Background – China “opened up” to the US in 1979 and our educational group went in 1984, a very short time afterward.

I was part of a great group called Intervarsity / IVCF and started studying Chinese my senior year at Cal Berkeley. My neighbor and friend Kris Koketsu encouraged me to hang in and not drop the class after 2 weeks – learning pinyin and 4 tones was tough at first!

I only took 1 semester because the start of the 2nd semester it seemed that everyone was way ahead of me. Not a good feeling!

Then I was recruited to join English Language Institute - China / ELIC, to teach in China. My church, family & friends supported me to the tune of $300 per month stipend (room and board provided by the host college) and part of the donation pool went to the org that sent us and other expenses (airfare!)

A few highlights / unusual stories – Note: mostly mishaps here but actually a very good experience overall and almost everyone was very kind to us (and curious about us). Some incidents were annoying but funny looking back at them.