My students frequently ask me why I would leave my home country of Canada to teach in Asia. The truth is, I like teaching and I also like to travel. Teaching ESL is therefore the perfect job for me! During the last decade I have taught in 3 Asian countries including South Korea, Vietnam and now China. Each country was fascinating in its own right, and I have made countless friends along the way. It''s been a good adventure, and I hope it will continue for many more years.

I began teaching in Korea as an Elementary school teacher for 1 year way back in 2002. Teaching small children was a nice experience and I learned a great deal at that little school in Korea. I then moved on to a Korean University where I taught for 7 years. This was a beautiful University with over 40 English teachers, many of whom remain my friends today. The University was called Dongseo University and is located in the Southern Korean port city of Busan. You may remember Busan when it hosted the 2002 World Cup Soccer games. It''s the second largest city in Korea with countless mountains, beautiful beaches and colorful neon lights.

Exciting as it was, I wanted a change after being in the same country for 8 years. Having visited Vietnam during my holidays, I decided to leave Korea and teach at a College in Hanoi. Although I taught in Vietnam for only 1 semester, it was an eye-opening experience that I''ll never forget. Vietnam was very different from Korea. However, I think it''s the change that I find most interesting when I go to other countries. Hanoi is a beautiful city with old French colonial buildings, small lakes, and large trees providing cool shade during the extreme heat of summer. The food was delicious, and like Korea, I made some close friends during my stay in Vietnam. I''ll never forget it!

Now I find myself in China teaching at Beijing Normal University - Zhuhai. Coming here was an easy choice for me. The campus is amazing, Zhuhai city is beautiful, and the students at BNU are the best. But this is not my first time in China. While in Korea, I travelled to many countries during my vacations. Because I like boats, I took ships to China on two different occasions. My first trip to China was to Yantai City, and a few years later I travelled to Qingdao and continued on to Beijing by train. I knew then that China was a place that I would someday like to live and teach. Now that I''m here, I have no regrets. I know I made the right decision.