To the End of the Earth

Well I haven't written much about it on my blog but over the last month or so I've been trying to decide where to go for the next school year. I started sending out resumes to a number of different schools I found on various job websites, and a few who I just sent and e-mail to unsolicited. I send out e-mails to about 35 schools in total all over China. I heard back from about 10 and got some really nice offers. It's nice to be wanted. In the end after having conversations via e-mail, QQ, and on the phone I decided to go to Tarim University in a town called Aral (or Alaer if you prefer) , can be pronounced like Alar though, in Xinjiang. The name is also, 阿拉尔 in modern Chinese, 阿拉爾 in traditional, and ئارال‎ in Uyghur. The city has quite a few names and I think even a few different pronunciations. Before I talk more about that I just wanted to note how much I've enjoyed all my time in Chnagzhou. The hardest part about making this decision was deciding to leave all the friends I've made here both in the Chinese and expat communities. I hope some of the people will be able to come out to visit me next year and since every time I go back to the US I'll have to go through Shanghai I'll definitly stop in Changzhou on my way. I'd also like to thank Teddy for a really really nice recommendation he wrote for me which one school actually said was the main reason they wanted me over another teacher.

I applied to school all over China, well mostly. I basically ruled out the East coast of China, figuring if I'm going to go some place like Changzhou I might as well stay in Changzhou where my friends are. I applied for schools though near Hong Kong in the south in Harbin in the far North, in Inner Mongolia, in Tibet, in Qinghai, and in Xinjiang. I don't know when I first became interested in Xinjiang. Many people remember Xinjiang for the anti-Han riots that took place there last summer, but I had been interested in it before that. It just seemed so far away and different to be part of China. I gigantic desert province with different people and a different religion. Actually even before I started to apply I had told some people earlier this year that I was going to look at Xinjiang. Xinjiang does have its problems though. The violence doesn't worry me much since pretty much any US city has worse crime then the worst Chinese cities, and since the Uyghurs are made at the Chinese not at Americans. But Xinjiang also is still under a pretty strickt internet blackout. When the riots happened the government pretty much shut down the internet and other forms of mass communication. Even more than a year later these restrictions still haven't been listed. Now anyone who knows me knows that I like the internet so I definitly surprised a lot of people by deciding to go somewhere without it. I figure I'll either adapt of go insane.

All work and no Google makes Daniel a dull boy.
All work and no Google makes Daniel a dull boy.
All work and no Google makes Daniel a dull boy.
All work and no Google makes Daniel a dull boy.
All work and no Google makes Daniel a dull boy.

Anyways, in the end it came down to a few schools in Xinjiang. There was a college in the main city, and high school in a smaller city, and another college in Alaer. It was a tough decision but I finally chose the school in Alaer as much for its remoteness and anything. Going there really seemed like going to the end of the earth. To get there after flying from the US to Shanghai, about 15 hours, I'd have to fly to the capitol of Xinjiang, about 6 hours, then take a train to Aksu, about 18 hours, then another bus or car for an hour before arriving in Alear. I guess it just seemed sort of Lawrence of Arabia like to go running off into the desert. The whole visa thing is going to be a little complicated in the end, I'll probably end up having to apply for another z-visa when I'm back in the US this summer. But I'm definitly looking forward to going out there. Here are a few links to stuff about Alaer, as little as it is. And I've put up a big picture of the area around Alaer, that desert by the way is 100,000 square miles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral,_Xinjiang
http://maps.google.com.hk/maps?hl=en&safe=strict&ie=UTF8&q=aral+xinjiang&fb=1&gl=hk&ei=0QDUS5qNKoPYugPEhP28BA&ved=0CBMQpQY&view=map&geocode=Fe6vagIdgT3YBA&split=0&iwloc=A&sa=X