Adventure awaits Washougal couple in China

Ernie and Pat Suggs will teach in Tianjin for one year

Longtime Washougal residents Ernie and Pat Suggs will soon depart for a yearlong teaching trip to Tianjin, China.

Longtime Washougal residents Ernie and Pat Suggs will soon depart for a yearlong teaching trip to Tianjin, China. Photo by Heather Acheson.

Tossing aside the notion that retirement is a time to slow down and take it easy, a Washougal couple is preparing to set out on what they anticipate will be the adventure of a lifetime.

In a matter of days, Pat and Ernie Suggs will leave their comfortable home and close-knit family, which includes six daughters and seven grandchildren, to spend the next year as English teachers in China. At the moment, they know very little about what lies ahead.

They have yet to be told the specific number of pupils who will be taking their classes, the English knowledge base of those students, or what teaching tools will be available.

For more of this story, see the Camas-Washougal Post-Record print edition.