.

While I’m in CA now, I’ll head back to Arizona after the new year in order to make sure the house is ready to be without me for six-months and to move out. Then I will return to CA where I leave. The job will start March 1st, so I will be departing LAX February 18th, and will be returning (barring any changes) September 8th about ten days after my contract is over.

I think that’s my plan for now, though after I apply for The Great Race things may change. :) Very Good.
John Mizell

I’ve attached a couple of websites for more information about the program and the area.

Weather Averages for the city:
http://www.fwcc.org/neimong.htm#hohhot

Wikipedia Article for the city:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohhot

Aston Schools Website:
http://www.astonschool.com/