Looking up

I have been a bit down lately, due to being sick, busy, and feeling alienated, but things are looking up. First, I decided that I am gonna do my ICRP on the INBAR-related bamboo stuff, not the boring public transit stuff. I am also gonna go to a meeting of Beijing's Green Drinks this Tuesday, which I can potentially use as fodder for writing my ICRP (since it is environmental-related). I am also hoping to go to a local aikido place on Wednesday. I spent a lot of my resources early in fall quarter looking for martial arts in Beijing, but this is should actually pan out. I know this because I was referenced there by another CET student's roommate, so this place actually exists, and is somewhat close as well. It is actually right on the subway, only a few stops away from my dorm.

When the other K students leave Beijing, I'm also gonna be picking up a few more English students, so that should bring my weekly income up to a bit more than 1,000 kuai a week (paid on the 1st and 15th of every month). That will give me plenty to eat more, play more, to recreationally buy clothing and souvenirs, as well as save up money for more travel in the future. My hope is to earn enough to make up for what I spent during fall semester, but I also don't want my life to be dominated by teaching English spring quarter, so I might scale it back a bit.

There will be a new batch of people coming soon too. With the advent of my spring semester I will meet another two dozen students, which will give me new opportunities to meet people and make friends. I'd like to spend a bit more time with people spring quarter than I did fall quarter. But of course, that depends on what kind of people they are and if we have common interests. If they just want to go and drink all the time, I may very well be spending a lot of time alone again. But if that is the case, then I can just work and save money! :) Hopefully I'll find some people to click with though.