Right before I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder I went to China during a hypomanic episode. I left everything in Seattle inluding my parter Ivan who had been through a terrible year with his bipolar disorder- I left my family and the few friends I had not alientated with my behavior- and just got on a plane! <\/p>\n
I studied Mandarin in the five weeks I was in China- and because I was slightly manic, I learned it quickly. <\/p>\n
My mom followed me to China because she was worried about me and when we finally reached Hong Kong I knew I was very sick. To make a long and very interesting story short, I was diagnosed and started meds the week I got back to the states. <\/p>\n
That was in 1995. Since then, I have talked about studying Mandarin again. In fact, I have started classes and never finished them. After my trip to Florida last month- I realized that if I want to live my dreams, I have to take action instead of just talking about the past! <\/p>\n
I signed up for a Chinese class and started last night. My goal is to be fluent in Chinese by 2014 so that I can go to China with my nephew who is in a Chinese emersion program at school. <\/p>\n
Enough of my talkin- it’s time to start walkin! I am going to reach my goal of finishing what I started in China. <\/p>\n
Julie <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Right before I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder I went to China during a hypomanic episode. I left everything in Seattle inluding my parter Ivan who had been through a terrible year with his bipolar disorder- I left my family and the few friends I had not alientated with my behavior- and just got on a plane! <\/p>\n
I studied Mandarin in the five weeks I was in China- and because I was slightly manic, I learned it quickly. <\/p>\n
My mom followed me to China because she was worried about me and when we finally reached Hong Kong I knew I was very sick. To make a long and very interesting story short, I was diagnosed and started meds the week I got back to the states. <\/p>\n