In the Deep Sunny South

My hometown is located in one of the largest counties in Georgia, growing faster than any of the others. Still, it's a small place compared to Atlanta, where I've lived most of the last 4 years. Restaurants close considerably early, smoky bars remain small and uncrowded. Waiting tables here is a drag, there's no money at all. I call it my hometown just because it's where I've lived the longest, although most of my life has been spent in other states on both sides of the country. Still, I can say that I have become used to living here, despite its slow pace and maddening banality.

Further, I have become used to my expressions in English, my particular way of wording things that comes through as I'm writing now. I've studied languages plenty, but this will be the first time I'm immersed and forced to use one. The main reason I made the decision to go abroad is to learn Mandarin Chinese, because I feel it is an important language to know as a traveler and businessman, and will become even more as the next couple of decades elapse. The one thing that is exciting me today is the thought that a year from now I might have enough Mandarin in my head to carry on a casual conversation with someone and feel fluent. Fluency is a hard thing to define when it comes to any dialect of Chinese, but I think a working definition would be comfort using the language in almost any normal situation. That's my goal.

Most of the jobs I looked through offered some sort of training in spoken Mandarin or another local dialect during the term of the contract. My job offers an hour a week, which is helpful, but I think most of my hands-on experience with the language will be using the little phrases I gain in these training classes on the average Qingdao citizen, and improvisation from there. I'm gonna feel like an idiot at first. I've been lazy and haven't brushed up on the small amount of Mandarin I've learned in class. Maybe the plane flight will give me some time to get a few refreshing lessons in.

One week to go. I'm beginning to feel rushed.