more or lessica...

Due to a recent request by my onlyfavorite commenter Maggie, here is a brief recap about what the eff I'm doing in Shanghai:

So last year (January 2008) I return from my last quarter in Berlin totally broke and defeated by the Euro, but glowing from a fantastic Christmas spent with Other Jessica(BFFF) in Poland. I convert my College Job to a termporary Real Life Job - waiting tables, catering, deli work, etc. - in order to save up money for a hypothetical move to China. Why China? Because speaking Mandarin may or may not be literally my only employable skill (besides waiting tables of course.) History/Sociology degrees don't exactly get employers clamboring over one another with offers.

But then in September I go to this wedding with my mom where I meet some people and then we go out to drinks and BAM this guy offers me a job working all over Africa, based out of Cape Town. The job is for the Pearson Foundation and if you're curious about what they do, go ahead and look at the website.

So I wrap up my life in Seattle, say some terribly sad farwells, and move to South Africa in January 2009, with a quick stop in NYC for "training" but mostly just kicking it with my buddy Mark in Brooklyn.

Cape Town living is windy, soft, and warm with lots of drinks and pizza. But work itself seems slow and then all of the sudden I get laid off in April (economic crisis victim!!) They offer me an extra month's pay and a ticket anywhere, so I go to Thailand for two months where I get TEFL certified (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) so I can teach in China. We've come full circle and I'm back to my original plan.

I arrived in Shanghai the first week of July, found a job, and here we are.

I don't know how long I plan on staying. My contract ends June 15th, 2010 at which point I will return to South Africa for the World Cup (for those of you who dont know, it's a football(soccer) tournament - it's kind of a big deal.) That's where my ability to predict the future ends.

How is my Mandarin coming you ask? bu hao...