Ups and Downs

Hi all,

Well, I'm finishing my final chapter of life in China. In 26 days I'll be on a plane home. I must admit, I'm looking forward to it. It doesn't reflect poorly on China, I'm just ready for the next step in my life.

Things here are about the same. My graduating students graduated. I miss them already. They spent the first six weeks of the semester student-teaching. The next month or so they had class here at the University. And then they were done. They were a good group of students, and it was hard to see them go.

I'm trying to get my apartment in good shape little by little each day. The state of my apartment when I moved in was quite messy, and I don't want to leave that for the next people. I'm also packing up some boxes to ship back via the mail, rather than schlepping bulging suitcases across the ocean.

I have two and a half weeks of classes left, plus a week of finals. I'll have to turn in my final grades before I go, obviously.

So life is odd here - trying to stay in the moment; not to "check out" too early. But I also have a lot of work to do to get ready to go home. And I have to get myself mentally prepared to go back to the States and look for a job. Life is stressful here, but American life is stressful, as well. The stresses are just different.

Well, it's been nice. I'll keep writing for the next three and a half weeks. :)