Beijing life is starting to look up again. You're lucky, readers, that the time that blogspot was down coincided with my toughest time here. people are always talking about stages living in China, and it's really true. the first month or two that you're here, you're excited by everything, everything is novel and an adventure.
After the month and a half/ two month mark, though, you hit a wall. i started to feel like i had no clue what i was doing here, my chinese was shit, no real job, didn't like the people i was hanging out with. the beijing doldrums. but i've passed the first hard spot. apparently six months can be kind of bad too, but once you hit a year, you can stay forever, and usually do. i'm not really planning on it, but the feeling i'd been having that i would never make it for a year here has totally gone away. my chinese has definitely improved, although i still have far to go. i've found another job to last me through march. i've started hanging out with people whose company i really enjoy. and i'm not so worried about what i'm doing here. also, lately i've been having a great time writing for my magazine, and i feel like i'm getting better at that too. AND, my editors gave me the chance to go to Macao to review a new hotel. this is great, first of all because an all expenses paid trip to an island is awesome, and will give me the chance to travel, something i feel like i've been missing out on. and it gives me a nice opportunity to renew my visa, which i had sort of been stressing about. And one of my editors told me that i can get a work visa from hongkong that will mean i can stay in the country for six month as opposed to three, which is sweet, obviously. so, yay.