An American in Chengdu

Awesomeness update | July 23, 2010

I have no fun stories to tell today, but thought I’d update my readers (if you don’t know already, because you’re my mom) about the latest developments here. Right now I’m essentially on a two-month paid vacation, though apart from the trip to Nanchong, I haven’t done anything particularly vacation-y yet. I’ve been keeping surprisingly busy with some remaining editing, with getting things lined up for the fall, and with some personal projects. But it’s a good time to Skype me, if you’re so inclined.

My plan for this fall is to take Chinese classes at a local university and support myself by editing papers that Chinese researchers write in English to submit to international journals. There’s a big demand for that here. I’ve enjoyed working at the medical school (also, having months and months of paid vacation from the medical school, and a free apartment), but working full-time hasn’t left me with enough time to study.

Here are some awesome things that have happened recently:

1. Two months paid vacation
2. My lovely parents gave me money for a plane ticket home. I’ll be visiting Ithaca, DC, and Colorado starting August 10.
3. I asked the school whether I could stay in my apartment for an extra month, so that I won’t have to pack everything up and find a place to put it before I leave for the U.S., but can move at the end of September instead. They said yes.
4. I got a full-tuition scholarship from the university where I’ll be studying Chinese next semester. This isn’t actually a signal that I’m awesome; the scholarship isn’t terribly competitive. But it is free money!

There are also some annoying bureaucratic things that have happened recently, but when I started to list them, in the most bare-bones way possible, it was just so boring that I stopped myself. You’re welcome.