The End is Nigh

Speaking of 6-month increments, we are closing rapidly on the 6-month mark for time left in Beijing. As you may have noticed in the sidebar to the right, I have added a countdown timer. For informational purposes only. I'm not excited about this in the least.

Ah, who am I kidding? I'm happier than I've been in 3.5 years, and each day gets better. Soon, the wounds and anguish inflicted by this place will be mere scar tissue and post traumatic stress disorder.

Again, I kid -- but only a little. I can easily and honestly say that our time in Beijing has been the worst period in my life. Obviously there are some points of light in that darkness (twin points, actually), but I would be perfectly happy never to return to Beijing. Now, I may be persuaded to return to other parts of China, but you'll have to drag me kicking and screaming back here.

So next summer, for various reasons important to D-What's career, we are headed to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I can't say that I'm terribly excited about the location (and what I've heard of connectivity there), but if my initial enthusiasm about our Beijing assignment and the ensuing series of tribulations taught me anything, it's that the higher your expectations, the greater you set yourself up for disappointment. So, if I keep my expectations low, I shouldn't be too disappointed -- in fact, I might even be pleasantly surprised.

Addis will be our first overseas assignment outside of Asia, and our first without language training. I'm going to try to do some self-study of Amharic, but we'll see how that goes. Anyone have personal experience with subliminal learning? This may be worth a try...