the 'jing thing

After one month in the new place, I'm still officially internetless. Yes, feel bad for me. Imagine how rough my life must be, how disconnected from the world I am, and how many sleepless nights I spend wondering what everyone is updating on facebook. Ok, so you've got it...I'm actually surviving fabulously sans-internet, but just haven't had the time to update the blog, e-mail my favorite people, or even stalk them online. Soon enough, my friends, soon enough. Why no internet yet, you ask? Well, let me tell you. Because, when in China, everything gets "China-fied". This means that a relatively simple task (like setting up a pretty essential utility) turns into a pretty exhaustive and intense process (travelling some distance, requesting internet access...I don't even know all of the details). Plus, with my language ability (pretty sure all I could chat about with the internet people would be their travel plans and family members), a trip to gather internet sounds about the last thing I want to do. Plus, I'm pretty sure all the talk about modems and internet connections may be a little above my level.

Anyway, HELLO! I hope this blog post finds you well. Actually, I hope that anyone even reads this blog post, since I have been such an inconsistent updater.

Life in the great Bei-jing is still going well; class, working odd jobs, and meeting great people is a recipe for a good life (or, at least a good stage in life).
Quick Update on all areas:
My Chinese classes are going well...although, I feel as though I've been going to class for almost two months (eeek!), and my Chinese skills are still bu hao (not good). If anyone has a sure-fire way to improve Chinese quickly, please do pass on the information. I'm pretty convinced that for a foreigner to truly learn Chinese, it would take a really smart person about three years...and even then, I'm not sure they would actually be "fluent". Anyway, regardless of the size of this mountain, I'm definitely heading in an upward direction. If you want to have a conversation in Chinese about your travel plans, going to the electronics market or sewing your buttons...you know who to call.
Work: as you may or may not know, I have been searching frantically for the last few weeks to find a part-time job. Although the life of a part-time student seems glamorous and worry-free, a girl's gotta eat. So, I went on a full-out job search, sending out countless resumes to English teaching companies to see what sort of teaching jobs I could find (teaching English is probably the quickest way to find a job). WHAT a response I got! Almost every place I applied to contacted me, making for a stressful week with constant phone calls from random Chinese people asking me if I "speaka zee English" and want an interview. Although truly a blessing, I was a little overwhelmed at the prospect of setting up so many interviews and finding a place to teach. So, after much heart-felt deliberation, I decided to pass on teaching with Easy Best English, Real Cool English, and other professional organizations, and took a part-time tutoring job that put some cash in my pocket and bought me a little time to work out what would be the best fit. In addition, I also recently got a job doing voice recording! Move over, James Earl Jones...Katie Wilson is sweeping Asia. Its actually a pretty great gig; I can head into the office whenever is convenient for me, and I get paid for the amount of time that I spend recording. I logged a couple of hours today, and actually almost enjoyed the work! At the very least, professionally recording "Chinglish" paragraphs is rather entertaining.
Booming Social Life. No update.
Just kidding. Although maybe not always the life of the party, I have truly been enjoying living and working in such a great city, and meeting and enjoying fabulous people. There is often the opportunity to meet new people who are doing really exciting work in all sorts of fields, to meet random people in class or on the subway and grab some lunch with them and hear their China story.

Well, I think it's time for me to sign off. I have good intentions of returning some much needed e-mails, so hopefully my energy stays up!

Until soon,
k