Just Calm Down...

So, it has to be stated. I may be losing my mind a little bit. I go from really testy (it is obvious) to fine, and then to freaked out in about 2 seconds flat. No lie. My emotions are all over the place. It may be because I don't exercise, but I know that if I join a gym then I will never go, and it will just be a waste of money. It is a problem that I still have no solved.

This morning was slow start, although I impressed myself. Although my alarm went off at the usual time, I didn't get out of bed until 5:50, a full 20 minutes later than usual, and still, I was able to get out of the house at the same time. It was pretty good. And I even had a bowl of corn flakes, my last one. It was great.

I almost missed my bus this morning, but another one came right after, so I wasn't too upset. The whole time (all during the bus ride that is) I was saying my speech to myself. I got it down so that I could say it quickly (rapid fire man, it's the only way to go) and I felt totally ready for my speech. Well, as ready as I was going to be. You know the point where you practice so much you make yourself nervous? I felt like I was hitting that point, and decided it was a good place to start.

People showed up pretty early to school this morning (not earlier than me though) some because they had Tai Chi and some because they just did. Everyone with speeches was really worried, as we should be, I imagine. I went into a room with my friend Elle, and she said her speech to me, as a practice run. Her topic was Chinoiserie, so it was pretty impressive. Then Chris came in and started saying his. He was smart because he memorized the concepts of his speech rather than the actual words, so it was much more fluid than mine and Elle's. That did not give me confidence.

We had to walk down to the room where all the speeches were going on, and it seemed to me that it went much faster than yesterday. Before I knew it, it was my turn to talk, and I had to do a long walk up to the microphone. It was probably one of the most terrifying things I have done in my life, I was that nervous. I didn't know where to look, or where to put my hands. As I was walking up the microphones, I took a deep breath, and said, in my classic screwball way "Bugger this." Apparently, I was too close to the microphones though, because that got picked up. It earned me a couple laughs.

By the end of my speech (I only forgot one part, for a split moment) my face was bright red, and I was shaking. It was absolutely horrible. I had to go back to my chair and hide my face. I don't ever want to do that ever again. The rest of the speeches were really good. When they were done, we had to go mingle with our family members who came to watch us. My mom met Chris, and laughed a lot. She is so funny. I got lots of looks from Chris's sister, but what can you do? Chinese people will be Chinese people.

A quick jian bing run, and I was back upstairs, and back into regular SYA routine. The rest of my day was pretty basic. History first, learning more about Mao and the Communist Party, and then Calculus. I was in a groove in Calculus today, and I could actually do the integration problems Mr. Pettus wanted us to do. It was amazing. Hopefully my streak will continue onto tomorrow. Cross your fingers.

I wasn't too hungry for lunch, but I went downstairs with Chris anyway, because I wanted to go outside. Today was a nice day, only 45 degrees, which is actually seeming warm to me now. I only wore a long sleeve shirt and a sweatshirt, which, on hindsight, seems insane to me. More evidence that I am slowly losing my mind.

I had the period after lunch off, as my study period, so the two hours until my last class went by slowly. I sat in the small study room upstairs with a variety of people (coming and going) and tried to do homework. I say tried because I have found that it is way to easy to get distracted here. I did get some work done though, and that is the important thing. English was last period of the day, and it is easy to tell that that was the last period. Both our teacher and us had run out of steam, and we were let out 5 minutes early.

After school, I made the lovely discovery that they only homework I had to do was studying. In celebration, Chris, Sterling and I went downstairs to the DVD store to buy something. After an intense study of the selection, I bought all 6 Star Wars movies for $6.11. I love China. Seriously. With a deal like that, how could I refuse? I also bought Because I Said So for about a dollar, but that one didn't work when I played it later, so we won't talk about it.

We had to run back upstairs to get our stuff, and then I went home (after helping Elle with her math. The math test tomorrow has the potential to end very badly...) When I got home at quarter to 5, no one was home, much to my pleasure. I made myself a cup of English Breakfast Tea (which is the greatest on this planet) and tried to get Because I Said So to work. I gave up after half an hour, and just put in the first Star Wars.

My sister brought dinner home at around 6:30, and after a quick dinner break, I went back to watching Star Wars, and didn't finish until about 8. It was great. I will admit it, I am a nerd, but at least I am a happy nerd. Chinese homework and studying followed right after that, and now, I am just getting ready for bed. I got 7 hours of sleep last night (yes!) but I am still tired. I think it is high time that I went off to slumber land. Good night all.

Ready? Because I Am Most Definitely Not...

Hello all. My life has been crazy, and I know that is an excuse I use a lot, but I am in Beijing for god's sake: have some pity on me. I go full steam all day. But here is another one, ladies and gents. Enjoy.

I have gotten very good at pulling myself out of bed at 5:35 every morning. My family, and most of my friends, think I am absolutely bonkers, which is entirely possibly, but never the less, the fact remains that I get 7 hours of sleep a night if I am lucky. Which, most of the time, I am in fact not. Last night, I think it was about 7. Maybe 6 and a half. I can't quite remember what time I went to sleep, which should worry me more than it does. Oops.

I was out of the house by 6:05 this morning, after a yummy breakfast of corn flakes (with Californian milk!) and some small coconut cookies, which are about as addicting as crack. A lot of food is as addicting as crack here it China. It is a serious problem for my waist line. But back to my story. It was 19 degrees when I walked to the bus stop this morning, which, surprisingly for many of you back in warm Davis, is actually warmer than normal for me. I was excited that it was 19 degrees. I actually had to do a 100 meter sprint for the bus (with a back pack on my back and books in my arms, mind you) to get to my bus this morning, which arrived earlier than normal. It is supposed to get there at 6:15, 差不多, (chabuduo, meaning more or less. It is quite a frustrating expression to hear, as a matter of fact) but this morning, it decided to arrive at 6:10 and make my life difficult. Of course.

As per usual, I was the first person to school this morning, at 6:20, which, I will admit, is a little earlier than usual. But only by 10 minutes, I swear. I have a speech to give tomorrow, in Chinese (please, someone just shoot me in the head now, thanks) so I sat down and started memorizing it. Before I got distracted and started doing my history homework, which I am embarrassingly far behind in. But don't tell. The deficit is slowly getting smaller. As soon as people started arriving though, I was distracted for good, and eventually, just gave up.

All of SYA walked to a bigger room for the speeches. Everyone has to get up and talk for a certain amount of time, in Chinese, while all the teachers and the students, and Chinese parents listen. Oh, and did I mention, it's filmed. Bugger. The speeches today were good, and I was just thinking, I have to do this tomorrow. It is going to be a disaster. I am really nervous.

演讲以后(The way I would say "after the speech" here in China) we trooped back upstairs for our weekly meeting, where all the faculty make announcements and such. This meeting frustrates me a little, because by the time we are done, there is not enouh time to run downstairs to buy my daily jian bing, which is a problem for me, as I am addicted. But, it is not good for me to eat one everyday. I will get fat. Or so I keep telling myself.

My Chinese tutorial was up first, with Shen lao shi. He made us read our speeches to him, so he could critique us. After deeming mine fine, he moved onto Elle's (another girl in my tutorial) who chose a really hard topic to write about. If I told you what it was, I would have to kill you. So she and Shen lao shi worked together on it for most of the time. I have to go after Elle, so I am going to feel like an utter fool.

English was next. Due to my want to censor what I write (Mom's orders) I will not go into detail about the class. He kept us past the bell though, which is frustrating to me. The bell rings, we are free. End of story. Teachers who keep their students past the bell should be shot. That's all I have to say about that.

For lunch I caved and got a jian bing. When it comes to these babies, I have no willpower. None at all. If you don't know what a jian bing is, look it up, because I can't explain them properly, and I am done trying to. It just ends badly. After eating, I went back upstairs, tried to get some history done, went to Mr. Pettus about math questions, and then dragged myself to history class. We are in about the 1920's China right now, and learning about Mao Zedong and the Communist party. It is embarassing how little I know about Mao. I like to fake my way through it though.

Calculus was last today, and we probably got yelled at for wasting our teachers time for about 20 minutes with stupid questions. He then proceeded to tell us about how we are one of the slowest learning classes he has ever had. Isn't that lovely? That is one of those thoughts that is better not said, thanks very much. And you wonder why no one pays attention in math. There is only so much that can be done when you are being yelled at for being stupid. Mhmm...

Today was the first day of me getting a math tutor as well, and I had to rush from Calculus to get to the room where I was meeting her. Due to a miscommunication, she wasn't quite ready, and so today was a little frustrating, as a lot of the questions I had she couldn't answer. I am going to try again next week though, and hope for better results. I definitely need a tutor, because if going to my math teacher is just not helping. It also does not help that I want to give him a black eye. Just a passing thought.

I hung around school for about an hour more until leaving at 5 and catching the bus home. I left my bus card all the way up at the 6th floor (I realized this as soon as I reached the bottom floor, of course) so I had to borrow Chris's. No one was home when I got home, so I busted about my speech, and started practicing. My mom and my sister came home at around six, and my sister went to go do homework, while my mom started making dinner.

The dinner conversation was interesting. My mother brought up Chris, and started talking about him, asking how he was, if we were still friends. Then she said she talked to his host mom, and his mom said he liked me alot. That got lots of kicks and giggles from my sister and mom, who started teasing me that we were going to get married. They most definitely know, although how, I have no idea. The social networks in China are truly amazing. A quick IM to Chris proved that he had gotten the same grilling, and we came to the conclusion that we had been ambushed. How very Chinese.

Now, I am freaking out about my speech, and trying to remain calm, as the airline hostess always tell us to do. I have memorized it, but I know I am going to forget it all. Wish me luck everyone!

Pat Yourself On the Back

I'm back, after a long separation. Hope you didn't miss me too much.

I woke up at 5:36 this morning. That seems to be the time that I can drag myself out of bed most mornings. I turn my alarm off, but leave the snooze on so that I can still slowly wake up without falling back asleep, which never ends well. I have gotten quite good at functioning on 7 hours or less now a days, and find that as long as I have someone to keep me awake, my classes aren't too bad either.

It is starting to get really cold in the mornings. As in 35 degrees if I am lucky. I have to wear my ski jacket to school if I don't want to freeze. Some mornings I even wear my hat and gloves, which always earns me a laugh from my fellow SYAer's. This morning wasn't too bad, only 35, but I still wore my jacket. I can't stand being cold. Although this winter, I am determined that I am going to beat the cold. I will not be as cold anymore. I realize that this is really not something that I can control, but I am going to bloody try.

I got to school at 6:30, which is also about normal for me. I am just about always the first one there, unless Chris beats me, which he does on some mornings. But I always get homework done until a lot of people start showing up. That is about the point when I become so distracted that I just can't focus. I almost brought my computer to school so I could call my parents on Thanksgiving, but I decided that I didn't want to lug the thing all the way to school. Sorry guys, Thanksgiving is just not that exciting. Especially not if you are going to describe to me, in detail, what you are eating, and therefore, what I can't have. It's just not right.

This morning, in our first Chinese class, we had a test on the first 4 chapters, so about 150 characters at least. I have no idea, really. I thought it went well, but when I tried to turn it in, she handed it back, saying "Find the mistakes." I didn't, really. It was kind of depressing, because then she showed me what I had done wrong, and I felt like a total failure. It was all stupid mistakes, really. Of course. Ah well. I ate some of my zao gao cake that my family bought (to cheer myself up) and then went to the next class, which I have a test in on Monday. My teachers are currently collaborating against us. It is not cool.

After Chinese, it was back down six flights of stairs to buy a jian bing. I swear, that stuff is more addictive than crack. I have one every morning, just about. But they are only 44 cents each, so I don't feel too bad about it. At least, not enough to stop eating them. Everyone at SYA loves them, so we normally just find one person who is going to buy them, and have them buy a crapload. I didn't want to wait though, and just went by myself. We aren't supposed to eat inside the buildings, but I normally finish by the time I get to the top of the stairs.

First up was Calculus today, which went much better than normal. I'm starting to understand what we are doing, which is perfect timing, really, because we have a test next Wednesday, as per usual. I did much better on my last test, which was a big confidence boost. Hopefully I can keep it up. Right after Calculus was History, which was more of the same. We had a good conversation for the first half of class, and then got totally off topic. It doesn't help that we have a kid in our class who most certainly does not want to be there, but our teacher charges on anyway.

For lunch, Chris and I went downstairs for some chicken, because neither one of us were particularly hungry, and I had homework to do, so I was going to go back upstairs to finish it. Yet again, I was distracted, because there were people in all the rooms, and it was Friday afternoon on a lovely day. You just try focusing on Calculus homework. It's not possible. After wandering aimlessly up and down the halls for a while, it was off to English for me.

We had a guest speaker come in to talk to us about the book we are reading, Dream of the Red Chamber. (As a side not, the book is actually titled 红楼梦, which literally means Red Building Dream. Gotta love translations.) It was a pretty interesting talk, because she has been studying the book for a long time, but we did run into a bit of a language barrier. Her English was excellent, but still, there is only so good that it can get. I wonder if that is what I will sound like to Chinese people one day. That is kind of a depressing thought.

Right after that class, I had a free. Because I was planning on going out to dinner with a lot of people Saturday night, I didn't want to go out tonight, because two nights in a row might be a bit much. Because of that, I didn't really want to go anywhere, because there wasn't all that much time. So I sat in the study room with Chris (various other people cycled through) and did Chinese and Calculus. This continued until about 4:30, at which point Jang, a Korean guy at SYA, came in and invited us to come to his Thanksgiving dinner with his sister, who is leaving to go home soon.

Last Day of "Freedom"

Even though I went to bed at the insane hour of 12:45 last night (seriously, I got a call from my sister half way around the world asking why I was still awake) I couldn't sleep in. I just can't win. 8:15 this morning, I opened my eyes, and immediately wanted to hit something because I was awake, and there was no sign that that was about to change any time soon. I got a phone call from my parents not 10 minutes after I woke up, and I believe that it was rather obvious I was still half asleep.

It was a rather relaxing morning over all. Until about 11, when I had a minor tiz with my parents over a jacket that I wanted to buy. Wanted to, not needed. That proved to be a point of contention, and I spiraled into a bit of a funk for a while. Talking about your problems always helps though, so after complaining to a friend for a couple minutes, I felt better. I really shouldn't complain, but I am only human. Deal with it. I tried to distract myself by doing homework, but I just wasn't feeling my history homework. Pass, please.

For lunch, my parents surprised me and decided to go out to a restaurant instead. Normally, this would be fine, but my parents are such good cooks that I would rather eat at home any day. And we didn't even go to a good restaurant. We went for Xuan Yang Rou, which is basically a little personal hotpot restaurant, where they bring you plates of meat and vegetables, and you cook your own food in little pots of boiling water. It isn't as good as it sounds. The food doesn't really taste that good, and you are supposed to put it into this sesame paste, which also doesn't taste particularly lovely. I burned my tongue because I didn't wait long enough for all the meat to cool down, and swallowed disgusting amounts of hot water. My mom kept putting food into my bowl, until I was ready to create a makeshift wall out of used plates. They thought it was funny though, when I would have staring contests with my food because I was so full. I aim to please.

Because you have to wait for the food to cook in the little hot pots, lunch took about an hour and a half. I kept coughing all throughout the day, and lunch didn't quite sit properly in my stomach. I think this is my body telling me that I am getting a cold. Of course. After lunch, it was back to doing homework. Today was supposed to be my big homework day. And in my defense, I did get most of my history done before I was distracted. I decided to get out of the house, and go meet Chris at school so we could walk around Beishi da, which is the big college connected to our high school, and located directly across the road.

After a minor miscommunication in where to meet, we met up and walked into the campus. It actually is a pretty nice place to walk around. We found the major athletics place, and then explored the rest of the campus for about an hour. It was pretty cold today (I think there was a high of 52. So bloody cold for a small town girl from California) but I had on my scarf and nice black jacket. That kept me mostly warm, although I couldn't take my hands out of my pockets unless I wanted to get frostbite. Which doesn't sound particularly pleasant.

At about 4:15, we called it quits, and bought milk teas before heading back, him to his house, and me to the bus stop. There was a small detour to a dvd store so I could get Mamma Mia for my American sister (which I did get, Rachie. Be happy.) And then the waiting game started at my bus stop. I missed one bus by 10 seconds, and then waited in the cold wind for 20 minutes for another bus to come. I was almost ready to just hop in a taxi and pay way too much for a quick ride home. But the bus showed up. Took it's sweet time getting there, though.

When I got home, I sat down at my desk, and attempted to tackle my homework load. Chinese was first, as per usual, and I didn't even finish it before I had to go eat dinner. Dinner was pretty good tonight. My parents had gone out to buy bing, and we had this bing with sweet, almost jam like stuff in the middle. It was really good. There were also veggie and meat dishes, along with another big plate of bing. Dinner heaven, as far as I am concerned. Although I really need to stop eating like every meal is my last. It's not good for my body.

It took me about an hour after dinner to finish my Chinese homework. Or, at least mostly finish it. I couldn't do one translation because I haven't the foggiest idea what a resultative complement is (even in English, much less Chinese) or how to use it. That can be done tomorrow morning when people smarter than me can help me. Most of my history got done, and I am just crossing my fingers that there was no Calculus, because no one in my class seems to think there was either. Ah well. Shit happens. Now, my loves, I have to go to bed if I don't want to imitate a zombie tomorrow morning. Sweet dreams.

Getting Out of the House

I always forget that downside of going to bed early is waking up early. Every night, it is so nice just to fall asleep at 10:30 or earlier, and feel proud of myself for getting a whole night of sleep. But then the next morning, when I wake up at 7, I don't feel nearly as lovely. And that is exactly what transpired this morning. I thought I must be on drugs or delusional when I rolled over and saw my phone time as 7:15. But no, I really was awake that early. And couldn't go back to bed, no matter how many times I replayed the lyrics "you gotta wake up slow" in my head. Over and over. Stupid teenage tendencies. Maybe it is just me, but I am so not a morning person.

The one good thing about waking up so early is that no one else was awake. Although when I opened my door to check, my dog greeted me, which is odd, because he is normally locked up in his room. But he couldn't stop me from walking around. I grabbed some leftover bing from last night (4 pieces. I am such a bottomless pit sometimes) and a piece of cake for breakfast before going back to my room and getting back into bed. I basically just wasted time on my computer, although I will not go into detail because I am still not 100% sure who has the address of this blog. What can I say, I am paranoid.

I got a text from Chris at about 9 this morning saying that he was in a tea house, and I should go join him, which I did. Getting there was a bit of a hassle though, because as soon as I got out of the house (which took a while in and of itself, because I had to find clean clothes, and get my stuff) I had to wait at the bus stop for 15 minutes before a bus showed up. Of course, I waited, and then 2 show up at the same time. Naturally. It made me want to punch someone. Hard.

We met at Happy Time (which is a tea house with Internet access), because he needed an Internet connection, and I wanted tea. When I arrived, he was in the middle of sending off the Middlebury application. College apps do not do wonders for a person's personality at any given point, and he was more than a little frustrated. But an hour and a half later, he was done, and we still had the rest of the afternoon. After a quick trip to our trusty fried chicken place (it is right next to school and has the best fried chicken ever) we hoped in a cab and headed to the art district, because it sounded mildly entertaining.

As it turns out, the art was a little disappointing. The cab ride there was rather expensive, and it was only a long street with lots of modern art galleries on it. Neither of us are fans of modern art, and we left after only 10 minutes. There wasn't much interesting things to do in the surrounding area, so we just got back into a taxi and went back to Xinjiekouwai, which is the street that school is on. We didn't talk about our little detour to another part of the city. That is better left unsaid, most likely.

Chris had errands to do, so that became our next order of business. Here is a good time to make an announcement. I went to McDonald's for the first time in probably forever, because I can't remember the last time I went. Chris wanted a cheeseburger, and he got me a chocolate milkshake just for the hell of it. I even tried part of a cheeseburger. It's crazy. I feel like I have been replaced by some stranger who eats McDonald's.

Errands turned into an adventure. We went to one store first, but it didn't have what we wanted, so we walked to the bus stop (because we were being lazy) went up one stop and went to another, bigger store. He had to buy shampoo, conditioner, and deodorant. The deodorant was the only thing that was a problem though. And when I say problem, I mean they didn't have any. Unless it was some slightly suspicious smelling Rexona. No Old Spice though, which was a problem. We ran into Jamie on the way out of the store, and after a slightly awkward encounter, moved on. I made a quick stop into a bakery to get a piece of chocolate cake (bad, I know, but I just couldn't resist) and then decided that I had to go back home, because I was already late.

When I got home, my parents weren't even home. Of course they wouldn't be. My sister and I talked in one of our bilingual conversations, and then she went back to her movie that she was watching, and I started watching Peaceful Warrior, which, aside from the weirdness, is a pretty good movie. I couldn't quite bring myself to start my homework. I'm just not in the zone yet.

Dinner was, as per usual, quite good. We had a really good beef dish with potatoes and carrots, and a chicken thing that was okay. There was cauliflower, which they cook really well here, and this fried dough thing that had been fried ontop of the chicken stuff, and was really yummy. That is the only way to describe it. After dinner, we all just chilled on our own. My mom came into my room to look at pictures, but I am fairly sure that she was doing it out of obligation, not because she wanted to. Ah well, what are you going to do? Have a good day all.

The Recovery

It's interesting how you always need a couple days to recover from a vacation. You would think that the vacation would have relaxed you, but you need a vacation from the vacation. Today was that day for me. But it didn't start out very relaxing. We were on the train coming back from Suzhou, so I was woken up rather rudely. And early. We slept in very close quarters on the train, and I was woken up when my friends' phone started beeping at her. Every minute, for half an hour. At 5:45 in the morning. To make my life even better, they had turned the lights on, so it was hard to go back to sleep. When the food lady came by screaming that she was selling coffee, and when the music turned on, I just gave up and got out of bed. I was feeling rather irritable though. You would too if that was how you were woken up.

We got off the train at 7:24, and there was a collective sigh of relief to be back in Beijing. Traveling was great, but it is nice to be home. It is weird to think of Beijing as home, but that really is how I am starting to think of it. I got that same feeling of relief to be back as I get when I return to California from trips. Maybe I am getting used to life here.

We moved as a collective group out of the train station, and that is about where the group ended. We were taking the subway back to school, and some people had to buy tickets. There was a huge line to buy tickets, so Mr. Bissell told us that who ever had a quick pass could just go. Chris, Warren, Mike Reddy and I got in line to get into the subway, and got on the first train there. It was a pretty quick ride back to school (Warren got off a couple stops before to go home) and the rest of us decided to be lazy and ride a bus 2 stops down to get to school. What can I say, we had just been walking all over China, a little public transportation never hurt anyone. Well, not this time anyone. I realize that probably isn't the case all the time. Moving on.

I bought a jian bing before anything else. I had a serious craving for one. I even had put money (easily accessible) into my pockets so that I could grab it and buy some food. Cheers for planning ahead. I also stopped at a newspaper stand to get some money for my phone, because I was so low that I couldn't even call people. It was bad. I am getting a little too dependent on my phone these days. But everything is so cheap here that I don't even feel that bad.

I walked upstairs with Chris and Mike to be social, because they had to get some packages out of the office (stupid families who send their kids Halloween candy... I may be hating a little bit). I didn't have a package, but I'm not complaining. I just steal other people's food anyway, so it is not a big deal.

I went home shortly; the lure of a shower and proper clean clothes was just too much. I just rode the bus home, because it was much more convenient then getting my family to pick me up. Public transportation in Beijing is really good. You don't need a car to get places. It was weird to be walking home again, and be doing things that are so normal. I felt a little out of place. When I walked in my door, Jerry, the dog, absolutely went nuts. I think he missed me (at least, that is what I am telling myself.)

I had a quick conversation with my Chinese parents, pulled all the dirty clothes out of my bag, and hopped in the shower. I swear, a shower has never felt so good in my whole life. There were times when I didn't shower for 4 days (gross much?) and this one this morning was almost orgasmic. All my clothes were dirty though, so I just got back in pjs, and continued my conversation with my family. I almost kissed my mother when she offered to wash my clothes.

The rest of the day was rather relaxing. My mom and dad (who were home all day for some reason) went food shopping this morning and I stayed home in bed. I made a quick run outside to get some of the good raisin cake, but it was bloody cold today (the high was 55 degrees, maybe. It is starting to get cold in Beijing, which is going to be a problem for me). Needless to say, I decided to stay inside for the rest of the day.

My family made jiao zi (饺子 - dumplings) for lunch, which were delicious as usual. I have missed their cooking, especially because I was not impressed with the food on the trip. Both before and after lunch, I had long conversations with my mom, dad and sister back in America. Catch up sessions, if you will. It was nice, because I haven't talked to them in 2 weeks.

I wasn't nearly as productive as I should have been. I went down for about a 4 hour nap (I know, it's impressive. Try not to be too jealous) right after lunch, and when I woke up (at about 4:30) my parents were out again, but this time, I have no idea where they were. They came home shortly, and started putting food out on the table. We didn't eat until about 7 though, and I was really confused as to why we had 4 extra seats around the table. No one ever tells me anything. It wasn't until the grandfather came over and put a cake on the table that they bothered to tell me that today is actually my mom's birthday, and we were celebrating. Bugger. Nobody ever says when their birthday is here in China (my mom's excuse was that she is too old. She is not.) I feel bad, like I should have gotten a present. Too late now, I guess.

My grandparents, uncle and aunt came over for a pretty good dinner. The cake was just store bought cake, but it was pretty good as far as cake goes here in China. And it was a good family dinner. I understood more tonight. I guess that trip really did help. Who knew? People talked to me a little tonight, but I was still pretty tired from my trip. They got a kick out of me telling them where I had gone. Although they started describing things, and I had no idea what they were talking about. That was interesting.

After dinner was chill. I went back to my room to rest, and I am not sure what my family did. Now, I am sitting in bed, and about to go to sleep, even though it is only 10:15. I am turning into light weight, I know. It's a little embarassing, but in my defense, I am recovering. I hope nothing catastrophic has happened in my presense. For the first time in 2 weeks, goodnight all.

How to Time Travel: Go To Rural China

The Fall Study trip. There is no one word to describe it. There were highs, and lows, and everything in between. I will start from the beginning. Enjoy.

The first two days, the very beginning of the whole experience, was on a train. This wasn't just any train though. The was a Chinese sleeper car, which is a whole new thing on it's own. They are small and rather cramped, so you get to be very close friends with the 5 other people that you room with in the tiny tiny bunks. There are also only 2 bathrooms (maybe) for every 66 people, and they get really stinky really quickly. But the first ride really wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. The trains were still nicer then I was expecting, and everyone just crammed into bunks and talked/listened to music for the both days, for the whole ride. So at least we entertained ourselves.

The To-Do List

This morning did not go as well as I would have hoped. I had planned on a beautiful sleep in until 9, at which point I would take my time getting out of bed and greeting the world. Unfortunately, my internal clock is no longer set by me, and seems to be in it's rebellious teenage years (as I should be) and instead I woke up 3 time this morning. Once when it was dark (I immediately rolled over and went back to sleep) once more when it was kind of grey (again, went back to sleep) and the last time was at 8:05, when I finally decided that I may as well get out bed. This was clearly not an argument that I was going to win. Why bother?

When I woke up, no one else was awake (well, at least their doors weren't open. That was all I needed to know) so I just grabbed my computer and sat down at my desk. I talked to my mom for a while (she told me to clean my blog up. That seems to be a regular conversation I have been having recently. Ah well.) That was a nice conversation though, because I haven't talked to my parents in a while. My dad fell asleep while my mom was talking to me (of course he did. Of course.) but I can forgive him. We ran out of things to say after about 20 minutes, and I signed off just before we started hitting the awkward silences that no one likes.

My morning was characterized by packing for my trip tomorrow, and wasting time on the internet, the way only teenage girls can do. I made plans to meet my friend Hannah at school at noon to go do some errands together, because it became apparent that I would need some more things. After a quick (but scrumptous) lunch of noodles with beef and vegetables (fried, of course) I put on some nice clothes, and my new scarf, and off I went via bus.

It wasn't until I got to school that I realized I had sort of screwed up. I realized that Chris, Sterling and Claire were expecting to do something with me, and I had made plans over plans. (In my defense, I thought that those plans were just tentative. Communication error.) But in the end, it didn't matter. Chris and Sterling had just taken the SAT 2's (poor people, that really is a horrible way to begin a perfectly good Saturday) and were starving. Hannah and I had to go buy camera stuff, so they bought lunch and then followed along.

At first we went to the wrong store (because someone - ahem) thought that he knew where we were going. But then I dragged everyone out of the store, and to in the right direction, and we were right where we were supposed to be (Mr. Bissell had told me how to get there.) It was about at this time that I could feel a mood swing coming on. Those are never good. I sincerely hate mood swings.

I was trying to buy a new memory card for my phone (as did Claire) and Hannah had to buy an actual camera. Because Claire's camera is new, she didn't have a problem getting a memory card easily, and relatively cheaply. Mine though, was another story. The first people that we talked to said that mine was too old and that it may take a little while to get a memory card. And that it would cost twice as much. It wasn't worth it to me. Chris told me I could his camera for that trip, and that was that.

After a minor bout of sickness (on someone's part - for decency's sake I won't mention names) and about an 1 hour of our lives, Hannah bought a new camera. It was quite an ordeal trying to pick one, and Sterling got distracted and almost bought a new phone. Of course. I just getting more and more dull (stupid mood swings) but it wasn't too bad. I just felt like I wanted to go home and crawl into bed. I think it is just my burned out-edness showing through.

After buying a new camera, we still weren't done. It was off to the drugstore for our gang. We went to the drugstore in Beishi da (北市大) because it was closest, and it was right next to a bubble tea place. We all had to buy bathroom stuff (soap, wet wipes, shampoo, toilet paper, the works) so we headed to the back of the store, grabbed the stuff, and headed back up front to pay. It is a huge supermarket though. Very Chinese. It has absolutely everything. I was still in a bit of a funk, but it was starting to go away by this point, which was a relief.

As soon as everyone finished buying all of their little odds and ends, we moved to the bubble tea place to get something to drink. It was rather cold at this point (the high point of today was 66 degrees, and we were definitely moving away from the point) and bubble tea is hot. Also, I think everyone needed a pick me up. I know I did.

I had to go back to school to get stuff out of my locker, and Hannah decided to come with me. We ran into Mr. Pettus just as we were about to take the elevator up (which was awkward, because we are not supposed to) but he was pretty cool about it. He didn't care at all. I picked up my armfull of clothes and we went back downstairs. We both go to the same bus stop, so after a quick detour by the dvd store (it was rather disappointing today though. Nothing even remotely tempting) before heading to our respectful buses. My mood caused me to get a little sappy, which, on hindsight, is absolutely horrifying. Poor Hannah.

The rest of the night was not that great. I just started packing, and kept going. It took a while for me to get the right amount of stuff into my bag, but I think I finally have it. I am rather proud of myself for how light I am packing for 2 weeks. Things may get stinky, but my back won't hurt. That is the important thing. I just hope everyone else agrees with me.

My mom finally came home tonight. I haven't seen her for a while (3 days I think) so I am glad that I got to see her before I leave tomorrow. She also brought chocolate Haagan Dazs ice cream home from abroad, so I could kiss her. No joke. It was probably one of the best things I have eaten in a long time.

My dad also took me shopping for food for the train tomorrow. We bought a lot of food, but when I mentioned this, he just said, no problem, give some to your classmates. I am goin to have alot of friends tomorrow, I can tell you that. It shoud be a good little feast. Although I really think that I have to start exercising. Maybe that is why I have mood swings. I honestly haven't the foggiest.

Now, I am utterly exhausted, and must go to sleep. I hope you are all well. I won't be posting for another 2 weeks, because A) I am not bringing a computer and B) there is no internet. Case closed. So you will have to struggle on without my wit and charm. But I will put on an extra long one when I get back. Have a nice 2 weeks! I most definitely will.

The Sigh of Relief

I slept in this morning. It was gorgeous. I set my alarm for 5:30, although I am pretty sure that I just turned it off and went back to sleep, and convinced myself that I had just dreamed that my alarm went off. I would not have gotten out of bed if my friend hadn't texted me "good morning" at 6. That dragged me out of bed.

This morning was a beautiful morning. I left home a little later, because I had no homework, and there was no rush. I got on the bus, and gave up my seat for an older lady. It's just the way that things are done here in China. My bus ride was uneventful, although I did catch up to my friend Rebecca right before the stairs to school. It was nice to finally walk upstairs with someone. It is always just me, myself and I in the morning. This morning, I even beat Julia and Chris to school, but like 5 minutes. It wasn't much, but it was something.

Chinese class was mostly uneventful. My friend Nick Sas made one of the greatest "That's what she said" jokes that I have heard in a long time (I forgot a word on my tingxie, and my teacher kept using that as an example for one of our new sentence patterns. So I said "Why don't you just rub it in my face a little bit?" as a joke. To which Nick responded "That's what she said." The rest was history.) My half of the classroom was just about pissing themselves with laughter for 5 minutes. My teacher didn't get the joke (thank god) but we were having problems stopping laughing.

For break, I was extremely pleased with myself. I didn't go downstairs to get a jian bing (the eggs here are apparently contaminated as well. It almost killed me to hear that. And now, the meat is going to be contaminated soon as well. Although that is where I draw the line. I will get kidney stones to keep eating meat. I mean, really.) Instead, I sat in my math classroom with Chris, and hoped that I would do well in math today. I didn't embarrass myself this time, although my teacher got a little rude with me over my "attitude."

After Calculus was history. We had a class presentation today (as we do every Friday now) from
Sterling on Hukou's, which are basically an identification card limiting where you can get an education. They are becoming a little bit of a hindrance in today's world, and it was very interesting to hear about. And it took the whole period, which is always nice. No long circular talks today, although it was a close call.

I was so hungry that I could have started eating someone, so as soon as the bell rang, I basically grabbed my wallet and ran. I went out to lunch with Chris at a restaurant a lot of people frequent, and we ordered one of the only things that we could read, which was some sort of beef dish (it actually turned out to be beef in a soup thing. We figure that if we just keep ordering things, eventually we will get it right. Hopefully.) I had the feeling that I was supposed to be doing something during lunch, but that didn't last long, because I went back downstairs (after walking upstairs to check my emails) to help a friend exchange money. What an adventure. Not really though.

English was a little useless. We just read ghost stories in different accents (the whole class) as a celebration of Halloween. What a way to waste an hour. I was free after that class though. After changing rather quickly (it was still bloody cold today) I tried to figure out what to do with the rest of my Friday afternoon. After weighing my options, I decided to go with Chris, Claire and Warren to the hospital. Only Claire and Chris had appointments (Claire has had a bad cold that won't go away, and Chris has a sinus infection) but Warren and I had nothing better to do. How pathetic is that? We are in Beijing, and all we do is follow our friends to the hospital. It does get better though, just wait.

I was planning on buying a new pair of jeans (I have a hole in an awkward spot in one pair) so after the suggestion of going to XiDan (西单) to go shopping, we all hoped on a bus to get to a subway stop so we could subway it to the shopping mall. This is the same underground mall that I mentioned earlier.

Once we actually got inside XiDan, I was on a mission. I started looking for a place to buy jeans, but quickly decided that I just was not in the mood (I did get some nail polish remover though, which is very important if I am going to be painting my nails now.) The theme for the rest of the night was magic, magic, magic. The next stop was the magic store on the 3rd floor to buy cards (Chris is a total magic enthusiast. It's great.) After buying an expensive (but apparently kick ass) deck of cards, we started looking around for something else to do. Warren told us about another place that we could go to, so off we went.

For the rest of the night, we just walked around different shopping malls, looking for things to buy. I bought a new battery for my phone (I had maybe 4 hours of battery life on the old battery) and a pretty semi sparkly blue scarf that I know realized I got ripped off on. We probably went back to the same magic shop 4 times, as Chris spent more and more money. I learned a stupid rubber band trick, but there is no way I will ever be able to do it fast. It's just going to be a disaster. I only learned it because Chris kept having to go behind the counter and behind a curtain to learn new tricks, so I stood at the front of the store with all the bags. One of the workers kept entertaining me. It was great. Free magic is awesome.

We all grabbed a small dinner of bing in the middle of all this, and finally decided to leave for the subway at about 8. We decided we had been shopping for long enough. We took the subway home, which really didn't take very long. Chris bought flowers, originally intended for his mom, but after second thought, I got one flower, and the other one I was told to give to my sister, because it is her birthday on Sunday. I bought her a nice jade Buddha necklace at one of the shopping malls while we were out. I hope she likes it. I feel bad because I am leaving for our trip on Sunday, and that is her birthday. I will make it up to her when I get back.

Now, I am sitting in bed, typing this, and trying to ignore the ache in my feet. I got through the week though, which is amazing. It was a pretty hard week to get through. I just need a vacation, and now I am getting one. I am so excited. It will be amazing. But for right now, I have to go to bed, before I fall asleep on my computer. Goodnight all.

How to Imitate a Zombie: Get 6 hours of Sleep

5:15. I am growing to hate that time, when my alarm goes off, and I realize that I am up before the sun has even started to think about getting up. It is a rather depressing thought. I woke up before my alarm this morning, and just laid in bed waiting for my alarm to go off, cursing whatever God's might exist and hate me so much. As soon as the ringtone went off on my phone, I dragged myself out of bed (I oh so smartly left my phone on my desk last night so that I had to get out of bed to turn the alarm off) turned on the lights, grabbed the phone, and got back in bed. After sending a rather lovely wake up text, I pulled out my English book, and started reading.

It wasn't nearly as dark as it was yesterday morning, which is a nice change. I like to fool myself into thinking that I can see the sun as I walk to the bus stop (if there isn't a lot of smog...) This morning, there seemed to be smog everywhere, but I really couldn't tell, because everything had that grey haze that come up in the morning in Beijing.

I watched my bus pull out of the bus stop this morning before I even got there. Fortunately, the next one was only a minute behind the first one, and I even got a seat. It was amazing. That never happens to me. I got to school at about 6:45 (I had already been up for an hour and a half, how gross is that) and I wasn't even the first one to school. Chris was already there, and Julia came up the stairs shortly after me. Chris had brought cookies and banana bread for me (his grandparents sent it to him from America, and he was sharing) and that was quite a nice way to wake up.

I finished all of my homework, and was ready

Mid-week Slump

I always get back in the swing of things on Wednesday morning. Monday and Tuesday mornings, are useless, but by Wednesday, I am under control. This morning, my alarm went off at 5:15, and after sending a wake up text to my friend, I was up and studying for my Calculus test by 5:30. Yes. I even did 2 related rate problems, and got them right. Again, it was incredible.

For some reason, this morning was really dark. At 6:30, it still looked like I had just woken up. This kinda threw me off, and I waited longer than normal to leave, because I know that my mom doesn't like it when I leave in the morning before it is light (it doesn't even matter if she isn't here. She will still know...) But at 6:23, I decided to risk my safety, and walk to the bus stop. I didn't miss m bus this morning. In fact, I was 5 minutes early, so I pulled out River Town (our English book) and started reading (I am about 30 pages behind.)

My bus wasn't crowded, but I still didn't get a seat. I was too absorbed in my reading to care though (yeah right...). I was proud of myself for getting to school by 6:45, but Julia and Chris were already there. I'm not liking this thing where they beat me to school every morning. This could be a problem. Chris lent me his notes from Calculus 1 from a year ago (he has already taken it in the US, lucky bastard...) so I tried to absorb his knowledge, before just giving up and accepting my fate.

I got my Chinese homework from Sterling as soon as he showed up, and did my best to do it. Really, I did. And I did get it done, which is the important thing. I turned everything. In Ma Lao Shi's class I felt good, so I could answer questions. Much better than yesterday, if I do say so myself. Shen Lao Shi did not have nearly as fun of a class. We got new books, and then a 30 minute lecture (in Chinese) on how we have to step up our act in class. It would have been much more meaningful if I hadn't had to pee like a racehorse at the time (I have to stop drinking tea in the morning...)

After class was over (and a quick run to the bathroom) it was time to study for Calculus. We (ie, Elle, Chris, Warren and I) gave it a go, but all gave up after 10 minutes and surrendered to whatever grade we were going to get. I went in, and did my best. Of course, because I am an incompetent fool, I forgot how to do one problem entirely, that I definitely should have been able to do. That is 10 points I will never see again. (As soon as the test was over, I went outside and asked my friends how to do it, and then felt bad about myself.)

The last class before lunch was Chinese Culture and Society. Normally, we would have a discussion, but Mr. Bissell secured another guest speaker for us. His name was Kaiser Kuo, and he is extremely funny. He founded a popular metal band named Tang Dynasty in China a while ago, and now he writes a column for the Beijingr, a local paper. He came in to talk to us about the history of rock in China. And he had some pretty good stories as well. He described tour as a vaudeville act, with ballet, dancing, and metal. The mental picture is enough to make you loose your cool. It is for me at least.

I didn't want to spend a lot of time for lunch, because I just wasn't in the mood. So Chris and I walked to the small street stands just by school, and we each got 2 small chicken and cucumber sandwich's, which were pretty good. Especially since it was freezing, and these things were warm. I was so excited. On the way back to school, we passed Mr. Bissell and Kaiser Kuo, and after a quick hello, it was back up 6 flights of stairs.

I almost didn't change my clothes for my music lesson because it was so cold that I didn't want to go through the act of changing. What can I say, I'm a wimp. But I buckled down, and did it extremely quickly, before putting on all my jackets and stealing one of my friends' as well. It was a cold walk to the subway station, never the less. The worst part of the subway is also the best part. It is warm. This is good, because it is warm, but also bad, because where did the heat come from? Yeah, I don't want to think about it either.

I practically ran to the music school, because I was so insanely cold. My lesson today did not go as well as I would have hoped. I felt like I couldn't do anything, and then of course, Ma Lao Shi beat out a melody without even practicing. I felt like beating myself over the head with my cup of tea. And then, of course, after she did a lovely little melody, I had to sit down and do it. I couldn't. So my teacher flipped the page back to the beginners section, and let me just do scales. It was crappy. I got a copy of the melody I am supposed to practice, and ran out the door as soon as I could.

The rest of my day was not interesting. It consisted of homework, homework, and oh, more homework (with a small break for the end of Mamma Mia, which always perks me up.) I have gotten so used to feeling like a failure here that it almost doesn't even bother me any more. Now, I want to go to bed so I can at least pretend not to be a zombie tomorrow morning. Peace.

The End of My Childhood

I did it again. There is something about the beginning to the weeks that make it impossible for me to get out of bed at the right time. This morning, when my alarm went off at 5:20, I thought I was being so smart by getting out of bed and turning the light on. Not smart enough though, because I went back to sleep until 6 even with the light on. Bugger. By some stroke of a miracle, I was still on the bus at 6:30, which was a little later than I had hoped for.

I'm not going to lie, I was rushing. I had Taiji this morning at 7:15, and I still had to finish some of my Chinese homework. I waited with much impatience (you know me) until someone from my class finally got to school so that I could borrow his homework sheet. What resulted was 5 minutes of madness while I tried to write the answer to 4 questions (based on the dialogue) before racing out the door to get to Taiji, which I haven't gone to for a week.

There were only 5 students in Taiji this morning compared to the 25 that started with it at the beginning to the year. The teacher is a really nice guy, and I had a good time, except for the fact that I kept looking at the clock thinking that I had to get back upstairs to finish my homework, before turning it in at 8. That wasn't condusive to a relaxing environment, let me tell you. Neither was the 5 flight (of stairs) dash that I made right after class. Probably not the best thing to do in a city battling pollution. Ah well.

Chinese passed without incident. I got all my homework done, and turned it in on time. I even studied, although there was one minor mishap with a bad question from my teacher. Alls well ends well though, so don't worry your pretty little heads over it. Right after Chinese class, I went downstairs with my friend Elle to buy food. More specifically, a jian bing (followed by drinks and oreos for my friend who was feeling under the weather, so to speak. Sugar is good for you, right?)

First up (after Chinese of course) was history, during which we talked about the Taiping Rebellion, and about another reading that we were supposed to read for class (key word being supposed to.) A lot of people didn't do it though, and I think our teacher was a little frustrated that everyone is a little out of it. What can I say, we are burned out. As far as I am concerned, that is her fault, not mine. If I slept more at night, we wouldn't be having this problem.

Calculus was next, and that proved to be rather enlightening. I did 2 related rate problems, and got them right. It was amazing. He didn't seem overly enthused, but I was pumped. I never get problems right. It was cause for celebration. My lunch (which was only a spring roll and a drink) was not the celebration, but I partied in my head. And my friends made me laugh, which was the rest of the party.

I have a free after lunch every Tuesday, so I have a extra long lunch. I busted out the computer, and called my parents on Skype to talk about my Georgetown essays, which I was determined to send it. After introducing them to Chris and Sterling, and chatting for a while, I abruptly logged off to grab a piece of birthday cake, which had just come into student hands. (I'm sorry, guys. I didn't mean to kick you off so quickly. But the cake goes fast. I feel bad though.) The cake also proved to be my undoing. I left my computer open to my email, and my friends opened one email to another friend. They (no names, but you know who you are...gr) wrote an response email saying "Unfortunately, I have decided you have no soul. This is the end. Love, Sophie." And pressed send. All while my hands were covered in cake batter, and while I was being restrained as I tried to get to my computer. Bugger that.

During break, I wasted time. Literally, it was horrible. English was last one the agenda, and all we did was read really good descriptive essays, and get ours back. I did pretty well on it, and I am rather proud of myself for it, especially considering that I only wrote it in a day. I practically ran out of that class as soon as it was over. I'm just not a fan of English.

After school was absolutel nerve racking. I sat down in the Fishbowl, opened my computer, turned on iTunes and started working on the Georgetown essay. I also threatened to castrate/gouge out the eyes of anyone who interrupted me. Although I still had to dodge flying fingers that were trying to poke me (ahem.) But it was a successful mission. After 20 minutes over stressing, and paying insane amounts of attention to every detail, I uploaded all the right documents, and pressed send. And then had a panic attack. I swear, if I hadn't been holding Hannah's hand, I wouldn't have been able to do it. For a while, I was sure that I had sent in the wrong essays, and had to sit on the ground until I calmed down. But I am fine now.

I am calling this the end of my childhood. I have officially applied to college now. I am almost an adult (shudder at the thought.) But really, it is a weird feeling. Oh so nice to be done, but still weird. I stil have the feeling that I did something wrong, but I think that is normal. My friend bought me an ice cream as celebration. Kidney stones be damned, there are times when I just deserve a chocolate ice cream bar. I took the rest of the night easy, doing homework, and watching Mamma Mia. I had to get over the stress of applying to college. I only have to wait a month and a half though. Wish me luck.

The Countdown Begins

This morning did not start well. It is the Monday before we alll leave for our trip so I for one am feeling rather burned out, and in need of a vacation. Needless to say, this particular Monday morning was particularly difficult. I set my alarm for 5:15, getting ready for a big morning of studying. That plan was rudely interrupted when I opened my eyes at 6:23, and had to race out of the house in 10 minutes in order to catch my bus. The run that resulted down the streets garned me weird stares especially as I ran past bicycles. Oh yes, I was booking) just so that I could catch my bus. With this sort of morning jog, who needs a gym?

Prepare Yourself

I woke up at the glorious beautiful time of 8:45, and felt like someone had hit me over the head with a sledge hammer. I didn't have much of headache, but I just felt like I wanted to go back to sleep. I definitely don't get enough sleep, that is for sure. I dragged myself out of bed at about 9, but it was big test of wills for me. I showed my family that I was alive, and then crawled back into bed, because I just wasn't feeling up to socializing that early in the morning (my inner teenager is starting to show through...) I turned on the Bourne Supremacy again, as a nice little wake up call for me. My mom came into my room this morning not 10 minutes after I woke up to let me know that the family was going shopping. I waved them good bye, and then closed myself off in my bubble again.

I took advantage of the fact that I was home alone by taking a shower (and washing my hair), and having a nice, leisurely breakfast while watching a movie. My family was only gone for about an hour, maybe a little more, but that was enough for me. Sometimes, it is just nice to be home alone for a change. In a country as populated as China, it is hard to get time to yourself. I take what I can get.

My day was really not very interesting. As soon as I got out of bed and moved to my desk, I started doing homework. First up was college apps, of course, since those are taking over my life until I send the Georgetown application in. I can't even tell you how tired I am of writing college essays. I also did a little bit of Chinese before lunch, but mostly just wasted my time. I called my Yangqin teacher to let him know that I wouldn't be going to the concert that he told me about. I just wasn't in the mood to go out tonight. I wanted to stay in and watch movies. Is that so much to ask?

Lunch was pretty good, although I burned my tongue trying to eat it. We had polenta stuff with sweet potatoes in it, and then fried bing with meat in it. Yum. The bing was so oily though, I burned my tongue. I can still feel it, even now. After lunch I went back to my room, and kept working, with a small break at about 1:30 to clean my room. My friends really are a good influence on me. Maybe I am just too easily influenced. I don't know.

It wasn't until about 3 that I realized I left a book at school. But I wasn't complaining, it was a good excuse to get out of the house I had been couped up all day in. I put a couple jackets on, grabbed my sunglasses (because I wasn't wearing any make up) and hopped onto the bus, getting a seat right away. It was only a short ride to school but we hit traffic. I wasn't in a rush though.

I walked up the 6 flights of stairs to my locker, even though I could have taken the elevator. There is something comforting about walking up the stairs. Don't ask me to explain it, because I can't. After getting my Chinese workbooks out of my locker, and grabbing my Calculus book for the heck of it, I started back to the bus stop. I hit a bit of a speed bump on the way, however. First, I stopped to get another jian bing, because I was craving one, and could tell that I was well on my way to getting hungry again. And then, the worst. I couldn't stop myself from walking to the dvd store. And buying 2 dvds: Ironman, and Mamma Mia (for only 2 dollars total...) I shouldn't have bought them, probably, but they are good movies, and oh so cheap. What can I say, it's a weakness.

The rest of my day was not particularly enthralling. I arrived home, and after waking up the entire house by turning the key in the lock and causing the dog to bark his head off, I went to my room to finish homework. I turned on Batman not too long before dinner, and that got me through most of the rest of the night. Now, I am just writing, and feeling like I should go to bed so that I can get out of bed tomorrow morning. Peace, love and music all.

Wasting the Day Away

I woke up this morning at 8:45, a blissful, late sleep in, with almost 9 hours under my belt. I didn't even get out of bed until 9, and that was only to pop my head out of the door and greet the rest of my family. Then I again opened my computer, and had a 45 minute conversation with my parents halfway across the world. I keep missing my sister on Skype, I think, which is really too bad.

The whole morning, ie before lunch, was rather unremarkable. I had a conversation with my Chinese mother, and then went back to my studies. I watched the Illusionist (what can I say, I'm really good at procrastinating) after working on Georgetown essays, which are due for me on Tuesday (well, really, they are due on Saturday, but I am neurotic and am turning them in on Tuesday.) I felt that that was productive enough for the whole day, and I can tell that I am on the edge of a breakdown. I am taking it easy this weekend.

For lunch we had a surprise. My sister's best friend came over, and although I didn't speak a word to her, it was nice to know who she is. We had a pretty good lunch (and rather large) before my mom had to go leave to be a flight attendant. I swear, she just works all the time. I went back to my room to do more "work" and my sister and her friend went to her room to actually study, I think. I actually have no idea what they worked on.

I didn't think about them again until they turned on their home karaoke set. Seriously, I was surprised that the walls weren't shaking. Karaoke is a big thing here, and my sister actually sings pretty well. It was nice to see that bonding experience. I put on my head phones (my dad was sleeping in the next room, and I didn't want to add to the noise) and started watching the Bourne Supremacy (I have a lot of dvds to watch. They are really cheap here.)

Nothing much happened before dinner. For dinner, we basically just had leftovers from lunch, and a beef dish that my dad has made before that I like (and he knows this.) I was invited to go out after dinner by my friend Chris, but I had to check with my Chinese dad to make sure it was okay. He assured me that I could go out whenever I want. (Actually his exact words were - in chinese, of course - "Sophie, if you want to go out Friday, Saturday, Sunday night, that's fine. Just be back by 11. You are only here for a short amount of time, enjoy the city." I really love my dad sometimes.) So after pulling on 2 jackets, jeans, a hat and gloves (didn't want to get cold) I grabbed some money and a phone, and headed for the bus station.

I ended up walking to Chris's house, and then we caught a cab to get to the martial arts place. At least, what we thought was the martial arts place. We wandered for a bit, looking for it (and asking for directions, getting pointed in every direction) before taking a break in Dairy Queen. Kidney stones be damned, ice cream is just too good. I got a oreo blizzard (yum...) and Chris got a pineapple one. I think mine was better though. :)

Then, the quest began again. We were eventually pointed down a sketch dark alley (the only thing I thought was "Hells no") and to a movie theatre. Seriously, only in China would you find a movie theatre down an alley. That can't be good for business. The martial arts school was a level below the movie theater, so we walked down, only to be greeted with the sight of 10 Chinese kids in the middle of a class. There was one girl who was standing close to the door who (while punching air) gave us death glares. It was a little weird, I'm not going to lie. We secured a business card from guy who, according to Chris, oozed kick your ass. (He did too. You wouldn't want to meet that guy in a dark alley, that is all I'm saying.)

By the time we finished at the martial arts place, it was only about 8 or 8:30, and neither one of us wanted to go home. So we hopped in a taxi and headed to Tian'an Men Square, thinking it would be nice to see it at night. Of course, we got there, and had totally forgotten that there was a government going on, and that the whole of Tian'an Men was closed. So we just walked around. And around and around. It was still pretty to see at night, but it was a little disappointing that we couldn't actually get onto the square.

We hopped back onto the subway at about 10 to 10. There were a surprising amount of people on the subway at night (it was totally packed) but again, I at least got a seat, eventually. We were both exhausted on the walk back, and as soon as I got on my bus, I almost fell asleep in my chair. I got home at quarter to 11 (still inside curfew, Mr. Bissell) and my dad didn't care at all. He asked me where we went, and then went to bed. I followed suit shortly after. It is tough work having fun.

Good night all. Or, as they say here in China, 晚安.

To Go, Or Not To Go...

5 o'clock in the morning is not a time that anyone, no matter the circumstances. It is cruel and unusual. At least, these were the thoughts that were going through my head when my alarm went off at 5, and it was still dark outside. It is the darkness that gets me every time. It really is ridiculous. I would think that it would be nice to at least see the sun. Following this train of thought, I sent wake up text to my friend, and then dozed for 20 minutes, before grabbing my Chinese book, and crawling back into bed to study. It is just so warm and cozy, I can't resist. Who wants to sit in the cold and study? Not me, that's for sure.

I really wasn't very productive. I studied, yes, but at 10 to 6, I was up, and beating my sister to the one big bathroom. I am normally there before she is, but I feel bad if I take too long. I even got out of the house earlier than usual. And didn't miss my bus, for the first time in a month. Today was just destined to be a good day.

I was hoping to hold onto this feeling, as I still had a midterm to do in my second Chinese class. I had a minor panic attack as soon as I got to school, because I realized that there was no way I would do well on my test. Out came the books, if only for 10 minutes, until I calmed down. My math teacher poked his head into the room where a lot of us were, and asked if we had done our calculus homework after the party last night. The awkward silence answered his question, and he left laughing. That was also the end of my attempt to do my homework, because it is basically impossible anyway.

My Chinese test went rather well. We all moved into a different room, and then walked back to the actual Chinese classroom for our oral test (again, speaking...) Shen Lao Shi didn't tell us when 2 minutes was up, so I just rambled until I ran out of things to say. We'll see how it went on Monday. Cross your fingers and toes, people. I finished about 20 minutes earlier than the class was actually over, so my friend Elle and I decided to go downstairs. I was on a mission to get a jian bing, but she wanted to buy puppets for the English poem recitation (don't ask, that is just how she is.)

I got my food first, because I was starting to get grouchy and oh so hungry. We had to cross the road to go to a puppet store close to the university, and there, we hit the jackpot. Elle bought 2 of those stuffed things that have heads at the end of a wooden stick. Know what I am talking about? If you don't, I'm sorry, but I really don't know how else to explain it. Use your imagination. Then it was back up 6 flights of stairs. Sometimes, I really just want to cry. Why is 6 flights of stairs really necessary? Answer: It's not. End of story.

First period for me was Calculus. My stuff was already in there from Chinese, so I didn't even have to move, which is about the only good thing that comes from having Calculus first on Friday mornings. I struggled through the work. I feel like maybe I am kinda starting to get it. I don't know. I know that now I will say that, and then not be able to do anything. Such is life. I couldn't get out of that class fast enough, and was more than happy to plop down in my history room next to listen to a class presentation on pollution. Once a semester, everyone has to pick a topic, and make a presentation on it. It was actually quite interesting today, although I am dreading having to do it myself.

I didn't go to the cafeteria for lunch, which was a rather smart intercept on my part. I'm afraid that the cafeteria food is going to give me food poisoning. No joke. Instead, Warren, Chris and I went to a small, but good restaurant down the road from our school. It is always packed, but by some miracle, we got a table in the front room. Another lady was quickly seated in the spare seat at our 4 person table, but I am learning that this is becoming common practice everywhere. We ordered 3 things of jiao zi. I should have learned not to go out to eat with people of the male persuasion anymore, but our 30 jiao zi were basically inhaled, and we were gone in about 10-15 minutes. A quick stop at our favorite drinks place, and it was back up to do homework for us.

I still had an English poem to memorize, so I walked up and down the hall, reciting the poem to myself like some lunatic that should be locked up. One of my friends was stressing over her class presentation on the Three Gorges Dam in history, so I just went straight to English. The entire class had to recite the poem, and for every person that recited, there were 3 student judges that gave judges. Predictably, everyone except 2 people got 100%'s (I mean, really. Who is going to be the black sheep and give less than a perfect score? They would meet a quick and untimely demise before the end of the day. This is high school, remember.) One guy, Sam, said 14 of 22 lines, and then sat down. Mr. Morison was not impressed, and gave him a C. But Sam in already in Princeton (he's a PG) so what is the point? I mean, really.

After English, I was free. I didn't know what to do with myself. After messing around for just about the whole period, I finally decided to go with Chris to yet another martial arts school. Warren and Sterling also decided to come, and after we all changed out of our school clothes (and left our bags at Chris's house, because he lives right behind the school) we walked 15 minutes to the subway, which is always fun to take. 2 yuan lighter, we arrived at the martial arts place. It wasn't quite as swank, but still intense.

After Chris had his meeting, we were at a loss of what to do. So we picked a direction, and started walking. We stopped in a couple stuffed animal shops, and I decided that we should go shopping (what can I say, I'm a girl, and I need some more makeup and some nail polish). We an alley with a lot of shops on either side, and just started wandering down the roads, looking for things to do. There was a quick stop in a bakery to look for garlic bread (which we found, and Chris and I split) and some entertainment via card tricks, before we bought sandwich's for dinner at a supermarket (and gloves for me, because I was freezing. I swear, I think I have bad circulation or something, because I get insanely cold.) We decided there was nothing else to do and hopped back onto the subway to XiDan, which is a huge underground shopping mall.

We had a bit of a mishap on the subway (ie, Warren, who is supposed to be the subway God, got us onto Line 2 instead of Line 1, so we had to transfer again) before we got to Xi Dan. And damn, it is huge. I didn't know what to do with myself. We headed to a magic shop, since Chris is a magic zealot. I left him there buying things, and went in search of a good red nail polish, which I found for 15 yuan (about 2 bucks). I just finished buying it when the rest of the crowd found me, and by a quick vote, decided to head to the arcade.

I have a confession to make at this point. In Davis, there are no arcades. At all. So I am, or at least was, an arcade virgin. I just about blew Chris away when I commented on this, and was immediately dragged to the nearest kick and punch arcade game, where I was forcefully shoved in front of the controls. We didn't make it past very many levels, but I did play. It wasn't that bad actually. Pretty fun. After that, it was on to the shooting games (can't go to an arcade and not play that.) I was absolutely bloody useless at that (surprise surprise) but I am a good watcher. As soon as I was killed (or ran out of money, actually) I just watched. Chris lasted for a surprisingly long time, before he too ran out of money.

All of us (Chris, Warren, Sterling and I) were all getting kinda tired at this point, so we started looking for an exit. Warren, who had been here before, dragged us in search of the "cool" exit. This didn't make any sense to me at all, but we went along with it. On the way, we were all distracted by a slightly emo shop. Chris and Warren had a slight disagreement over the purchase of a scarf (although Warren got it in the end.)

The cool exit was incredible. This Xi Dan shopping mall is the hugest thing I have ever seen. But in this exit, you just walk up some stairs, and out a door. If you turn around and look at it, all you see is a small drink shop. That is it. I can't acurately describe it, but it is totally incredible. Whoever designed that place was a genius, that is all I am saying.

The subway ride back was rather uneventful. It was rather full, although all of us got seats in the end. We all had to walk back to Chris's house to get our stuff, and by the time I retrieved mine, it was 10 to 10. That kicked me into high gear, and I sprinted for the bus stop. When I got home, and turned the key in the lock, the dog started barking immediately, and woke everyone up. I have never wanted to kick an animal as much as I wanted to kick him out the 12 story window at that point. Little shit dog. But I still love him.

I was exhausted, and gross, and after about an hour iChat conversation, and part of a movie, I was almost asleep. Now this blog is over. I have to go to bed soon. Keep reading for more updates.

Party Time!

I'm getting better at dragging myself out of bed in the mornings at 5:30. I have developed a system in which my alarm goes off, I stumble 2 steps to my desk, grab the nearest piece of homework, and get back into bed to study. It may not be the best way to study, but it works for me. It also lets me trick myself into believing that I am in fact still in bed, and study at the same time. I really dragged myself out of bed at 6, and my day started.

I got to school 6:45, but my homework load was out of control. I couldn't go to taiji, so I just stayed upstairs and edited my friend Chris's history paper, which we were all tricked into believing that it was due today. As it turns out, it was only a rough draft. But anyway, when Chinese started, I was ready for class, and after turning my homework in, my teacher announced the beginning of class, and we were off.

In my second Chinese class, our teacher told us that we had an oral exam (speaking, not anything else, you nasty's) as part of our midterm, and we had to talk for 2 minutes at least. I had no idea when the hell I was supposed to figure out what to say, but I put it into the back of my mind, and continued my day. After Chinese we had another break, of course, and it was back downstairs for the 4th time that week to go put on some weight (ie, eat the greatest thing known to man: jian bing.) I had to get 4, for the people with me, and one for my friend upstairs. It was also freezing, and I had to stand in the wind while she made it. That is true dedication right there.

English, and then tutorial passed rather quickly. (In tutorial, we just went over tests, and I didn't get a lot wrong, so I just studied for the Shen Lao Shi final I have tomorrow.) During lunch we had Chinese tables. I grabbed Shen Lao Shi to come be the teacher for 2 tables, and we settled in for a good lunch. Shen Lao Shi is rather hilarious. We talked about everything, and with one Chinese 7 and one Chinese 6 speaker, it was quite a good conversation. I just tried to laugh and smile with everyone else. :)

After lunch, I felt the urge to go do something worth while. So I walked back upstairs, and started to do homework, because I could just see myself getting home at 10 and not having done any homework, because that is just the way I am. I started on my Chinese, working on the speech I was supposed to give my teacher the next day, but I got easily distracted. You know how it is, when you have to study, you will do anything to be distracted. Anything. I am no different.

After lunch was Calculus, and we got our tests back. I did not do so well. Bugger. Our teacher also told us that these were the lowest scores he had seen in 7 years, and that made him depressed. Our immediate response was "It makes you depressed? That's funny." Our problems are hard right now. I seriously have no idea what the bloody hell I am doing. It sucks. After that disaster I call Calculus was over, it was off to history. More notes, and a rather intense conversation later, we were free.

Today after school, instead of our regular Chinese Society and Culture class, we just talked about our fall study trip that we are taking to Fu Jian Province at the beginning of November. It is going to be an amazing trip. We got the packing list that we are supposed to bring, and the itinerary and what Mr. Bissell calls the "Dao of Travel." It was great. The only thing I was confused about was that our list recommended we bring a skirt, and what the bloody hell am I going to do with a skirt in the middle of nowhere? Nothing, that's what. Although I guess that wearing a skirt would be better than walking around in my underwear. Probably.

It wasn't until after our last last class that things started to get crazy. The party that we were having was a Halloween party, with all of SYA and 70 Chinese kids. The people organizing it had 2 weeks to do so, so it was a huge effort. Setting up was not any easier. I helped Chris and a bunch of other people carry water, fruit and various other things over to the gym, and then put it in the right places. I left half way through with my friend Rebecca to get fried chicken (really really yummy fried chicken) for dinner for us and for Chris. We stopped in our alleyway shop to get drinks, and went back up.

The party, or at least the talent show, started at 5:30, with Mr. Pettus, the math teacher, doing a card trick that involved everyone. It was actually really cool, but don't tell anyone I said that. It's the cool thing to do to be nonchalant about these sorts of things. Then the rest of the night started. There were a couple more talents that were showed off, and the games began.

I don't know what you think about when someone says Chinese games, but I can just about guarantee that it is not right. First up was a truth or dare game. Chris, as he was the host, and very popular with the Chinese ladies, was up first. His dare: find 2 Chinese girls to kiss, on the cheek. It was great. All the girls immediately started moving away, and then trying to push their friends toward him. We all got a huge kick out of it. I participated in a game, but will not be going into details of it at all. I will just say that it involved 4 people (and their mouths), an increasinly small stick of pocky, and an awkward situation (right Julia?). That is all.

The rest of the night was pretty fun. The talent show lasted until about 8:30, with random dancing breaks in the middle. I myself am not a big dancer, as most people know (I just don't really like making a fool of myself in front of people, what can I say?), and I managed to avoid (only just) having to dance. Score one for the middle class white girl.

I stayed after the party to help clean up, even though I have a midterm tomorrow. There was a rather large mess (sort of) and I felt bad leaving a couple people to clean up. It took us about 20 minutes, and just about everyone had left by the time we were done, and we took the elevator upstairs to get our stuff from the lockers before heading our seperate ways. I was calmly talking to friends before seeing my bus pulling up to the stop, and made a mad dash to catch it. Seriously, I would have made Olympic athletes proud. But I hate waiting more than anything.

I didn't get home until about 9:30, and I really didn't feel like doing any homework. I worked on my Chinese a little, but soon came to the conclusion that it would be better to go to bed early and get up early to do homework than to stay up late. So afer setting my alarm for 5 (dear God, that is early) I am now off to bed, before I can't read anymore. I am bloody exhausted. Sorry it took me so long to get this out. My life is nuts right now.

Never Stop Moving

They say that with time comes experience, and with experience comes less mistakes. I don't know about the less mistakes part, but the experience, most definitely. Take this morning for instance. Because I am a lazy teenager with no self will (does that sound about right, people?) I have not been able to drag myself out of bed the past couple of days. But this morning proved to be the end of my lack of will power. When my alarm blasted to life at 5:28 this morning, I was ready. I kept my eyes open (knowing this helped) moved around (even better) and then dragged myself out of bed 10 minutes later. All of this has been proven by me to make it easier to get out of bed.

It was exceedingly dark this morning, but at 6:20, I put myself into harms way, and walked to the bus stop. I waited a good amount of time past when I woke up, and it was getting lighter. This morning, I didn't even miss one of my buses (pat on the back for me) and I got there (after a short sprint, of course) right when my bus pulled up. I could tell it was going to be a good day.

I bought 10 small bao zi for breakfast this morning (and got charged an extra 1 kuai again) and then hopped up the stairs as fast as my heavy backpack would let me. I met with my Calculus teacher as soon as he showed up, and did some 2nd to last minute cramming for the test that I had in 3 hours. After studying with friends, I had a shortish conversation with my friend Julia while she wrote out characters. (I was opening a package that my mom sent me. It was a big thrill.) I should feel bad about not working just then, but I was giving myself a break (and a chance to try to shake the headache I have had for the past 3 days...not a nice experience, by the way).

The time for my tingxie arrived rather quickly, and it was time to cross my fingers and hope. As it turns out, I didn't need to cross my fingers because I did rather well (20/20). That doesn't happen much. Maybe all the stress really is good for me. (Yeah, tell that to the bags under my eyes.) I get my midterm back from her tomorrow, so that will be fun. It was hard to stay awake in my 2nd Chinese class, but I again propped my head up on my waterbottle, and hoped for the best. If I stop moving, I fall asleep.

I had a short 30 minute break after Chinese during which I could study for calculus test. 5 of us (me, Chris, Elle, Warren and Mike) crammed into a small room and had a power session of studying. It has become a ritual among us; although, this particular ritual doesn't seem to be of a whole lot of helpl, because that test was still rather difficult. Not going to lie. My nonexistant math skills are becoming rather apparent now. Where is my math tutor when you need one?

For the rest of the math testing period (I finished with about 30 minutes to spare) I went downstairs twice. Once to get a jian bing, and once to get a drink. What the hell, I could use the exercise. My snack filled me up, and I felt ready to go to my Chinese Society and Culture class, which was really just an information session about our upcoming trip. Which is going to be amazing, by the way. I have to go buy a new camera, because the one I have right now just doesn't have enough memory. We are going to be walking through the country side, basically, after taking a 30 hour train ride to Fujian. We stay with families in these communal houses. I really can't even describe it right now, but I can't wait to leave. It won't come soon enough.

Lunch was rather uneventful. I was full, and Warren, who was going to a music lesson with me, was also full, so we didn't go back downstairs to get food. Instead, I showed both him and Chris my lovely smelling candle, which I happened to get from my mom. What ensued was me and then Warren fighting to get my candle back. It didn't end well. Chris held Warren off with one hand, and he literally literally lifted me up with one arm. That was when I quit. I only got my candle back because I had to beg the math teacher to get it back for me. I got crap for that later, but I don't even care.

Warren and I took the subway to our music lesson, and after flashing the guards our passes (you thought I was going to say something else didn't you? Get your mind out of the gutter.) we made the quick walk to the school. We arrived 30 minutes early (OCD anyone?) and waited around for everyone else to get there. My teacher arrived shortly after, and then my Chinese teacher, Ma Lao shi, who is taking lessons with me. We had a good lesson (I think it went an hour and a half) during which I learned how to play do re mi fa so la with 2 scales. It's pretty wicked. Next week I get an actual melody, which will be fun to play. It is always so much nicer to play an instrument when you can make a sound other than dying cat. Just a personal opinion.

I left before Ma Lao Shi, when the class was over, because she was staying to practice on the Yangqin at the school. I got another kiss blown at me as I left (I mean, really, how could you hate someone who blows kisses at you?) and then Warren, Elle and I headed back to the subway. The smog was absolutely atrocious today. It looked like heavy fog everywhere, and as we walked past TianAn Men square, it was especially apparent. What a gross thing to see everyday.

I was ditched before I got back to the school (Elle and Warren were going home, and didn't have to go back to the school) so I made a lonely trek by myself. Being the absolute genius that I am, I grabbed the wrong book out of my locker before I left, so I had to drag myself back up 6 flights of stairs (I think that was the 5th time today, a personal record of mine) grabbed my books, and went back down 6 flights of stairs to catch my bus.

For the rest of the night, it was homework time. Homework, homework, homework. I am amazed I haven't had more of a meltdown already. I realize that I have been giving off an out of control vibe, but really, there is no other way to describe it. What I write here is hard to understand, but me acting like this is totally normal. I am just trying to keep up right now. Things will calm down as soon as midterms are over. Now, I have to go to sleep, because I would like to sleep for more than 6 1/2 hours tonight. So, later lovelies.

That's What She Said

I did it again. Whoever said that the body and mind were connected lied, because that is so not the case. At least, not to students here in China. My alarm, set for 5:28, went off punctually, but I didn't respond how I should have. Instead, I turned it off, rolled over and went back to sleep. Again. And didn't wake up until 6:45, the time I should have been at school. After a record of 8 minutes getting ready, I practically ran to the bus stop. I watched 3 of my buses pull away before I got to the stop. It was around that time I started thinking "Why can't I just run faster?" But never fear, I had 2 pairs of trusty flash cards to review. I am never without flashcards these days. When the bus came, I was still studying. And who said I wasted time?

I missed Taiji this morning, because I just had too much homework to do. The first thing my friend said to me this morning when he saw me was "You look like you are in a rush." Thank you Chris, I didn't realize. My increased heart rate and light-headedness just weren't getting through to me. Cheers.

As it turns out, my rushing was actually unnecessary. I didn't have much homework, and my trusty memory came in handy for remembering all my characters. I got to class, and realized I had left my homework book on my desk, in my rush to get out of the house. Of course. I have just been so frazzled lately. It was a rather hard thing to laugh off, but recognizing my hazing and depressive state, my friend laughed it off for me. Sometimes, I really don't like other people. Just when I want to be whinny, they don't let me. Which could be a good thing, depending on your point of view.

I was still tired during class, but managed to stay awake for both. It helps when I prop my head on my water bottle though. (What? I can't take all the credit...) We got another composition assignment in Chinese, but I found that I actually like writing it. It doesn't take very long, and it's interesting. What can I say, I'm just a nerd that way. Don't let my teacher catch me saying that I like writing essay's in Chinese, otherwise my classmates will hate me for eternity. Seriously.

After Chinese was break, during which my friend Elle and I went downstairs to buy a jian bing, which is this egg wrap thing. (Descriptive, isn't it?) That was my breakfast, and because I am still sick, I needed it. (Seriously, I would give my first born to get my sense of smell back. Although if I have to smell what we have fondly termed "Beijing funk" then maybe not.) After a quick study group for my history exam, we were off to the races. My history quiz was easyish. The questions weren't surprising, just made me think (and all the writing hurt my hand...) I finished with time to spare, and found the "class reunion" in the hallway (all the classrooms are used in the mornings, so when we are let out early, the class just congregates in the hallway.) My history teacher thought it was hilarious.

Calculus came next, and we were oh so fondly looked after (not). It is starting to get hard, with differential rate problems (that is hard to say, much less do. I am foreseeing this ending badly...), which will be on the test tomorrow. Cross your fingers for me, please. I am going to need all the help I can get. No joke.

For lunch, Chris and I practically ran down the stairs to get fried chicken. Before getting to the food stall though, we decided to divide and conquer. I went to a small shop to get drinks, and he went to get the chicken, because it is imperative to get to the food stalls before the rest of the Chinese school kids. The term "line" does not apply here in Beijing, and it is easiest to just get in front of the mob rather than push in front of it. The great part of this story is that I am sure you think I am kidding. If only...

I had an extra long lunch break today, because I had my free period right after lunch. Procrastination was the foremost thought on my brain, and I quickly determined that I needed more flashcards (the piles of flashcards on my desk was quickly forgotten.) I roped my friend Stephanie to come with me (don't be fooled, I lured her with food) and after buying the necessities, we stopped at another alley store to get drinks and Oreo's. You know, staple foods and all. Kidney stones be damned, Oreo's are good.

The noise in the Fishbowl was atrocious, so Chris, Warren and I went into a small study room to work. Chris and Warren had to study for the history exam, and I wanted to read English. However, because I had already had history, I had to help them study (ie, I looked through the book and asked them questions.) I like history, because it is just a story of one thing leading to another leading to another. Story's make sense to me, so I quite enjoy it.

After wishing my friends good luck on the quiz, I went off to English as soon as my blissful study was over. In English, we read descriptive essay's, and then we had to write a paragraph about the hands of the person sitting across from us. I wrote a couple paragraphs before realizing that we had to read it out loud. When it was my turn, I felt that it was my obligation to announce "Mine is a little long, are you sure you want me to go?" Before my teacher could answer though, Reilly, my friend from New York automatically said "That's what she said." Loudly. (And she sits right next to the teacher.) There was an awkward pause before half the class just burst into fits and giggles. I totally lost it, laughing until my face turned cherry red, as it tends to do. My teacher just skipped me, and said he would come back. It probably took me 5 minutes to calm down.

After school, Julia, Hannah and I all decided that we had to catch up. After securing a piece of birthday cake from Becca, we were off. Destination: Happy Times Tea House. On the way, we picked up Chris, who decided to come. This place is amazing. You pay 18 kuai ($2.63) per person, and get all you can drink drinks. We got 4 drinks a person, and only had some mildly awkward conversations. I feel bad for Chris, he was trapped with 3 slightly hysterical teenage girls. He took one for the team though. It was impressive.

He left at 5 to 5, and that is when the real girl talk started. The only thing I will say about it was that it was intense. That is all. At 5:30, we all rushed for the door, thinking "Bugger, time to get home for dinner." I walked to the bus stop, and after a quite uneventful ride, arrived home with not a scratch on me (how's that for braving Chinese public transportation?) Dinner wasn't on the table when I got home, so I settled in behind my desk to do some serious studying.

I made a discovery tonight. My emotions are absolutely out of control. Even more so than normal for a teenage girl. Tonight, I would almost describe myself as hitting the wall. I even thought I was for about 2 hours, until I took a shower. You could call it the Epiphany Shower. While washing my hair, I simply decided to snap out of it. I was just being stupid. Sure, I am tired, and stressed, and I would love to just stop, but I am in Beijing, having the time of my life. And sure enough, as soon as I thought this, I started to feel better. Stupid emotions. Now, with a belly full of pork and fried lotus, I am writing this blog. I may not write much now, as a certain family member has alerted me to the fact that I am starting to sound whinny, but I will make an effort to turn my writing around. Comments are appreciated.

Now, my lovelies, it is off to slumber land for me. Can you count the sheep yet? I can almost see them...