20 THINGS WE LEARNED FROM CHASE Chase is a 22-year-old American from Florida. After finishing his undergrad degree in chemistry, he decided to teach English in China and says it was the best decision of his life. He has been teaching English at a local university in Nanjing and also giving private lessons to Chinese students whose parents want to enhance their kids' English-language skills in advance of studying North America. With two incomes, he says he live...

Huangshan Hot Springs I wake up to a cold room in the villa at the undeserved four star Behai Hotel on top of Huanshang (Yellow) Mountain. With a force of will, I jump out of bed in my socks, slippers, jeans, and red parka, and dash to the washroom. Darn! Siobhan must have shut off the hair dryer or else it's simply burnt out. I turn it back on and splash some warm water on my hands and face. Ahhhhhh, that's better! It's overcast but light outside. ...

<!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> The subway doors open and Siobhan is just a flash of violet turning around the pillar and up the subway steps at a sprint. It is 7 am at the Nanpu Bridge subway stop andour esteemed Hamilton psysiotherapast,Enoch Ho, warned us that the bus would wait for no one. Wearing my smll backpack and carrying the fod bag, I ran to follow her tqking the steps two at a time for three ...

Last full day in shanghai (Monday) This was an overcast day, so dad and I were thankful that we had spent the day before outside and this day would be mostly spent indoors. For days we had wanted to see the chinese propaganda museum and decided it was to be first on the list this day. The lovely ladies in purple, the workers at ying ying, fed us dumplings, noodles and what dad thinks is a veal cutlet for breakfast. This may sound heavy and odd for breakfast fo...

Touring shanghai (Sunday, working holiday) At this time dad and I were still wary of much of the culture, where to go, what to eat and such. Fortunately, we met what's probably the only English speaking Jew in all shanghai, in Ying Ying restaurant, the locally popular morning eatery closest to our hostel. Chase, a Jew from florida, has been working as an English teacher in china since the beginning of the year and helped us order our food and gave us some tips a...