By Andrew Corson, Nora, and Baby Nicholas

（小学美国GIA课程项目教师，于2011至2018年在华美执教）

Each mini paragraph is a journal entry. It shows how China and the experience at Huamei open doors and help the author, me, grow and change.

2011 - Are you kidding me? That’s a dead bird and I’m pretty sure I see a beak and nails. Picture worthy. My parents would find this interesting, their vegetarian son eating a chicken skull. Now this is what I call exotic living. Well time to put the pen down, tomorrow is my first day of school!

2012 - Alright, so everyone speaks Chinese. No problem, I just need a good Google translation. Oh my, Google is blocked. No worries I’ll just learn Chinese. Oh great, “ten,” “four,” and “die” all sound the same. I guess I will just say thanks a lot. Great thing is my GIA students can do most of my translations for me :)

2013 - I think I just ate a plate of rice bigger than my head. Delicious if I do say so. Now two hours to waste. I thought siestas were more of a Spanish tradition. I guess I can take a walk. Wait, it is 1,000 degrees outside and I think we are living in the clouds!

2014 - This is amazing; parents seem to think teachers are the best thing since gold. Kind of nice to feel so valuable. I’m pretty sure I’m still just an average Joe, but an ego boost is nice. My students put on a puppet show that was Hollywood quality…I’ll take credit for that :D

2015 - Have you ever seen people work so hard. One day there is no subway line and the next day there is. One moment there is no apartment and the next there is housing for 200 families! A couple years ago GIA did not even have a full-primary program and BAM now our size is more than double. Only in China is there such explosive growth!

2016 - What is love? Well I’m in love with a beautiful woman. There are few things that we can truly call milestones, but I think this is a great time to set down this historical milestone. It’s funny how Huamei is symbolically a marriage of East and West with their international programs. It’s contagious.

2017 - Well I decided one milestone might not be sufficient. A baby son would be a great addition. Just for fun I finished my masters degree too - thanks to the Huamei administration bending over backwards to help me!

2018 - Can you believe it. Nearly eight years. I need to pack some bags. So many memories to take back to America. What will America be like? Am I ready for my next adventure? Lucky for me I have hundreds of students, parents, teachers, and administrators who have helped shape who I am. I think I’m ready.