it's good to be back in chengdu. cdfls (my school) has hired a new teacher to take rachel's place, brian, and the new blood has invigorated both patrick and i. tian fu square which has been closed for renovations since i've been here is now open as well. from a bird's-eye-view, the square is giant yin-yang symbol, with two fountains for the dots. patrick says that now the mao statue is much more imposing, and i agree.but the new semester is going well. i'm rejuvenated, and so are my students. only 4 more months teaching.
we also ventured into the city to an ex-pat bar, something that i have been wary of doing. it was interesting to see how many foreigners there are. the next night, we met nadia and one of her friends at a turkish restaurant, and lo and behold, many of the faces from the ex-pat club were there. i just don't want to fall into a habit of hanging out exclusively with non-chinese. luckily, living an hour by bus away, that is not likely to happen.but it's nice to be back in chengdu, even if i don't feel as strongly as zhang yimou.
