3 Yrs in China

The China Connection

A farmer in Guangxi, southern China

We spent three amazing years in western (central) China. From 2006-2009, we lived in Gansu and Guangxi, where we taught English, sent by the Church of Sweden. Gansu, in the north, was very different from the tropical southern setting of southern Guangxi (bordering  Vietnam). Along with teaching and our day-to-day life in China, we traveled within China and into Southeast Asia as well.

A local lady in Yunnan, China, enjoying her pipe

Within China we prioritized traveling to areas dominated by minority culture, including Xinjiang, Tibet, Yunnan, Inner Mongolia, and Guizhou. By traveling around, we were also able to see how vastly China differs geographically from region to region.

At high altitude, struggling in the strong wind on a clear day in Tibet, in
front of Mt. Qomolangma (Everest)

In Southeast Asia we traveled to Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand.

In Cambodia, visiting the temples at Angkor Wat

Teaching in China was a wonderful experience. We loved it, were sometimes frustrated by the situation, but we especially learned a lot from it. Part of the fun of being there was being able to share our experience with friends and family back home. We did this mainly through letters, but also photos of course and short video clips. Most of these are posted on our web page, and most parts of the page are in both English and Swedish, here: http://www.china.e455.se

Movie night in our apartment with a group of students