My! I’ve been soooo bad with this blog thing, I’m almost ashamed to say that I have one! (Not really, but still.) OKAY! So the answer to the “for now” million dollar question that folks keep asking is…. “Where in the world will Mimi San Diego go next??”

Answer: HOME! I will be landing in the Bean at the end of this week, to give warm and hearty hugs n’ kisses to my fam’alam!! :-D Thennnnnnn eventually do the same to my NYC fam’alam some time in the weeks following (tbd). :-D Thennnnnnn, I will return to the ‘Hai for Round 2 some time in mid August.

Reason: A few months ago, I signed with a different school that is situated in a much better location, so no more waking up at the ridiculous hour of 5:30am! Same deal – I’ll be working in the International Department with little kiddie-roos (most likely 1st and 3rd grade) — and have my vacation time, yippee! They are trying to form and expand their department and it sounds like, they’ll be looking to me to take lead in it. (Now, ya’ll know I don’t mind leading… but trust me when I say some of the most “simplest” issues could be the most trivial (and at times, frustrating) when it comes to cultural differences. But hey, that’s why folks pay the big bucks for International Management courses. Anyhoots, next year should be interesting!

Now a bunch of ya’ll are probably wondering “Why re-do Shanghai??”

After looking into a few cities in this part of the world… it made the most sense to stay in Shanghai. The World Expo will take place here in 2010 and I still have plenty more places to travel to in China, so me staying in a city in China alleviates the visa issues. Hong Kong (though, I’d prolly improve on my Cantonese 10-fold there) is a separate territory that would require me to apply for a visa every time I wanted to head back into mainland China…and Beijing is “ok… not sure if I could do it for a whole year.” Shanghai, on the other hand, ….. is truly a metropolitan city and really in its transformation stage… Construction (and pollution) is out of control right now, in prep for the Expo. Plus, I’m looking forward to continuing on with my Mandarin studies – hopefully with the same tutor. In the few classes I’ve had for just once a week studies, improvements in my comprehension abilities have been noticed!! :-) And, in the end, I don’t want far tooo too much change. There is still a lot more to explore here in the ‘Hai and I’m excited to be living and working in more of the “city” side — and taking advantage of it with the various expat networks here. Yes, of course I had some bumps and a few bruises in my 1st year, but that all makes it a good learning experience. I truly feel the 2nd round will be much different (especially since the majority of my friends are not returning.. le sigh..). I’ll have to start alllllll over. (Flashback to my posts re: expat friendships on the time clock.. sigh.) But! I’ve met and gotten close to a wide range of folks while being out here, that I probably wouldn’t have if I were to have stayed in NYC (despite its multi-culti there… it’s a WHOLE different ballgame when living abroad).

So there ya have it. I’m slated to re-live the ‘Hai Life in its prime as it gears for the World Expo spotlight in 2010!

PS. I’ll need ya’ll to EMAIL ME YOUR NUMBER and INFO as since my hard drive crashed a few months ago. I’d love to catch up with ya’ll!!

. . don’t burn the day. .