GREECE

Ok, so I know you are expecting more information about China, but I figured I'd tell everyone about a little adventure I took. GREECE!!!! 2 days ago I got back from a 10 day trip to Greece with one of my best friends from college, Sarah Fabry. We went with 4 high school kids and met up with about 16 others from Kentucky. We spent the next 10 days traveling around the countryside (and some in the islands but not as much as I would have liked) to all the various ancient ruins. Among the most notable were the Parthenon, Temple of Zeus, Temple of Apollo, Temple of Poseidon, the city of Mycenae, and the theater at Epidaurus. The entire experience was amazing and would have loved to be there longer. However, I will say that by the end of the trip, I was definitely starting to test my limits with how close I could get to the ruins (lets just say I almost got kicked out of the theater because the side rail looked like a giant slide to me). The views were amazing, the people I was with were amazing, and I have some amazing stories. Feel free to stalk me on facebook to see the pictures :-)

On the China front, everything is progressing and I will be leaving July 30. Just in the process of getting my visa and insurance in line so the process can continue.

I'M MOVING TO CHINA!

Family and Friends,

In case you haven't heard, I'M GOING TO CHINA! Thats right, I have been given an opportunity to spend 10 months in China working as an athletic trainer in an international school.

The program developed after one of the doctors I work for (Dr. Jeff Guy) spent time in China during the olympics. Not only was he working with the olympics, he was working with an American team of surgeons teaching and developing a sports medicine program for Ex-Pats (foreign citizens living in a foreign country). Until this program was developed, Ex-Pats did not have very many options if injured. Typically, the best option was to fly home for medical care. The Institute for Western Surgery will play host to American surgeons who will rotate through every month treating patients and teaching the Chinese doctors. While developing this program, it was discovered these international schools had no medical coverage of any kind for their athletics. Thus the need for athletic trainers was established.

Dr. Guy, along with his partner Dr. Mazoue and the USC athletic training program director Dr. Mensch, worked with the president of the Institute for Western surgery and developed an athletic training program in which 4 USC graduates will travel to China to cover International schools in Shanghai and Guangzhou.

I will be traveling to Guangzhou July 30 through June. During this time, I will work at the American International School Guangzhou (the Rams) and assisting the American doctors in the clinic when they visit the city. I will live with Andrea (another athletic trainer from carolina I know) in a 2-bedroom apartment in downtown Guangzhou. Not only will I have the experience of traveling China, the international schools compete in the Asian Pacific Activities Conference which means I will travel to Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines with high school athletic teams.

So what does this all mean? I WANT VISITORS!!!! I mean really, how often do you have someone living in China giving you an excuse to visit? I will continue to post on my adventures and when I have vacation time perfect for visitors ;-)

Apparently my facebook will not work in China, so I ask everyone to follow me through this blog and pass the link on to anyone who may be interested :-)