Well it's all about to change for my wife and I here in China. I have
sold my boat back in the UK and my wife has sold her business here in
Baoding and we have invested the money in "The Doves International
School" in Shanghai! along with some rather well connected Chinese
gentlemen. It will open in September and we have had a very very good
response so far. It's been in the wind for a few months now but as
with every thing else here nothing is certain until the paperwork from
the lawyers arrives and you sign on the dotted line. The plan is to
send students who have graduated with top marks to Universities in
England and that is very attractive to families here. A quick tip for
those planning on teaching here, after 3 years you become eligible to
be trained as an IELTS examiner,it's worth looking into.
So much to do....... I have resigned my university teaching job here
and handed back my foreign experts book, so now I have a couple of
weeks to get my "F"visa sorted out. This will be no problem as one of
the other investors is the head of the PSB! and he submitted all the
paperwork for me hahaha! We will be moving into an apartment with a
small garden on campus so it's all very exciting, I think my Ming Zhi
is looking forward to the shopping trips and big city life in general
as well as the challenges of a new business. Opportunities like this
don't come along everyday so we both decided to grab it with both
hands before we get too old.
One of the many consequences of this decision is that we won't have
enough time to hang out here anymore ( stop that cheering at the back
there!) .But, I will always be grateful for the help and advise I
received from the wise heads on this site as without it I doubt that
my story would have been even half as successful as it turned out. I
moved to China 18 months ago to marry Ming zhi and it has been
wonderful best time of my life... well so far anyway! We fall more in love with each day that passes and now it's
time to start another adventure. Who would have thought that my life
could have changed so much in such a relatively short time,not me
that's for sure!
To all the guy's waiting and there wives too I wish the very best of
luck and may the time apart pass quickly. To all those just starting
out there are many pitfalls along the way but if your fortunate enough
to find that one special person you will be truly blessed.
I tip my hat to you all and if your ever in Shanghai keep an eye open
for the best school in the land!
Thanks for the ride Martin,take good care of yourselves
Maxx,Arnold,Irish,Chong ,Vince and the whole crew.....it sure was an education