Chapter 1:  Prologue

For those of you who have the misfortune of knowing me personally, you most likely would know that there are precisely five things that I express an abiding love towards.  In descending order of priority, the list includes:  my family, my friends, my students, traveling, and eating.  Sadly, I do not have a blog devoted to the first three.  It's probably due to the fact that they can speak out after posting things about them, whereas the other ones, not so much.  This inaugural posting shall serve as an outlet for me to discuss the last two items, travel and food.  

I have written extensively in the past about my adventures abroad.  Boy there were some doozies.  Traversing UP a river on the back of a motorcycle to get to some remote village in Cambodia, again riding "b" on a bike WITH 50 pounds of luggage hanging precariously on the handlebars while evading mass street protests in Cuzco, being propositioned for a hummer by a transvestite hooker in Guadalajara,  and many other such international incidents have shaped the core of my being.  Every time I return from a trip, my perspective on life changes in some way.  This is just me waxing philosophically, but when your perspective fundamentally alters, it transcends throughout your daily actions.  When I see a group of boys in a circle laughing heartily and having unadulterated fun doing nothing more than kicking around a flip-flop, I tend to complain less at the prospect of lacking any particular material items in my life.  Now on a more base level, traveling is simply enjoyable; one that involves my palate rather than the core fibers of my being.  One of the singularly unique opportunities that traveling provides is being able to savor cuisine that can literally not be found anywhere else in the world.

That is why I am starting this blog.  My aim is to share my magical moments, open your eyes to the world outside, and to impart some bit of knowledge upon your unsuspecting mind.  If you happen to cry or laugh on the way, well that's the price of admission to this blog.  Please feel free to post any comments, even if it is to rip me a new one for something obscene that may have crossed my lips.  Trust me, you will undoubtedly come across that should you choose to continue reading.  I will attempt to warn you as to avert your eyes, but I cannot any promises or offer any refunds.  Seriously, if you have any questions about anything at all, please ask and leave a comment.  

On May 29, 2012, I will be leaving my sleepy hamlet of Tucson, Arizona, on a whirlwind tour across Asia.  My itinerary for this upcoming trip will include Thailand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, and China.  I will be spending the majority of my two months abroad in China.  For some inexplicable reason, I have been chosen to teach English to university students in a city called Wuhan.  I have only been to Hong Kong before, so I look forward to visiting the Middle Kingdom.  More specifically, I think I will highly anticipate being able to work with international students, as I hope to gain a different insight in my approach to teaching.  I just hope I don't end up traumatizing some poor student due to something that was lost in translation. 

Stick with me here, people, you're in for a ride...