A Summer in Rural China

The lifestyle provided by having regular lessons at the nearby school, which had its own community, while having the freetime to explore other areas of Yangshuo freely, suited me perfectly. The small town in rural south-east China was beautiful, with mountain formations and wildlife I would never be able to see in the West. Mutual language exchange, both with children and adults was also incredibly satisfying. I have never spent such an extended time in a foreign country, which I think can be much more beneficial than merely travelling for a few days or weeks for tourism. I think visiting a country so removed from the west as China is also such a rare opportunity when the organisation involved can be intense, so I appreciate Gotoco's role in taking care of so much of that. The trip also inspired me to continue with Mandarin language studies which I had largely stopped a few years ago. And although I will still not be pursuing education as a degree, it has opened up my attitude to it as an occasional side-job. The introduction to China has also been incredibly interesting, particularly the social environment and their attitude to the government, which is less reported on globally, when only their economical stance or attitude towards citizens is focused on by the west.