Oriental Reorientation

I arrived in Beijing two days ago. I've come back to try and live, find work, and/or go to graduate school here. I spent my junior year abroad here, and now I'm back... with less organization and more wandering.

Not all who wander are lost is the adage this blog's title plays on, and as I explore my opportunities and go where that takes me some wandering will naturally take place. I want to embrace that wandering as a form of cultural and self exploration.

It probably sounds cliche and lame, but it really is the way I view my experiences as I attempt to settle down in China.

In the year since I was last in China, my Chinese speaking ability has waned. My comprehension skills are still about par, I can understand just about everything. While finding the words and what I want to say has been slow since arriving, it has definitely improved a great deal--a noticeable amount, definitely--in the last two days. I originally decided it would take 10 days to get my Chinese back to where it was when I left, but it might be sooner than that.

I also bought two children's books and I'm reading those two try to improve my reading. That and simply speaking with strangers has been my method for reorientation so far. 

I have a volunteer position during the Olympics, but after the Olympics, I'm wide open. I hope to narrow my wanderings into a position as an intern or volunteer during the next few months while I try to get settled. That's a brief overview of my plan. Now I just have to execute it...