the Kiwi settles, briefly . . .

It has been a long time between posts . . .

sometimes, for this bird at least, things need to play out before they can be written about, and this has been one of those times

the thing with being an expat is being aware of why you are where you are, and the cost and benefits - and when it comes time to renegotiate your contract, all of those things come to mind

in the two years of living here, I definitely have not seen as much of China as I intended. I return to Korea regularly, because of a dear friend who is of an age that limits such visits and other friends who have known me a long time and accept me for who I am (a precious thing when your close-at-hand friends are all new)

I still find China exciting, and want to see more, so that's on the plus side for staying

I admire, respect and really like (sometimes love) my Chinese work colleagues - they are passionate about what they do, even when realizing it isn't always the best it could be done

the job isn't bad - I sometimes need to remind myself how much I enjoy playing with language, and get my jollies in the process rather than the result, but, hey, that's journalism

it gets lonely, and "friends" come and go and sometimes you realize they're not friends but only friendly acquaintances, but that's another reason I return to Korea often

there's something new and interesting every day - and that is the key for this bird with the attention span of a spermatazoa

so . . . I'm here for another year . . .