In a bustling city where people can easily feel lost...

surprisingly, i've been adjusting with more ease than i expected. i've been pretty much on my own for almost two weeks and have gradually come to recognize the roads/landmarks around the area that i temporarily live (i guess i fit into the "girls recognize landmarks better than north /east /south /west" stereotype). i finally met up with a couple of other fulbrighters and even better, one of my aptmates, hayes, also just arrived two days ago to join the beijing fun.

yes, it's been exciting, overwhelming, tiring, and frustrating...but nothing sucks energy out of me more than APARTMENT HUNTING! i've been playing around with four different agencies, looking through more than 10 apartments, and still... i haven't found something that was just right. the apts are either not close to metro... too close to the highways... or have some interior flaw. bleh... hopefully we will find something appropriate by the end of this week....wish me luck. :T

just an interesting observation -- just walking with my aptmate down the lanes of houhai (this picturesque part of beijing that has a lake, willow trees, and the old beijing hutong style mixed with western/international bars), i felt that time had stopped for me. as a new college graduate, this feeling of timelessness was strangely refreshing, similar yet different from the timelessness that i experienced in college. and it is in this twilight zone of chaos and cultural fusion, i found my inner-peace for the first time in a long time.