Veterans' Day Weekend

It's been eleven months since I arrived in China and yesterday I finally hung my first painting.
Who knew it would take a cancelled trip to the North Korean border to inspire me to hang my stuff? Maybe these things should happen more often.

In an effort to salvage my day, I spent most of the Veterans' Day holiday zooming around the apartment with the utilities guy, telling him where to drill holes. After a few confusing discussions, my Chinese skills paid off and all of my paintings, tapestries, and framed photographs are hung on the walls. Surprisingly, the apartment doesn't seem so sterile anymore -- maybe even a bit like home.

Shenyang does feel more like home every day. I've come to realize that it's the people who make a place a home. To everyone here: you make this place wonderful. <3

In the past year or so, I've done a fair amount of traveling all over Asia. As I come up on my anniversary mark of departing for China, I can do a little bit of looking back. Blogging was supposed to help me chronicle my memories as I went along this journey, to make the "looking back" part easier. But seeing as my last post was from January/February, you can obviously know how that went. Needless to say, it's been a whirlwind. The pictures on Facebook can tell a good chunk of the story.

One thing holds true, though, from the first post to this one. Foreign Service life is a challenge, but it is the right path for me. I can honestly look back, as I was suggested to all those months ago, and know that I'm all the better for the decisions I've made in my life. The Winter Cycle bid list comes out in a month or so, and I'm looking at my future going, "Yeah, I can dig a tour in Barcelona or Sao Paolo." It's nice to say that I've done my duty in China, using my language and getting some cred for being in Shenyang. Thankfully, I spun this the best way possible for moving forward. And after Shenyang?
Well...
The future's everything new.