I have hit the jackpot

I have been courted by two campuses of the same school. I have been offered two positions. One: a job working at the campus I have been at teaching ESOL 7th grade (with the team I have been working with and the students I have been working with)in Pudong (EAST OF THE RIVER). The other: teaching 9th grade ESOL and Social studies (Asian History) at the PuXi campus (WEST OF THE RIVER). I have struggled and agonized about this choice for nearly a month. Even after I realized that either position would be great, I am fortunate to be offered either, I would be happy and successful anywhere and I am so damn lucky to have these offers I still was weighed down by this insatiable dread.
Until yesterday.

I made the choice. I told one principle "no thank you" and the other "yes, thank you I would be honored." That started a day of relief.

I recently discovered that my visa is 14 days from expiration. without a new ticket somewhere I would get deported and not be able to come back EVER, let alone next year for work. It seems that everyone else in the world, or certainly Shanghai is also trying to get out because there are NO flights... no available seats on the many flights that leave daily, unless I wanted to leave tomorrow... um... no.
So my evenings ant late evenings have been spent on the phone to United Airlines in the states. I have tried every possible option to leave the country before June 9th without spending $2000. Last night, that too was resolved. thanks to a wonderful woman named MaryRose I have rescheduled a flight to leave June 8th with only minor changes. All I have to do is get myself to Beijing. I think that much is possible. (I HOPE)

Which brings me to my next point...
I AM COMING HOME
and that is such a strange thought, because when I left San Francisco ... and the USA I didnt think of it as home. I just left. Now that I have been gone for three months it feels more distinctly like home. So the point being, I am coming back to San Francisco for a while and then hope to spend most of the summer in Vermont...

Then I will come back to Shanghai and teach for a year... live the life... the dream... the fantasy that feels distinctly like real life and then... in seven months I will choose another place to live... and move again in a year.

For the first time in a long time I feel excited. I have a job, and a plan and a goal... and a hole lot to do. but more than that i feel relaxed.


I can't begin to explain how much better I feel. It was immediate... relief... excitement.. joy and energy. It is like I had descended into a version of myself I didn't know (or have chosen to forget)... and all at once the person that I love came back.

So welcome back happiness. Welcome back smiles. I will bring these things with me back to the US when i come in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS>