How did this all come about?

As I think about how all this started, I once again think of the delectatio et profundum Dei, the delight or pleasure as well as the depth and profundity of God.  Put another way, I am not at all sure how this has happened, but as I think about it, I do so reverently, and yet with a smile and an occasional chuckle and shake of the head.

While I write this I am listening to one of my new favorite bands, L’Angelus, who is now wandering about Europe on its way to Madrid.

This past year has been one largely of looking for full-time work.  I am grateful for having done some college-placement work back in the fall, and for the part-time work I have recently had working for Ward North American here in Austin.  But, in between, the work landscape has been a bit parched.

One of the tasks I had, then, was to find full-time work.  Because of this, one day I contacted a private school in Utah, Wasatch Academy, who had listed on the NAIS website a position for teaching English in China.  Earlier this year I had been offered such position, but this was one of those many teach-English-in-China positions which are, perhaps, too many.  So, I approached this NAIS posting with at least one raised eyebrow.  At this point I wasn’t set upon uprooting myself and moving halfway around the world to do I am not sure what.  Even so, I decided, somewhat whimsically, at least to investigate this.

The person I contacted there received my CV and said he would forward it on to Party A.  This party, unbeknownst to me, then forwarded it on to Party B, the management committee of Beijing No. 2 Middle School.

Soon thereafter (this was back in June), while riding my bike in the Texas heat, I received a phone call from a gentleman on the management committee.  I have had more than one interesting phone call while on bike rides.  A few days later I was having a Skype interview with three gentleman in Beijing, which I thought went well.  Then came the long silence.  In spite of repeated requests for updates on the Management Committee’s thinking — perhaps my first misuse of guanxi — I heard nothing.  Then, out of the blue, on 10 July I received a congratulatory email saying that I had been selected for this program!  Sign the contract, get your visa, buy a ticket and be here in Beijing in a month’s time.

And so it came to pass.  And so it has come to pass thus far.  And I am to be on a plane on 9 August.