Stumbling through Guizhou #5 – Luke’s Bio – China

My name is Luke Taylor. I’m thirty-one years old and passing my time as a Peace Corps Volunteer in China with my finance Becky Boltz. I teach English. Well, I try to teach English but mainly wander in a daze, massively confused by China and the Chinese.

Before becoming to China I was a Volunteer in Ethiopia but my time there was cut short by a war. Stupid wars! I loved Ethiopia and hated to leave but what can you do? After leaving Ethiopia I traveled in East Central Africa and the Middle East. I basked in Zanzibar, drank in Arusha, rafted in Uganda, saw some animals in Kenya, narrowly missed getting hacked up by the Interhamwe in Uganda, made some friends, met a future fianc�, met up with an old college buddy in Bethlehem, boated on the Nile with Becky’s parents and a bunch of spliff smoking boat captains. You know, stuff like that.

Before going to Ethiopia, although I had traveled extensively in the States I had never traveled outside the States, not even to Europe. I was greatly impressed about how easily real people who aren’t even Paul Theroux could travel in exotic locales if they were just willing to try. When we returned to the States Becky and I got jobs teaching in a high school on the big Navajo Reservation in Northeastern Arizona in my beloved desert Southwest. For reasons I won’t go into here, the job sucked. We stayed out the school year and then re-upped with the Peace Corps in order to be able to finish our commitment and to travel around a bit on Uncle Sam’s dime.

So here I am on the downhill side of my second P.C. posting. I had never given China much thought before they told me I was coming here. Now I can’t stop thinking about China. And there’s a hell of a lot to think about, lots of China and lots of Chinese.

I haven’t had the chance to travel much outside of Southwest China but I think I’ve gotten to know my little corner of Guizhou Province pretty well. Well, as well as any foreigner who doesn’t speak the language (Guizhouhua) and who spends most of his time in baffled awe of the culture, can. I’ll be throwing little tidbits of my life here to BootsnAll periodically, but not regularly because mostly my life is boring. Hope that you enjoy them.

Inquiries or feedback, contact: ltaylor28@hotmail.com

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