Welcome to Graham in China!

Hello 21st century!

Welcome to my new blog! I have never tried this before, so therefore I don't know how often I will update this or if I will at all! I'm sure those most acquainted with me know my distaste for writing and reading.

I am a Christian living in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China. I moved here in late August 2006. This has been a wonderful experience so far. I have enjoyed being in this city and teaching at Ningbo University. I teach six classes of oral English and one class of American culture. Teaching oral English is both a blessing and a curse. I do not have very much to prepare since all we do is talk in English, but that gives me ample free time to ... not write. Most of my time is spent listening to podcasts on iTunes and my iPod and surfing the internet. That hooks into the most important part of my personality (at least in my opinion).

I am addicted to making things better. I say that not because I am arrogant or think I am better than everyone. I am only trying to make myself and all those around me more like our Father. Also, I try to learn as much as I can about anything interesting. Though a major contradiction, I am lazy. Therefore I only learn about things that are easy or I like. This blog may be the chance for me to overcome this laziness and do something positive and constructive with my time.

My main purpose of this blog is to tell of my wonderful trips and thoughts on China. As I said earlier, I am enjoying immensely my time here. Living here has challenged me to live in a culture foreign to me with a different language.

My second purpose is to let you know what it is like for an American to live outside America. American flags become much more important and the National Anthem is something you actually listen to.

My final purpose is to give my views on major issues in America. Since I have a lot of free time, I spend most of my time reading news from America. Therefore I feel I have the chance to wade in a cesspool of news and find the truth interspersed with hype.

I hope you will enjoy reading my blog! Be sure to give comments on what you read. To give you a warning, I don't like opinions not based on fact and/or logic. Therefore if you have a point to make please give sources that have intimate access to the facts. Therefore if you attempt to say I am confused by the media and/or government I'm going to ask you to prove what you say before I can believe it.

Mom, I've finally learned how to do this (or finally got bored enough to do it)!

Enjoy!