No Pain, No Gain

I used up all of the money in my wallet this morning to pay for breakfast. I had run out of milk, so cereal was out of the question. Luckily, I managed to scrape together 10 kuai, which is roughly a dollar and a half. I paid in basically the Chinese version of quarters. I think that the servers are starting to hate the sight of me.

Then it was time for the last day of class. It's amazing how much spirit people get when they know that we are in the final stretch. We were positively busting with energy. Even though we spent most of class time just going over simple grammar that we all learned in first year, but it was helpful still. There are some things in Chinese that I am convinced I am never going to get the hang of. And we laughed, and had a great time. Laughter can definitely make you remember things better. There was then a super funny fake class that one of the kids in our class put on. It was hysterical. I can't explain it properly using Chinese, but basically, he just used the easiest grammar you could possibly think of, and just joked for a while with it. Hysterical.

For the rest of the day, it was a lot like that. Everyone was excited that it was the last day, that we were all almost free. Sure, there was definitely some useful learning that went on, obviously. But you could tell, everyone was just counting down the seconds until the end of the day. Who can study in this kind of atmosphere? I definitely can't. Well, at least, I have a hard time studying. Since it is finals tomorrow, I suppose that I can rally and study at least for a little while. I'm not too worried for the test tomorrow, actually. I will probably regret saying that later on, but I still have 12 hours to live in bliss.

We had our speaking test today. I actually felt pretty confident for it. I figure, if you are relaxed, you will do fine. So I wasn't worrying a whole lot. And the teachers that I was taking the test with are pretty easy going, so I was relaxed and happy, talking about capitalism, and Africa. I know, who comes up with these topics? I thought that I was home free, until it got the final minute, and the main teacher walked into the room to listen to the end of my test. Then my teachers really woke up, and started asking lots and lots of questions. Some of which I couldn't answer. I felt cheated. Why on earth would she come in, just when I was in the final stretch? People always want to show off in front of their bosses.

And then I was home free. Well, as home free as you can get with a written final tomorrow. But I had three hours to kill by studying until I had to go see Jack. Oh yes, today was a Jack day.

I studied, and then it was off to the gym. He was five minutes late, but I suppose I will let that slide just this once. I was completely exhausted after 15 minutes. He pushed me so hard on my arms that I had to give up on one of the exercises half way through. I have never given up. Ever. I will push myself to throw up, but this time, my arms simply gave out. There was no way that I was going to keep lifting weights. Mostly, it went well though. Until we got to the end, when it was time to get stretched and massaged (still taking applications for anyone that wants to help me as soon as I get home). Anyway, the stretching. It normally hurts much more than when we work out. But if I tell Jack that he hurts, he just tells me to suck it up, and push harder. That is what he did today, as well. Except that it really hurt today. I told him that it hurt, and he kept pushing. I was fine with that, until I felt a tell tale pop and crackle in my hip. That is never a good sign. That was when I called it quits. I think that I might have just tweaked something, not torn it or anything. But can I just say, I told you so? I was waiting for this to happen. Ouch.

I caved in. I ate dinner tonight. Well, not really dinner. More like, I had broccoli, and this pumpkin sticky bread thing that is amazing. I figure that I am only in China for a little while longer, I am going to enjoy myself, and that is that! It was good.

I have spent the rest of my night signing cards for my teachers, studying for the test tomorrow, and relaxing. And now, I am going to bed. A girl needs her beauty sleep! Goodnight.