zai jian Cedar City

Saying adios to Cedar City was surprisingly easy as I looked forward with great anticipation for my upcoming teaching job in Taiwan. I am completely convinced that the lighthearted farewell was facilitated by my almost complete social isolation this past semester, as my main source of human interaction was with my 7th and 8th grade classes at Cedar Middle School. Luckily, the good Lord has seen fit to endow me with an "out of sight, out of mind" type of mentality when it comes to people and places, generally speaking. Certainly, I have a few close friends with whom I will remain in contact from SUU and Cedar City holds many memories that are dear to my heart, but the more conversations I have with my computer in Mandarin Chinese (via Rosetta Stone--a wonderful program as far as I'm concerned) the excitement seems to swell and flood out any other thoughts that may be crowding my heart.
Let not my lauding of the Rosetta Stone deceive you. I am by absolutely no certain terms anywhere near proficiency in Chinese. Like a child with a new puppy on Christmas morning, I try to play with these new sounds and feelings they produce as often as possible. It was with great delight that I attempted to communicate with one of my Chinese students a few days previous. I have always enjoyed placing myself in uncomfortable situations, which I do firmly posit has resulted in much personal growth. Language learning seems to inevitably provide ideal circumstances for discomfort. Instead of the uplifting, "You are beautiful," out came, "You crap beautifully." I guess I need to be more sensitive to the tonalities of the language....