Long time no see!

It's been a long time since I've been able to get on here. In the spring of 2009 after the Xin Jiang riots China blocked all non-Chinese websites that allow you to post freely, like blogs, social networking sites, and any other site the government doesn't want the Chinese people to see. So, I didn't really give up on my blog I just waited until I left China.

I left a week ago, after finishing my 3 semester teaching in No. 1 High School in Tongzi. I absolutely loved my students there and are missing them every day, I'm pretty sure I'll be back there in the near future. The school year ended in the beginning of July and since then I've traveled a bit in China and been preparing for leaving. I went up to Hebei for 2 weeks to see Elaine, Andrew's Chinese friend who stayed with us in Tongzi for a while. She's awesome (like all Chinese) but I guess since she doesn't have any real brothers or sisters she felt she needed to fight with me like a sister.
Here's Elaine.

Now I'm in Israel and beginning a 5 month program on an ecological farm in Modi'in. I got to Israel a few days before to program began, which just so happened to be Rosh HaShana. I didn't bother checking the calendar 3 months ago when I booked the flight to see why the ticket was so cheap. That makes sense, nobody wants to travel on Rosh HaShana.

So I stayed in Tel Aviv and hung out on the beach because everything was closed for the 2 days of Rosh HaShana and then Shabat. It was a really relaxing way to spend my transition from China to Israel. I stayed in the Florintine Hostel on the southern end of Tel Aviv and met some cool Israelis and backpackers to hang out with.

I didn't upload more pictures because the internet is so slow here. Maybe next time.