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.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
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!
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!
Friday, November 28, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
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 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.
Friday, November 14, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
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 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.
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