Hurricane Friday

You know those weeks where, at the end of them, you lie sprawled on your bed, thinking about the week, and all of a sudden feel the overwhelming urge to get out of reality as quickly as possible? This was one of those weeks, and today was the icing on the cake. To start off with, my shower was only luke warm. That is never a good sign.

Then came what shall be kindly referred to as the test from hell. It was the most ingenious combination of colloquial Chinese and literature Chinese that I have seen. It was also the most confusing one that I have had, and definitely the one that I have gotten the lowest score on. I still got a B-, but I don't want to go into details. Don't ask, don't tell, that's my motto. (As a point of fact, this motto has also gotten me through some rather trying dinner parties here in China... dog, anyone?) Some of the questions I just point blank did not know the answer to, but hey, 50 50 chance, why not risk it.

Then came the preparation for the oral test. We had two tests today. The first one was the memorization test, where we had to pick a paragraph (at random, obviously) and then recite it to our teachers for a grade. I spent half an hour, talking to myself in a corner, going over and over and over both paragraphs so that I wouldn't be quite so nervous, and obviously so that I would get a good grade. You know, that tiny little detail that teachers like to harp on and on about. One of the paragraphs I had down to pat: namely, the one that described Kong Yiji. It was easy to memorize, because it told a story, and actually had a point. The second paragraph was not so much fun. God, it is still running through my head right now, although I have since added some choice swear words as an accent. It was a paragraph simply describing leaves on the lake. I know that I have mentioned it before, but I want to make sure you that you completely understand the depth of its uselessness.

I also have a confession to make. Yes, I memorized it, but there are parts in that paragraph where I have absolutely no idea what I was saying. Not a clue. I simply memorized the sounds that I was supposed to be making, and went from there. Meaning? Completely over rated. In my defense, I simply decided that I had time either to memorize it, or understand the meaning. Priorities and all that. Well, what my teachers don't know won't hurt them.

When it was my turn to test (I was actually first) I walked in to the room, repeating a mantra in my head: "Kong Yiji, Kong Yiji, Kong Yiji..." Oh yes, I was hoping against hope that that was the paragraph I would pick. My teachers handed me two slips of paper, and I had to choose between them. Even though they were folded, I still held them up to the light to see if I could see which paragraph they corresponded to. It didn't help. So I closed my eyes, and picked one. Which one do you think I got?

If you said Kong Yiji, you would be 100% wrong. Nope, I got the one that started out as "On the winding lotus lake surface..." Fun stuff, let me tell you. It would be a pretty paragraph, if it wasn't so annoying. The only way that I memorized it is because I drew pictures in my head to describe each section. This didn't help my problem of talking with my hands. I swear, one of these days, they are just going to get out of control, and even though i may start out just trying to give a description, I am going to start hitting people. It's not my fault.

One exciting thing did happen in the midst of all this madness. After I was done with my speaking test, I decided that it was time to relax, so I went out to where a lot of chairs are, sat down, put my feet up, put some music on, and closed my eyes. I was in bliss. Until my teacher came over to disturb me. What for, you might ask? Well, earlier in the day, we had all had to translate some sentences, and turn it in to our teachers so that we could all participate in a translation competition. Apparently, I translated my sentences relatively good, so I got to go onto the next stage, and do more translations, and then read my translations out loud to one of the teachers. He seemed pretty impressed. I was feeling on top of the world. I have an extremely jaded view of my Chinese, so it is nice to get recognized every once in a while.

It was just after this, when I went back for the last hour of class, that I realized I had lost my textbook. For the last hour of class, we all had to, very informally, give a book report on a book of our choice (I did my on The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.) I had made notes, mostly in the form of words I didn't know, and stuck it in my textbook for safe keeping, But when I went to get my book out of my bag so that I could get my notes, my book wasn't there. I had no idea where it went. That book is my life here at HBA this summer. It is my version of the Bible. Without it, I am a goner. So I was panicking just a little bit. As soon as the class was over, I immediately headed over to where I had been hanging out, looking for it. But bad news folks: I didn't find it. Looks like I am going shopping this weekend.

I was a bit frazzled by the time that we all had to go eat lunch (I never thought I would be so upset by losing my textbook) that I was still feeling a little bit prickly. Today, we went to go eat Korean food, at one of the small restaurants on campus. The food was not fantastic, to put it simply. It was amazingly spicy, so much so that even though I didn't eat a whole lot, but my stomach was not particularly happy. I also cut out early so I could go back to our classrooms and look for my book. I know, I am a nerd.

I was also employed today to bring some people to my favorite DVD place. They wanted to buy some DVDs, and I was more than happy to enable a bad habit. There were five of us, including me. (Actually, in a weird turn of events, as we were walking to the main gate of campus to leave, we ran into one of my old SYA teachers, who was here to attend a conference or something like that. How is that for coincidence?) We took the bus over to the store, and then went to town. One of the girls spent 45 dollars buying DVDs, and left with two bags bulging full. It was insanity. I am sure that the store people are celebrating tonight, what with having just fleeced a bunch of over eager foreigners. I am happy to report that I have a strict set of guidelines for myself whenever I go to the DVD stores, because otherwise, I would be the one spending way too much money.

For the rest of the afternoon, all that I wanted to do was stay inside and watch movies. You might say that this is a silly thing to do, but honestly, it has been one of those weeks. I feel like I should go fetal in one of the corners, and just rock myself to sleep. I have the desperate need to hide from the world. So I lay down on my bed, put on a movie, and relaxed.

The movie happened to be the Lion King, by the way. I almost started crying when Mufasa died. How is that for burnt out? I am now crying at Disney movies. Good thing I wasn't watching Bambi, I might have started bawling. Not enough tissues in the world. (I bet you didn't quite believe me when I said that it has been the week from hell. Do you believe me now? Crying over Disney movies...)

Unfortunately, I had to leave my Fortress of Healing (trying out new names for my room... what do you think?) and go to see Jack. He was in a super good mood tonight. Maybe he got a girlfriend. He was extremely chatty. I learned that what I consider tea (black tea with milk and sugar) is not tea. At least, not according to his standards. If you add things to it, it doesn't count. I tell you what, I will give up dinner, but I absolutely will not give up my cups of tea. The line has to be drawn somewhere.

The workout was super arm heavy today. I am definitely starting to get some muscle in my arms, but I still have a long way to go. I think that Jack just likes making me suffer. I told him today that I was onto him, that I knew he was secretly trying to kill me. He just laughed, and told me to keep exercising. That's not a good sign. To give myself a break, I started asking him about what he thinks I should eat everyday. I figure if I can keep him talking, then I can catch my breath. His advice falls somewhere between going vegetarian, and extreme dieting. Meat twice a week at the most, small portions of food, fruit for dinner. I am not entirely sure that I agree with him. It also doesn't help that some of the serious road blocks standing between me and vegetarianism are 1) I don't like eggs and 2) I like meat. I'm doing the best I can to listen to his advice, but obviously it gets broken. I'm not completely insane. Well, not yet, anyway.

There was also a little kid, 8 years old, working out with one of the trainers tonight. It was the cutest thing ever. He was this tiny little kid, fat as can be, jumping over boxes and standing up on his tippy toes, while this huge muscular Chinese man encourages him. I wish that I had taken my camera out, but that would have been AWKWARD. I couldn't get the story on him, because Jack was not too clear at all, but I have the feeling that he was related to the guy in some way. But who knows.

And now, I am writing my blog. I have spent most of my night in the same position, watching movies and reading Sherlock Holmes. It has been the perfect night. All that I want to do is stay in, and staying in is what I shall do. Sometimes, you just need you time, which includes becoming a hermit for a while. After the week that I have had, I would say, I deserve it. I can't even imagine only having two weeks vacation before going back to Vermont. I am going to be batty by Christmas time.

Good night!