Finally settled into the apartment as much as we can be without living here for a long time. The New Year draws closer and I have been thinking about 2014. So much has changed for me, almost all of it for the better. I am now pretty sure China is where I want to be for a long time. I have learned that I love teaching children, and apparently also have a knack for it. Learning is something I want to encourage everyone to do, I want to help facilitate that at some level for the rest of my life. I can also speak and understand Chinese well enough that I can operate my life in Chengdu. Hopefully over the next several months my level will continue growing until I am confidant in my ability to speak no matter the situation. I will be apply for a Master’s Program in Chengdu, most likely at Sichuan University. In the next year I will also graduate from UNR, something I am desperate to do. The longer I am in the Higher Education system the more I realize it is broken. I am struck with a great deal of wanderlust in my life. I want to go out a see more of China, more of somewhere that isn’t my identified home. I can’t help but wonder if I will ever settle down, and even f I do where that place will be. The New Year is on it’s way, the year of the Sheep to be precise. I wonder what it will bring and what changes I will get to witness.
Dec. 31, 2014
Today started with a quick Skype call with my mother, which was nice as we have been unable to connect the last couple of weeks. After the call I met up with my friend Meiling. She is leaving tomorrow for her winter vacation and will not be back until the end of February, so we decided to have a morning out together. She took me to a lovely park that surrounds one of the many artificial lakes in Chengdu. What is cool is that once you are in the park they are designed to make you forget your are in a city of 14-16 million people. It was nice and quiet. We had a really cool encounter with a man who was practicing his Chinese opera. We stopped to listen then he decided to do something else, he started creating rhymes. He went through commenting on people passing by and it was pretty funny. Saying people were moving too fast, unable to hear his words. It was awesome, then he started to go faster. Meiling translated for me afterwords. He was criticizing governments, mine and Chinese. He apparently commented that Meiling and I were close friends, why couldn’t our governments do the same? Those sorts of things are what make Chengdu such an amazing city.
After that fun little adventure it was back to wandering around the park, it was quiet and lovely. We eventually ended up at the Sichuan Museum, which is a free local art museum. That was also pretty epic. Got to see some things from 200ish BCE and also some modern art. I really love wandering around museums and chatting with friends. After the museum adventure it was back to the apartment for lunch and a quick trip to Trust Mart. Jesse and I bought some things for dinner. Dinner tonight was marinated ginger chicken with onions, potatoes, bok choy, and rice. I would like to report that this was the tastiest meal we have made to date. We are still working on timing between different items, but overall delicious. The rest of the night was spent watching movies. Midnight came and went quietly. 恭贺新禧！Happy New Year!
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