This is a photo my friend, Jeremy, took of some Tibetan script.  Wonder what it says?

As Christa and I have been reflecting and discussing our future here in China, I have felt a "tug" to learn the Tibetan language.  The language itself is pretty daunting, not that Mandarin is a cake-walk or anything. 

Until recently I guess I have been reluctant to take on a new language (especially since my 2 years of studying Mandarin has left me very far from being "fluent") but the more I have thought about it and looked at my original goals for cross-cultural life and work, I realized that learning Tibetan WAS one of my original goals.  My initial interests were born in Nepal and have always had a Tibetan-spin on them, but with all the difficulties of culture we’ve faced in the last 3 years, I think I lost sight of that.

So my current thinking is, "Why not go for it?  I’m not getting any younger…"

I say this in a very nonchalant way, but in reality this "next step" type decision has been much less than straight-forward as you may have gathered.  There has been a lot of Divine input, too.  So, unless something else comes up, looks like I’ll be back in the classroom in March 2009 with a new script and new sounds. 

But first we will go back home (just 52 days left) and let our linguistic muscles rest for a bit .

On the wife front, Christa is feeling the tug to continue to get greater fluency in Mandarin.  She really speaks clearly in Chinese (great tones!) and I think she will really make progress in the classroom and on the streets.  So we’ll be a bi-lingual couple, maybe?  Or is it tri-lingual?  Let’s see, a splash of German, a dash of French, some Chinese, and Tibetan.  And let’s not forget English…

We’re insane.  Thanks for not mentioning it…