Ying-Yang: American Perspectives on Living in China

My life abroad started in 2009 with Alice Renouf and the Colorado China Council.  Every year she recruits several Americans to live and work as ESL teachers in China.  With each new teacher there are new adventures, experiences, and challenges.  Besides recruitment, Alice also plays a role in introducing the teachers to this very strange and chaotic country.  She has seen and heard it all as she tries to ease the transition to what is basically an alien planet.  Most of this communication is done through letters and e-mail, and this sometimes can lead to some interesting reading.

In Ying-Yang, Alice has collected some of the most interesting letters and e-mails going back to 1991.  As most people know China has gone through some serious changes in the past 20 years.  So if you have any interest in ever living in China I would say this is a must read before you go.  Or if you just want to know what the experience is like for a foreigner living in China, then this is the perfect book.

I was lucky enough that Alice chose two of my e-mails to be published in the book!  So now I want everyone to refer to me as Mr. Author Ryan Noll.  Haha, no I'm just kidding.  But seriously.  Author from now on.

Some of my friends must also be referred to as author now too.  This includes Eric Fish, Jennifer Bulmash, Whitney Rush, Catt Stearns, and Clio Goldsmith.  We will sign your copy if you ask nicely.

But in all seriousness I think it is wonderful that Alice and Mary E. Ryan-Maher put in the effort to turn these letters and e-mails in to a book.  Nobody knows the China experience as well as Alice.  Now I can open up this book and transport myself back to the streets of Nanjing.

Look on Amazon for a copy.