It's a lazy Sunday morning-turned-afternoon, and I'm sitting in my room, looking out at the snow and single-digit temperatures (it's actually below zero in Ann Arbor, and I'm trying not to be jealous), listening to NPR and practicing writing Chinese characters. I'm feeling extremely (and dare I say uncharacteristically?) content.

I'm thinking ahead pleasantly to March. I've been doing some work for a friend in Beijing, and in March she and a contingent from her university will be in Ann Arbor visiting the University of Michigan - a trip I'm helping to organize. I'm looking forward to seeing her, and showing the group around. And I'm thinking happily about visiting her next summer, when I return to China.

And I'm thinking very happily about returning to China. I'm still not sure whether I'll be going back on my grant, or as part of a group from school, but either way, it's good. I'm enjoying thinking about the curriculum project I'll do no matter what takes me back to China, and I'm looking forward to seeing friends.

In the meantime, I get to while away the winter teaching ESL, which I have discovered that I truly love.

I feel as if I have finally, finally, discovered what I want to be when I grow up. Last summer's China adventure gave me more than a nice vacation; I think it has given me a vocation, too. I think I was born to do this - to tread the boundaries between language and cultures, building bridges between them. And when I think back on my life, it seems there were many signposts pointing me in this direction all along; I can think of lots of forks in the road where, if I had taken the other one, I would have arrived at this place sooner. (A few examples: When I was 14, I studied French like a maniac and declared I wanted to be an interpreter, but let the dream die because I thought I'd never get a job; when I was in grad school, I toyed with the idea of pursuing a PhD in linguistics, but I was pregnant and thought a switch would delay my completion and entry into the job market). But no matter; I've gotten here now, and I'm having the time of my life.

Well, I'd better get back to those characters. We've got 27 to learn this week, and it's a slow process. (On the bright side, I do really feel as if I'm forging new neural pathways . . . Of course, I also feel as if I'm pouring Chinese words into one ear, as English words fall out the other. :)