Xianzai, I wanna think in Chinese. . . The Chinese known as Hanyu, Putong Hua, or Mandarin, depending on your perspective. It’s all the same language, and it’s why I’m not in a paid position this year, to study this language with many names. At the same time, I’m picking up Guangdong Hua, AKA Cantonese, in little bits, so that I can hopefully blend in with the local folks a bit more, communicate with my girlfriend’s family (they aren’t all Mandarin speakers) and broaden my horizons that much more. . .

This is a focus that underlies a series of long-term goals.

This is a professional undercurrent, for one. That is, as I become more capable with the language, I can act as a better participant in the realms of business that I encounter in the future. If I am to return to teaching, it would allow me to be a great assistant to the fluidity of an office by offering a bilingual window where there otherwise might not always be one. Also, if something else makes itself apparent in the meantime, I will be that much better equipped to deal with it.

This is also a personal goal. From the age of 8, I’ve pawed over texts with the Chinese script, and I figure that the time is now to be able to finally read them successfully. I’m on the edge, academically, for being able to read at length. I simply need to have a deeper, more intensive experience of study so that I can master the skill. I hope that this offers that. Also, I want to be able to interact socially, comfortably, in the language. But, due to its dramatic complexity, this simply hasn’t been possible for me as a casual student. I’ve put plenty of effort forward, and now it’s time to go full time with it. Indeed.

And so, I sit, 29 hours from now, I’ll have a new apartment, and can begin moving in. I’ve been in a series of hotels for the last two weeks and I’m ready to cut it out.

First, I was stranded in Shanghai for two days and nights as a typhoon grounded all the planes. Then, as I arrived in Guangzhou, my girlfriend and an Air BnB welcomed me, but then I needed more time for the apartment to open up, so I went with a slightly more inexpensive option of a hotel for the last four nights. It’s been two weeks that I’ve been back in China now. Heh, I’m ready for the comfort of a place that I can call my own pad.

Thankfully, I’ll receive the keys tomorrow, followed directly by gathering my belongings from where they sit, the following day.
Lesson learned: Document any and all marks, bumps, scratches, breaks, bungles, and curiosities that could otherwise be overlooked because they might not be overlooked on the way out. I’ve just received the augmented security deposit from my last place. My landlady determined damage on things that were in the same exact state that I received them in. She complained that I left too many things, in regard to things like tables, kitchen items, and bedding. She took two hundred dollars off for fixing and replacing things from an itemized list that were not the fault of my actions. I told her as much, and she told me she didn’t care what I had to say about it. That was the end of it. Ok. Lesson learned. Thankfully, the new landlord seems like a real nice guy. I hope my assessment of him is correct. (I did figure the last one to be a bit shifty but shrugged it off.) Looking forward to a good year.

While here in the city, I’ve been able to pick up on my studying a fair bit from the computer applications that I’ve kept up with over the years. The five weeks in the US didn’t really lend themselves to easy time for study, so I’ve been a bit rusty, and now I have the urge to really amp it up. So, many hours a day have been spend reviewing my Mandarin, and beginning with my Cantonese studies.

This is what has been keeping me busy lately. Soon, there will be rhythm! So excited~

Haha~ Until then, please allow this asterisk of an article to take the place of any other substantive piece that would have been here in its place. Ha ha~ Happy day from the Flamingo, Turkish cafe and patisserie in Guangzhou, China.