I continue to devote great energy to trying to learn the language. I am now
> two years into Chinese coursework at the university, sitting in class with
> the 19-yr olds and doing all the homeworks, quizzes, and studying. I listen
> to language lessons whenever I have the chance, perhaps while brushing my
> teeth or over breakfast cereal. I have recently become interested in
> Chinese pop music. I translate song lyrics for practice, so my vocabulary
> regarding the joys and sorrows of love is increasing rapidly. I can't
> imagine that someone with a full-time job could put in any more effort than
> I do, and yet my rate of improvement is very frustrating. If we ever really
> thought carefully about the difficulty of learning a second language, we
> would probably never start in the first place.
>
> Even so, I push on with the language, and also with my relationship with the
> country. I will return next May and June to teach in the same program as
> before. Sometimes it feels like I'm desperately searching for something
> through all this (certainly not my roots, since my family has always been
> very Taiwan-centric).
>
> I'm definitely in a deep blue funk about my direction in my personal and
> professional lives -- maybe it's the standard mid-life crisis. To keep it
> from being too overwhelming I have given myself until my 40th birthday
> before I will start contemplating any dramatic decisions.
>
> My family is doing well. Bing continues to live the life of a private
> practice orthopedic surgeon with a wife and three kids (5,8, and 11). My
> mom has crossed thirty years of teaching at Bellaire. She officially
> retired for pension purposes, but immediately went back on a part-time basis
> to handle the two upper level classes. She claims this year will be her
> last one, once she finishes setting up the new AP program in Chinese. My
> father had emergency surgery this year for a prostate problem, which forced
> them to cancel a 3 week trip to Tibet on the eve of the scheduled departure.
> But he's doing well now, and the surgery has had no apparent fallout. They
> will be spending a few days with me over Christmas.
>
> After a few years as a professor at Stanford, my cousin Cammy has gone
> through a sudden and stunning personal meltdown. She resigned the job, and
> for now is what I can only describe as a lost soul.
>
> In recent times, I've encountered much similar (but less extreme in outcome)
> discontent among my peers. There's plenty of career distress, marital
> discord, and other nasty stuff to go around. It seems being a grown-up is
> not all that it's cracked up to be.