River Town

If you may have managed to miss this story somehow, this is probably an overdue post, but better late than never.

I guess the story started last summer when I was interning in D.C. Janet let me borrow a book to read for my daily commute. Her mom had given her the book. For a week or two, River Town, was my source of entertainment while fighting the 9-to-5 mobs on the metro.

The book is the memoir of Peter Hessler, who spent two years teaching in China with the Peace Corps. Something in the story sure piqued my interest, because one year later I was on a plane descending into the smoggy Beijing metropolis. And now, I am writing from my computer in the small, out-of-the way city of Zhanjiang where Janet and I teach.

For anyone that enjoys reading the anecdotes of my life here in China, I would recommend picking up a copy of the book that inspired me - River Town. Peter Hessler, who is now living in Beijing, is a better writer than myself and he occasionally writes China-related articles for National Geographic, the New Yorker, and other magazines. As LeVar Burton would say, "you don't have to take my word for it," - read it yourself, but be careful or you may end up over here also...