January 3, 2026

I was cooking a big bowl of noodle soup for the kids when I scooped plastic seasoning packets out of the broth. My cousin said that she’d be able to get me back to my old job on a normal contract if I wanted. I told her that I’d have to think about it.

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It was the first day of the semester and my first class was Chinese. I was already at the gate ready to leave when I decided at the last moment that I wasn’t going to skip class. Much of the school was under construction and not all of the stairs were available. There were some parts where I had to parkour around the blockage and construction scaffolding to get to the upper floors.

The classroom was behind a tea shop. Most of the seats were already occupied when I walked in the door and managed to get out an awkward 《老師好》. I heard a slight giggle from the students seated. Was it too formal? Did no one else do the same on their way in? I wasn’t sure. On the top of every desk was a small rice cracker in a wrapper.

I took a seat and instead of talking to any of the people sitting next to me I wracked my brain as to how I was going to introduce myself later. I felt woefully inadequate about my language skills but decided that this year I was going to make it clear when I didn’t understand something. I opened a notebook already filled with doodles.