It’s funny the way things tend to work out.

Last summer, I went to Jishou with Summer of Service, raring to teach. I had never been to the Chinese mainland before, but I knew I was going to love it. Even with the spicy foods and squat toilets, what wasn’t there to love?

Fast-forward two months. I returned to America shocked and confused, totally unsure of what I was supposed to be doing. I remember skulking around the PiA offices in October, telling the staffers how uneasy I felt. “Good,” Tina told me. “That’s how you’re supposed to feel.”

That’s not to say that Jishou was a negative experience; it was an overwhelmingly positive one. But it was also very different from anything else that I had done with my life. And doing different things, it would seem, require you changing as a person. I won’t necessarily go into specific ways that I changed, as that can be hard to explicitly say, but I do know that I am different. Looking at my blog posts from last year has made that readily apparent.

There is an obvious question that begs itself: why go back?

My answer: why not?

I would say that what I got out of last summer was probably the most valuable life experience that I have had to date, so the notion of another shot at it is hard to say no to. Even more important, though, is that this time I get to do it along with nine Jishou newbies and my erstwhile Jishou roomie, now co-leader, Eliot. A new group, a new Jishou, a new story to unfold. Pretty exciting stuff, I’d say.

While I would usually take this space now to write what I am expecting up ahead, I am not sure that I have much to say. After last summer, I can only expect the unexpected. Giant spiders? Putrid rivers? Xi Yanyang cell phone charms hand-made by students? Asian Jack Black and the delicious pig grease? Yeah, I had no ideas those were coming for me last year, so I’ll play it on the safe side and say, “Come at me, Jishou!”

– Cameron