Should I stay or should I go?

Weirdly enough, I've been here for roughly half the time I'm scheduled for. In that time i've settled into a pretty good rhythm here. I'm generally surprised at how easy it is to become accustomed to a relatively strange place. The relative cheapness of certain things (taxis, food, etc.) and the large expat population make it pretty easy living. I wouldn't say I've fallen in love with the place, but I also have almost entirely positive things to say about it.

One of the most common questions that expats ask each other is "how long have you been here?" The answer, im finding out, tells you a lot. For someone like me, it's almost slightly embarrasing to say two months. Most people are between 1-4 years with a large amount saying anywhere from 5 to 20 years. These people usually follow that up by saying, "I only planned on stayin for a year, and 7 years later here I am." To me, that's a slightly scary thought - like Shanghai made it easy to stay. Like I said before, life here tends to be quite easy and fun and it seems like often times people come here and don't have any better options, and therefore stay.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. After I tell people I've been here two months they almost invariably ask me "do you think you'll stay?" I really havent had a good answer for this because each day I seem to reach a new conclusion. Some days i feel like I could stay here for a year or two and have fun with it and probably help my resume. Other days, I look foward to heading stateside and finding a job and maybe even heading back to Australia. These are all nice options ot have but it makes for a very confusing feeling. I don't want to stay just because I have nothing better to do. I also don't want to leave without any real prospects, which have been few and far between.

I will almost without a doubt come back to the US for November and December. Even if I am offered a job in Asia, I'd probably make my start date in January. My guess is, I'll probably leave Shanghai in November and not come back. But, like I said, that seems to be the statement right before someone says "and now it's 7 years later."