Opportunities.

With things starting to wind down here in Beijing, L told me today that I had better have another art excursion before leaving the city. It's hard to imagine how that can happen as I start to focus on finishing up and plan my next moves. However, she is completely correct, as I WILL kick myself for missed opportunities.

I am at the point where I am spending more energy managing the information I have taken in than I am actually honing (sp?) my language skills. I know how to take tests and pass classes--but will this last week and a half further increase my skills, or will preparing for the tests actually harm my speaking ability? I have always sympathized with schoolteachers who find themselves teaching to standardized tests, and now I am having a visceral reaction to a similar phenomenon.

On top of all this are really silly decisions that seem to be creeping in: do I put off doing laundry by buying a couple t-shirts? Do I wander around to find a new restaurant, or save an hour (and some frustration) by going to a known quantity where I am familiar with the menu (or that has English)?

OK, so now I go learn to talk about the weather (including useful grammar such are rising/increasing and falling/decreasing by x amount) and comparing quantities (my broomstick is 5 cm longer than yours).

Please don't think I'm too boring. Yesterday's early afternoon storm lead to a blissfully cool evening in Beijing that demanded a bike ride. Nightfall found me and a classmate enjoying old-style capitol cuisine followed by some time in a park where an impromptu concert and sing-a-long was taking place. As I've said before, the Chinese really know how to use their public spaces. It was charming.