Tufts... show me some love!

With about a week to go before I might hear back from Tufts, the days have not surprisingly started to crawl by... everyone keep your fingers crossed for good news late next week!

Work is keeping me busy during the day which is nice, but I found out yesterday (as I finally got to sit down for the contract negotiations that I've been waiting for since late September) that the HR assistant renewed my apartment lease for another six months when they got me my visa, but in classic Chinese HR style, failed to mention it to anyone. So I'm staying out in the boonies, but it's really easy to get to work and people have a place to stay when they come visit me, so all in all, not that big a deal. The other end of the negotiations had to do with how long exactly I was expected/would be able to work for the company, and that went much better; I'm all set through mid-April with the option to leave at any time with seven days advance notice, plus it won't be a problem for me to take unpaid leave when I need/want to, so that's some unexpected but very nice flexibility.

Taking it easy this weekend... after five years of going all out for Halloween in Madison, I'm having a lot of trouble getting excited to do it in a country that is notorious for half-assing the holiday (they do the same thing with Christmas apparently and I'm pretty sure most don't even know what Hanukkah is...)

On the plus side, the Chinese classes are coming along really well, I'm picking up much more than I thought I'd be able to after three months, but my tutor is leaving in two weeks and I haven't met the new instructor yet... hopefully she's as patient with me as Annie.

Thanks for all the good luck wishes I've gotten from people over the past few days, I'll post whatever news I get on the blog as soon as I hear from the admissions committee.