Mr. C has a teacher that he collaborates with in Shanghai who told him of a summer job opening at the American School he teaches at. The teacher who was going to do it backed out, so he wanted to know if my husband was interested.
Well, my husband is very interested. His wife (namely, me)- not so much.
The thing is, China has always kind of scared me. I mean, when I think of China I think of things like Communism. Human rights. Lead paint.
Just kidding on the last one.
But seriously, traveling to China has never interested me. It just hasn't. Even with reading The Joy Luck Club and all the other Amy Tan books, China remains unappealing to me. I can't really think of anything there that I want to experience or see. Sure, yeah, the Great Wall- but I hear that it's visible from space, so see? I can just pull it up from Google Space and look at it from my computer. Really not necessary for me to go all the way to China to experience it.
However, while I may be behaving like a redneck, I am also aware that I could possibly, maybe, perhaps be guilty of being the tiniest bit ignorant. So I put the question up on Facebook and got a lot of responses. Most of them were assuring me that China was safe. Then, if I read between the lines, they were also telling me that I was being a close minded, ignorant, American idiot (in a nice, gentle, friendly way). And perhaps I am. In fact, I guess I know I am. After reading through everyone's responses, I've changed my mind and realized that if I did go, I could have an amazing experience. The fact that I don't know much about it or what to expect from it would probably make it all the more exciting and memorable.
But here's the thing: I don't think I'm up to traveling that far with 4 kids. The farthest I've been out of the U.S is Mexico and the Caribbean. I can not tell you how it terrifies me to think of myself being responsible for 4 children in a foreign country where I do not know the language, or the customs, or even how to read the street signs. And yes, true, I'd have that obstacle to overcome no matter what country we ended up going to. But for some reason, I feel like I could handle it a little better if I was in a Latin country where I know enough of the language to get by. Or a European country, where my friends and family have been and have informed me of what to expect there.
So here's where I stand on the issue right now: if it was just me and Mr. C going, then yes, I'd put on my adventure hat and have an experience. I'd actually relish it and look forward to it. But since the whole point of him taking a job abroad would be to take the kids and let them experience other cultures, we're not going to go with just me and him. At the very least, we'd take the older kids and leave the younger two, but then, I think it'd be somewhat traumatic for the baby to be away from us for 3 weeks. She didn't handle it well when we went overnight to Disneyland without her.
This whole thing also depends on whether the American school would give the entire family lodging and plane fare as well. If they don't, then we're definitely out. There's no way I'm going to pay thousands of dollars for J's and Roo's plane tickets. Wether someone else wants to foot the bill for the loss of my sanity on that 14 hour flight is another story.
Anyway, no final decision has been made. Mr. C is still really gung-ho on all of us going. He's taken to dropping random Chinese- related phrases out of nowhere to try to convince me. The other night, I kissed him goodnight and turned over to switch off the light and he whispered, "Great Wall." This turned out to be a great example of how male and female brains are always at odds: While he was literally referring to the Great Wall of China, I automatically assumed he was talking about my butt. He'd best rethink his strategy.
You all have a good night!
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