Up To My Ears

One of my favorite aspects of Chinese culture is that people are more relationship-oriented than task-oriented. When a person asks you to lunch what they mean is that they would like to spend the rest of their day with you if you are willing. This to say, I have been playing a lot this week with Chinese friends but getting very little else accomplished. 

While cultivating relationships with my Chinese friends is pretty high on the priority list, I would also like to keep my job. In all the fun I've had in the past few days, I've carved out little time for lesson planning and Mandarin study, both of which are imperative. I also have been chipping away at a new story I'm hoping will be published for the Burnside Writer's Collective, and had given myself a April 1 deadline. Well, it's April 2, and the story is still unfinished. So today I'm playing catch up before the crazy weekend and Tomb-Sweeping Festival, a Chinese holiday that takes place this Saturday.

Though I would much rather be running around town with friends, scurrying across busy intersections while sipping bubble tea, today it's back to the books for me.