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The magic words are "Ships to United States" -- that means I don't even have to consider buying the damn item. Ebay will be the ruin of me yet. *whimpers at visions of silk chiffon dancing in her head*
Once again, something I enjoy seems to want to turn to ashes in my mouth. I really like my job, but the simple knowledge that it will come to an end in a few short months is enough to make me want to just get it over with, already. It's like when I travel, when the date on my ticket home begins to loom nigh, I begin to think to myself, "That's quite reasonable, I'm tired, it's time to head back." If I were to make a New Year's resolution, or maybe a Next Few Years resolution, it would be to just for once set out with no plan in mind, to keep on going until the money or the energy runs out. I hope there would be a good quantity of both, but more of the latter, if only to be able to be able to start planning the next leg of it straight away.
G and I went to a Chinese New Year banquet this evening. Our table sat ten people, four of whom turned out to be vegetarian. G said he'd never had so much duck (Peking, no less!) in one sitting. The rest of the food was also excellent, including green beans in some sort of sesame/peanut sauce that we'll have to try to make.
For some reason, Mandarin just feels right to me. Even if I don't understand it very well, it's a comfortable sound and I think I would be right at home in a Chinese environment. It's funny, when I met G I was planning on going to Japan; then, because he wanted to go to China, I started getting excited about that, wondering what life in Beijing would be like -- but then the department decided they wanted him in Tokyo, so now I've been trying to get used to the idea of going to Japan again. Not that I don't want to, or that it doesn't interest me, but it seems to me such a shame that I've lost the Mandarin I had. I felt especially pathetic tonight when I could understand that the waitress was complimenting me on my Chinese top, but I couldn't find the words to say I'd made it myself. I will speak Mandarin someday, even if I learn Japanese first.
Anyway, getting my hopes up too high about studying Japanese next year isn't a good idea, I suppose, because the government, especially our beloved Foreign Service, is nothing if not prone to disorganization; I've been told yes, but it's really "Yes, as long as..." and I have no control over the outcome of it all.
Once again, something I enjoy seems to want to turn to ashes in my mouth. I really like my job, but the simple knowledge that it will come to an end in a few short months is enough to make me want to just get it over with, already. It's like when I travel, when the date on my ticket home begins to loom nigh, I begin to think to myself, "That's quite reasonable, I'm tired, it's time to head back." If I were to make a New Year's resolution, or maybe a Next Few Years resolution, it would be to just for once set out with no plan in mind, to keep on going until the money or the energy runs out. I hope there would be a good quantity of both, but more of the latter, if only to be able to be able to start planning the next leg of it straight away.
G and I went to a Chinese New Year banquet this evening. Our table sat ten people, four of whom turned out to be vegetarian. G said he'd never had so much duck (Peking, no less!) in one sitting. The rest of the food was also excellent, including green beans in some sort of sesame/peanut sauce that we'll have to try to make.
For some reason, Mandarin just feels right to me. Even if I don't understand it very well, it's a comfortable sound and I think I would be right at home in a Chinese environment. It's funny, when I met G I was planning on going to Japan; then, because he wanted to go to China, I started getting excited about that, wondering what life in Beijing would be like -- but then the department decided they wanted him in Tokyo, so now I've been trying to get used to the idea of going to Japan again. Not that I don't want to, or that it doesn't interest me, but it seems to me such a shame that I've lost the Mandarin I had. I felt especially pathetic tonight when I could understand that the waitress was complimenting me on my Chinese top, but I couldn't find the words to say I'd made it myself. I will speak Mandarin someday, even if I learn Japanese first.
Anyway, getting my hopes up too high about studying Japanese next year isn't a good idea, I suppose, because the government, especially our beloved Foreign Service, is nothing if not prone to disorganization; I've been told yes, but it's really "Yes, as long as..." and I have no control over the outcome of it all.
