I can divide my weekend into two parts, most of the time. One day is the bad half of the weekend, and one day is the good half of the weekend. The bad half is the day that I stay homework, and do homework. The good half of the weekend is the day that I get to go out and do things. When I actually get to be social. Today was the bad half of the weekend.
I didn't plan for today to be the bad half. In fact, I actually had plans for today to be the good half. A lot of my friends were planning on going to Taiwan Street to just mess around, and I had originally wanted to go. But when I woke up at 9 this morning, I was so lazy, that I couldn't convince myself to even shower, much less get dressed and go out. So I respectfully bowed out of the outing, and instead stayed inside and decided to write my essay, make flash cards, and do whatever homework I have.
It didn't exactly work out like I had thought that it was going to. Sure, I got a hundred characters of my essay done, and I made flash cards, but that was about all the use that I was today. I won't admit to anything else. I have to maintain my cool mysterious mystic, you know. Very important. :P
I went out for a quick lunch of zhou (which is basically rice soup. Better than I make it sound.) I got a cold mango one, that tastes like mango mochi. It's like eating the main meal and dessert at the same time. Not very filling, but at least it isn't greasy and oily like most Chinese food. So much better than a kick in the head at least. And I can't get it in America, so I'm happy.
I went to go see Jack today at 4. There was basically no one in the gym. No one to witness my humiliation at least. I'll take it. I was super tired when i get there, but I figured, it's better than not going at all. This time, he didn't push me to muscle loss. I'll take what I can get. My problem is, I think that Jack thinks I am in better shape than I actually am, because recently, I have started feeling really sick by about halfway through the work out. I think that the weights I am lifting are too heavy or something, who knows. I only have so much energy in reserve, before I use it all up and start feeling sick. I just told Jack that I was having stomach problems recently, and used that as my excuse. At least, I think that is why.
The problem with this is that I will feel sick, and everybody knows, that once your stomach starts feeling weird, you can't do anything. Much less work out. It feels horrible. So I feel bad for not being able to work out properly. And I feel guilty. I feel like Jack thinks worse of me. Seriously, I think I have a serious problem with neurosis. I think I need to start telling Jack to go easy on the weights. And the stretching. Bloody hell, I almost hit him today. The one that hurts the most is when you push your legs as far out as they can go. And he just kept pushing. OUCH. I can handle pain, sometimes, but not when it feels like he is going to rip my muscles in half. That is not a comfortable pain at all. I didn't hit him though. I think that he was a little disappointed in me today, but that's easy for him to say when all he does is stand there and watch me suffer. I think that he has a bit of a sadist streak in him. He wanted me to come back tomorrow and the next day as well. I haven't decided if I want to or not. I think that that just might kill me.
I was happy just to sit and go on the internet for an hour after I got back from the gym. I wanted to stop sweating before I jumped in the shower. I wish that this gym was the kind of gym where you can just lay on the ground when you are done. Unfortunately, not so much .
Tonight, I had one more fun thing on the agenda. I had to meet my language partner downtown, and then we were going to walk over to Houhai and hang out for a bit. But I have a fun story. Just as I was leaving my dorm building, and walking over to the road to get a taxi, a Chinese guy walked up to me and started talking to me. Do you remember the story that I told about the guy that interrupted me when I was practicing with my language partner, and then started saying that you can't trust Americans? Same guy. He apparently didn't recognize me. He asked me if I was American, and then told me that he wanted to be friends. I made excuses, saying that I had to be somewhere right now, and that I had a lot of homework to do tomorrow. Then he asked me if I had a boyfriend, and when I said that I already did, he left me alone immediately. Creeper. He didn't even have any front teeth. Obviously, I don't have a boyfriend, but hey, what he doesn't know won't hurt him. My imaginary boyfriend comes in handy in cases like these. Little white lies and all that...
I was a couple minutes late meeting Qiao Xue (Beijing traffic is horrible. There are people EVERYWHERE) but once I finally met up with her, it wasn't a long walk to get to Houhai. Houhai is actually a pretty fun place to be. It's a bunch of bars surrounding a huge lake. A lot of people go swimming in the lake, or rent boats to drive around. When it gets dark, the lights reflect onto the lake, and it is beautiful. I'm not a huge fan of drinking, but it was nice to walk around, and look at the lights, and talk to Qiao Xue. She is such an awesome person. She is 22, and a third year student here at the Beijing Language and Culture University. She is a native Beijing person, out of the dorms and back at home for the summer. It was a good night. I bought a couple of hand made note books, but this area is so expensive that it just isn't worth buying a whole lot. I don't want to go broke. There were some really pretty clothes that I was so tempted by. But on reflection, it is a good thing that I didn't buy them. Sure, they were pretty, but they had so many colors and sparkles that there is absolutely now way that I would ever be able to wear it. It would just be one of those things that I would hang in my closet, and show off to my friends on the hanger every once in a while.
More on Houhai though. There are a lot of foreigners there in the bars, so it is super expensive. One interesting thing about the Chinese bars are that if you just walk by, people who work at the bars will come out, and follow you, trying to convince you to come and sit in the bar. It's hard to convince them that you just want to keep walking. They are extremely persistent. One followed my friend and I for 5 minutes, trying to convince us to come and have a drink with us. He was not good looking enough, we decided.
And now, I am listening to Radio Rounds, trying to write down my day before I forget it. I know that my day might sound boring to you, but it was perfect for me. I did exactly what I wanted to do, and there is something insanely satisfying about that. I can go to bed happy tonight. How often do you get to say that?
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Thank God It's Friday
Thank god it's friday. What a perfect line. That includes every single emotion that people feel when you wake up on a Friday morning, and you think "This is the last push, and then it's home free to the weekend." That's what I thought this morning, anyway. I know, I know, it's Friday. And that means test day for me. But lets be real here. I couldn't have cared less about my tests today. It was the first week back at school after a week off to do my own thing, and it has been a hell of a week. So really, all I cared about was getting through the next five hours, and getting to the weekend. As far as the tests were concerned... well, my thinking in the morning is that if I don't know it by now, then I am not going to learn in the next half an hour.
The world was on my side this morning. I actually had hot water when I took a shower. And I mean hot water, not just body temperature luke warm water. I can't even tell you how excited I was. I almost didn't get out of the shower. ALMOST. That was the first sign that today was going to be a good day. I know what you are thinking. Hot showers in the morning? I am far too spoiled. What can I say, some people just walk in the light.
My test was actually not as hard as I thought it was going to be. I got a couple of the grammar points wrong, sure, but in my defense, they were not on our review sheet. How was I supposed to know that I was supposed to review them? Honestly people, work with me here! I finished early, and immediately put it out of my mind. No use whining over spilled milk, or whatever the phrase is. Onto bigger and better things! In this case, the bigger and better things included my speaking tests, which was 1) reading parts of my text to my teachers, and 2) giving a speech on my Social Studies project. The text part was first.
It actually didn't go as badly as I thought it was going to go. Maybe my Chinese really is getting better. My tones are horrendous though. It's hard to remember which character has what tone, and then to say them all very fast. It makes my head spin. I think it was better today than it normally is though. Well, at least I am moving in the right direction.
The speech part was a lot of fun. I listened to two of them (my classmates) before I was up. The two before me definitely had fun with it. One of them talked about comedy in Beijing (so that was obviously fun to listen to) and the other talked about trying to maintain the tradition of Beijing opera. I'm a little conflicted on my thoughts on Beijing opera, but it was still a good thing to listen to. The last student, who went after me, talked about the pollution in Shanghai, which was fun. Her conclusion was that Shanghai really is doing basically nothing to combat pollution. Take that Shanghai! I talked about Chinese medicine (obviously). I bored them to tears with a basic history of Chinese medicine, and then told them my story of going to the hospital to get acupuncture done. That woke them up a little. I think it has also made them think that I am completely insane. And I will be the first to admit, it is more than a little crazy. I hate needles, and yet I let someone stick 10 of them into my head. That is a contradiction for someone else to figure out. I'm too tired.
For Chinese tables we went to the local Muslim food restaurant, that is right on campus. It is actually pretty good food. However, the room we were in did not have enough air conditioning, and held way too many people. Needless to say, we were all sweating rivers by the end of the meal. Attractive, no? But the food was good. Really good. I ate way too much. (In fact, at dinner time, I was still so full from lunch that I just skipped dinner. Jack would be proud. I think.) After eating myself into a food coma on meat and veggies (and their lovely lovely nan...) I dragged myself back to my room, and put on a good movie. Good movie meaning Avatar, obviously. What else is a girl going to do on a Friday afternoon in a smog infested city?
I met up with my language partner tonight. My new one. The old one left without ever saying goodbye. Well, good riddance. I like the new one better anyway. Her name is Qiao Xue. Super nice. I feel like I hit the language partner jack pot. When I met up with her tonight, there was obviously the awkward moment where neither one of us knew what to say or what to do, but as soon as we started walking down towards the shops, things started getting better. We walked around one of the malls for a bit, and then I actually ended up heading over to the DVD store, which was, conveniently, right around the corner from her house. We rode the bus over there together, chatting the whole way. Like I said, language partner jackpot.
I was parched (I love that word. You never have the chance to use it in normal conversation) when I got off the bus, so I headed over to what used to be my favorite juice shop, right outside my old Chinese high school. While I was waiting for my drink, this Chinese lady came in, looked at me, ordered a drink, and then asked my if I spoke Chinese. I told her that I spoke a little bit. We started talking. As it turns out, she is a teacher in the US, and she knows the head of the Chinese department in Vermont. We walked across the street together, talking about Chinese, and then she invited me over to her house for dinner. I'm pretty good at carrying a conversation, but I am not entirely sure if I am comfortable with going to a strangers house for dinner. I feel like that would be super awkward. I think that this may just be a cultural thing though. It's not that I don't trust her, or that I feel uncomfortable around her: she was super friendly, and I completely believe that she was just trying to be nice. I just didn't want to go to her house right at that moment. So I made some flimsy excuses, gave her my phone number, and told her that we would get in touch later. We'll see what happens. What do you think? I am interested.
I obtained some articles of entertainment at my favorite DVD store (as this was part of my excuse) and headed back home. It was 95 degrees outside, after all. I was sticky and sweaty, and desperately in need of a cold bottle of water. And it is way too hot to be outside. Obviously, the only solution is to stay inside until the weather decides to cooperate. I may be here for a while.
And now, i am sitting in my room, having just finished a movie, listening to Radio Rounds and writing my blog for all you lovelies to read. I have to go to bed soon though, the words are starting to blur together on the page. That is never a good sign. Good night all!
The world was on my side this morning. I actually had hot water when I took a shower. And I mean hot water, not just body temperature luke warm water. I can't even tell you how excited I was. I almost didn't get out of the shower. ALMOST. That was the first sign that today was going to be a good day. I know what you are thinking. Hot showers in the morning? I am far too spoiled. What can I say, some people just walk in the light.
My test was actually not as hard as I thought it was going to be. I got a couple of the grammar points wrong, sure, but in my defense, they were not on our review sheet. How was I supposed to know that I was supposed to review them? Honestly people, work with me here! I finished early, and immediately put it out of my mind. No use whining over spilled milk, or whatever the phrase is. Onto bigger and better things! In this case, the bigger and better things included my speaking tests, which was 1) reading parts of my text to my teachers, and 2) giving a speech on my Social Studies project. The text part was first.
It actually didn't go as badly as I thought it was going to go. Maybe my Chinese really is getting better. My tones are horrendous though. It's hard to remember which character has what tone, and then to say them all very fast. It makes my head spin. I think it was better today than it normally is though. Well, at least I am moving in the right direction.
The speech part was a lot of fun. I listened to two of them (my classmates) before I was up. The two before me definitely had fun with it. One of them talked about comedy in Beijing (so that was obviously fun to listen to) and the other talked about trying to maintain the tradition of Beijing opera. I'm a little conflicted on my thoughts on Beijing opera, but it was still a good thing to listen to. The last student, who went after me, talked about the pollution in Shanghai, which was fun. Her conclusion was that Shanghai really is doing basically nothing to combat pollution. Take that Shanghai! I talked about Chinese medicine (obviously). I bored them to tears with a basic history of Chinese medicine, and then told them my story of going to the hospital to get acupuncture done. That woke them up a little. I think it has also made them think that I am completely insane. And I will be the first to admit, it is more than a little crazy. I hate needles, and yet I let someone stick 10 of them into my head. That is a contradiction for someone else to figure out. I'm too tired.
For Chinese tables we went to the local Muslim food restaurant, that is right on campus. It is actually pretty good food. However, the room we were in did not have enough air conditioning, and held way too many people. Needless to say, we were all sweating rivers by the end of the meal. Attractive, no? But the food was good. Really good. I ate way too much. (In fact, at dinner time, I was still so full from lunch that I just skipped dinner. Jack would be proud. I think.) After eating myself into a food coma on meat and veggies (and their lovely lovely nan...) I dragged myself back to my room, and put on a good movie. Good movie meaning Avatar, obviously. What else is a girl going to do on a Friday afternoon in a smog infested city?
I met up with my language partner tonight. My new one. The old one left without ever saying goodbye. Well, good riddance. I like the new one better anyway. Her name is Qiao Xue. Super nice. I feel like I hit the language partner jack pot. When I met up with her tonight, there was obviously the awkward moment where neither one of us knew what to say or what to do, but as soon as we started walking down towards the shops, things started getting better. We walked around one of the malls for a bit, and then I actually ended up heading over to the DVD store, which was, conveniently, right around the corner from her house. We rode the bus over there together, chatting the whole way. Like I said, language partner jackpot.
I was parched (I love that word. You never have the chance to use it in normal conversation) when I got off the bus, so I headed over to what used to be my favorite juice shop, right outside my old Chinese high school. While I was waiting for my drink, this Chinese lady came in, looked at me, ordered a drink, and then asked my if I spoke Chinese. I told her that I spoke a little bit. We started talking. As it turns out, she is a teacher in the US, and she knows the head of the Chinese department in Vermont. We walked across the street together, talking about Chinese, and then she invited me over to her house for dinner. I'm pretty good at carrying a conversation, but I am not entirely sure if I am comfortable with going to a strangers house for dinner. I feel like that would be super awkward. I think that this may just be a cultural thing though. It's not that I don't trust her, or that I feel uncomfortable around her: she was super friendly, and I completely believe that she was just trying to be nice. I just didn't want to go to her house right at that moment. So I made some flimsy excuses, gave her my phone number, and told her that we would get in touch later. We'll see what happens. What do you think? I am interested.
I obtained some articles of entertainment at my favorite DVD store (as this was part of my excuse) and headed back home. It was 95 degrees outside, after all. I was sticky and sweaty, and desperately in need of a cold bottle of water. And it is way too hot to be outside. Obviously, the only solution is to stay inside until the weather decides to cooperate. I may be here for a while.
And now, i am sitting in my room, having just finished a movie, listening to Radio Rounds and writing my blog for all you lovelies to read. I have to go to bed soon though, the words are starting to blur together on the page. That is never a good sign. Good night all!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Top of the World
I suffer from mood swings. Really bad ones. One day, I will be totally fine, living my life with absolutely no problems. The next day, when I wake up, I am in a huge funk, that no one can drag me out of. The only solution is for me to go to bed again, and try again tomorrow. Unfortunately, this huge mood swing means that I start taking it out on my friends and family. I'm sorry, all of you guys. I really don't mean to. But I appreciate all that you put up with. Especially you Mom. You put up with an amazing amount of my neurosis.
This was my world for the past two days. This is also the reason why I didn't write a blog yesterday: I don't want to remember how I felt yesterday. Mood swings are just that bad for me. But I am better now.
I wasn't awake by any stretch of the imagination this morning. I was on autopilot when I was getting ready, and I spent way too much effort trying to keep my eyes open. But I could still pay attention to what was happening in class, and contribute to the conversation. Actually raising my hand and voluntarily making a statement is not something that I am used to doing here, but I did it today. I gave myself a mental pat on the back. That was the beginning of my day, and it only got better. My "on top of the world" feeling only grew and grew through the rest of the day. But this first lecture was a very good start to my day. I felt confident, and happy.
When we got to the smaller practice class, there was a new challenge: we had to teach the class. Each of us had been divided according to a certain paper that we had to read, and each of us had to teach a paragraph or two to the class, for 10 minutes. I don't know about you, but I really don't like being the teacher. All of the teachers were excited, because they got to be the "students" for a while, but I know that I speak for most of us actual students when i say that we were not nearly as excited as they were. Not to mention the fact that while we were teaching, we taught a lot of the words and grammar wrong. When I was teaching, I was not at all calm; in fact, I was super nervous. I had to fake (for 10 minutes) that I knew exactly what I was talking about, and I knew how to teach other people. It actually was a lot of fun. Well, it was a good experience at least. And my class was pretty awesome, all the people know how to have a good time. I can understand why the teacher wanted us to do this. I paid SO much more attention to our homework (because I had to prepare words) than I normally do. And it was a nice change of pace.
My normal place to eat lunch has been closed for a week, which is throwing a huge crank in my schedule. I went to a Zhou restaurant for lunch yesterday (zhou is a rice soup thing that you put things in to add flavor: I got a cold mango one. It tasted like mango mochi, and was completely amazing.) Today, I was not nearly as creative. I just walked around the corner of the school and bought some baozi for lunch. Yummy. Not good if you eat them every day, but good for a little oily carbo treat every once in a while. Guess what the rest of my lunch break consisted of? If you guessed going back to my room and having a cup of tea while trying to rest, then you would be right. I know. I am predictable. I like to think that it is one of my better qualities. Sometimes.
Today my one on one class was super helpful. I had one of my favorite teachers as my person today, and all that we did was go over grammar for tomorrows test, and talk about Beijing. But going over the grammar was a major help. I felt like I had already done most of my studying by the time that we were done, and I understood all of it. What more could you want? I felt like nothing could bring me down. It's so weird how I go from one extreme to the other. Maybe it's just because I am a girl. Who knows. But I am quite enjoying this feeling of confidence. Hopefully, it will last.
The head of our program invited a nationally renowned Chinese tone teacher to come talk to us today. Basically, every book in China that talks about teaching tones to foreigners was written by this woman. She is amazing. She came to talk to us for an hour. (I was actually required to go, because my tones are just that bad. I'm so glad I was though.) She was an amazing teacher. I wish that I had the time and opportunity to talk with her one on one. I feel like I would be speaking like a Chinese person after a week. She broke down the tones and the characters, and showed us exactly how to pronounce words, how to say them, and when to pause in a sentence. And she made it interesting! I didn't mind sitting in the same spot for an hour, saying the same words over and over again, trying to fix problems that most people can't even distinguish. I totally ate it up. However, even though hearing her talk, and describe the Chinese tones was a huge help, it also made me realize just how far I still have to go, and how bad my tones really are. I can fool myself every day by speaking really fast, but when I get down to it, I still have a ways to go. But I certainly don't care. I love learning Chinese. This is the kind of thing that I paid for. This is what I want to do.
And of course, when learning how to speak Chinese, you always need some practical applications. And I can say that that is one of my reasons for seeing Jack. Tonight was another session. Thankfully, he didn't immediately push my arms to muscle failure. I don't think I ever hit that point tonight. But it was hard. It was a lot of long reps with not as much weight, so it just weighed down on me. And unfortunately, I hadn't eaten since noon, and it was now 6 o'clock. Which, when you are lifting weights, is not a good idea. I held on for a little while, and felt really good, and then I started to feel really bad. My head floated up to the clouds, and started spinning out of control. When you are holding 20 pounds above your head, and trying to do lunges, it is normally preferable to have your head firmly on the ground, thank you very much. So I had to keep stopping, not because I was tired, but because if I didn't, I was going to fall over. I told Jack that I was fine, but I thin that he knew I was not doing so well. He went easy on me for the last 15 minutes. Hopefully my next session will go better with him. I still got a good work out today, but I wasn't feeling so hot.
I got dinner with some friends who I randomly bumped into at the gym, and then came back to my room to study for my test tomorrow. And that is what I have been dong up until now, when I heard the call to write a blog. I am not too worried for my test tomorrow. It should be easy. The grammar is not as hard as it has been in the past, and for once in my life, I have actually memorized the characters. Knock on wood. Wish me luck!
This was my world for the past two days. This is also the reason why I didn't write a blog yesterday: I don't want to remember how I felt yesterday. Mood swings are just that bad for me. But I am better now.
I wasn't awake by any stretch of the imagination this morning. I was on autopilot when I was getting ready, and I spent way too much effort trying to keep my eyes open. But I could still pay attention to what was happening in class, and contribute to the conversation. Actually raising my hand and voluntarily making a statement is not something that I am used to doing here, but I did it today. I gave myself a mental pat on the back. That was the beginning of my day, and it only got better. My "on top of the world" feeling only grew and grew through the rest of the day. But this first lecture was a very good start to my day. I felt confident, and happy.
When we got to the smaller practice class, there was a new challenge: we had to teach the class. Each of us had been divided according to a certain paper that we had to read, and each of us had to teach a paragraph or two to the class, for 10 minutes. I don't know about you, but I really don't like being the teacher. All of the teachers were excited, because they got to be the "students" for a while, but I know that I speak for most of us actual students when i say that we were not nearly as excited as they were. Not to mention the fact that while we were teaching, we taught a lot of the words and grammar wrong. When I was teaching, I was not at all calm; in fact, I was super nervous. I had to fake (for 10 minutes) that I knew exactly what I was talking about, and I knew how to teach other people. It actually was a lot of fun. Well, it was a good experience at least. And my class was pretty awesome, all the people know how to have a good time. I can understand why the teacher wanted us to do this. I paid SO much more attention to our homework (because I had to prepare words) than I normally do. And it was a nice change of pace.
My normal place to eat lunch has been closed for a week, which is throwing a huge crank in my schedule. I went to a Zhou restaurant for lunch yesterday (zhou is a rice soup thing that you put things in to add flavor: I got a cold mango one. It tasted like mango mochi, and was completely amazing.) Today, I was not nearly as creative. I just walked around the corner of the school and bought some baozi for lunch. Yummy. Not good if you eat them every day, but good for a little oily carbo treat every once in a while. Guess what the rest of my lunch break consisted of? If you guessed going back to my room and having a cup of tea while trying to rest, then you would be right. I know. I am predictable. I like to think that it is one of my better qualities. Sometimes.
Today my one on one class was super helpful. I had one of my favorite teachers as my person today, and all that we did was go over grammar for tomorrows test, and talk about Beijing. But going over the grammar was a major help. I felt like I had already done most of my studying by the time that we were done, and I understood all of it. What more could you want? I felt like nothing could bring me down. It's so weird how I go from one extreme to the other. Maybe it's just because I am a girl. Who knows. But I am quite enjoying this feeling of confidence. Hopefully, it will last.
The head of our program invited a nationally renowned Chinese tone teacher to come talk to us today. Basically, every book in China that talks about teaching tones to foreigners was written by this woman. She is amazing. She came to talk to us for an hour. (I was actually required to go, because my tones are just that bad. I'm so glad I was though.) She was an amazing teacher. I wish that I had the time and opportunity to talk with her one on one. I feel like I would be speaking like a Chinese person after a week. She broke down the tones and the characters, and showed us exactly how to pronounce words, how to say them, and when to pause in a sentence. And she made it interesting! I didn't mind sitting in the same spot for an hour, saying the same words over and over again, trying to fix problems that most people can't even distinguish. I totally ate it up. However, even though hearing her talk, and describe the Chinese tones was a huge help, it also made me realize just how far I still have to go, and how bad my tones really are. I can fool myself every day by speaking really fast, but when I get down to it, I still have a ways to go. But I certainly don't care. I love learning Chinese. This is the kind of thing that I paid for. This is what I want to do.
And of course, when learning how to speak Chinese, you always need some practical applications. And I can say that that is one of my reasons for seeing Jack. Tonight was another session. Thankfully, he didn't immediately push my arms to muscle failure. I don't think I ever hit that point tonight. But it was hard. It was a lot of long reps with not as much weight, so it just weighed down on me. And unfortunately, I hadn't eaten since noon, and it was now 6 o'clock. Which, when you are lifting weights, is not a good idea. I held on for a little while, and felt really good, and then I started to feel really bad. My head floated up to the clouds, and started spinning out of control. When you are holding 20 pounds above your head, and trying to do lunges, it is normally preferable to have your head firmly on the ground, thank you very much. So I had to keep stopping, not because I was tired, but because if I didn't, I was going to fall over. I told Jack that I was fine, but I thin that he knew I was not doing so well. He went easy on me for the last 15 minutes. Hopefully my next session will go better with him. I still got a good work out today, but I wasn't feeling so hot.
I got dinner with some friends who I randomly bumped into at the gym, and then came back to my room to study for my test tomorrow. And that is what I have been dong up until now, when I heard the call to write a blog. I am not too worried for my test tomorrow. It should be easy. The grammar is not as hard as it has been in the past, and for once in my life, I have actually memorized the characters. Knock on wood. Wish me luck!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
My Own Personal Marathon
For the record, I don't mean marathon as in a the running race. Although I would love to run in one one day. But I have the feeling that if I tried anything of the sort in the near future, it just might kill me. No, in this instance, I simply mean my day. The whole 24 hours (which, if you think about it as a mile per hour, is almost a marathon...) Well, actually, my day lasted from about 6:30 AM to 10:30 PM, so not exactly 24 hours, but you know what I mean. Work with me here.
I almost fell back asleep this morning after my alarm went off. I thought I had for one horrible moment, but jumping out of bed and running for the shower. Well, not running so much as stumbling along with my eyes closed. It takes me quite a while to wake up in the morning. I do what I can to get ready in the morning .
I was so much more tired today than I was yesterday. It was all that I could do to just keep my eyes open. Trying to actually follow what was going on in the first was was so much harder. My teacher asked me a question at one point, a question that I most definitely knew the answer to, but my brain just couldn't process fast enough for me to answer. I love feeling like an idiot. NOT. It makes me frustrated as hell. No wonder I have to go to the gym so much. Blow of steam much?
The funniest part was, every single person in my class was feeling the exact same way. As soon as class finished, about half of the heads in the room dropped onto desks, and everyone just groaned. It was actually pretty funny.
The remainder of my school day passed a lot like that. My own personal marathon. My brain was not clear, my head was not in the game, but I stayed in class. No other choice, really. I felt like a hero, myself. There is nothing worse than having to act completely normal when all that you want to do is jump back in bed and go to sleep.
Lunch time was dominated by Chinese tables for language practice, after which I went upstairs to my room immediately to relax. There is nothing like a cup of tea to perk up your spirits. I rallied myself for another hour of class, and headed off.
I can't put a lot of details in about today. Partly because I don't want to, partly because I don't know who reads this, and partly because I feel like I was walking through a haze for a large part of the day. All three of those reasons make for a very uninteresting blog. Added to the fact that right now, as I am writing this, I am completely exhausted. My bad. It's just been one of those days.
We watched a movie called 活着 (To Live) today. I don't know if you have seen it. It's a Chinese movie about a family during the Cultural Revolution. It was a tough movie. At the end of it, most of the people that you started out with at the beginning of the movie are dead (spoilers!) Just when you got used to the new hardships of life, something else comes out of the blue. In the end, you were starting to guess who would die, simply by guessing whose death would shake up the story the most. Everyone walked out after seeing that movie, all with the same expression on our faces. That expression? WHAT THE FUCK.
The rest of my night was spent doing my homework (only a page and half of text, and 20 new words. Score!) and relaxing. I didn't get back from the movie until 6, so in my defense, spending a couple of hours doing nothing is perfectly acceptable. And now, I am off to bed. I'll get my blog mojo back soon, I promise.
晚安！Goodnight!
I almost fell back asleep this morning after my alarm went off. I thought I had for one horrible moment, but jumping out of bed and running for the shower. Well, not running so much as stumbling along with my eyes closed. It takes me quite a while to wake up in the morning. I do what I can to get ready in the morning .
I was so much more tired today than I was yesterday. It was all that I could do to just keep my eyes open. Trying to actually follow what was going on in the first was was so much harder. My teacher asked me a question at one point, a question that I most definitely knew the answer to, but my brain just couldn't process fast enough for me to answer. I love feeling like an idiot. NOT. It makes me frustrated as hell. No wonder I have to go to the gym so much. Blow of steam much?
The funniest part was, every single person in my class was feeling the exact same way. As soon as class finished, about half of the heads in the room dropped onto desks, and everyone just groaned. It was actually pretty funny.
The remainder of my school day passed a lot like that. My own personal marathon. My brain was not clear, my head was not in the game, but I stayed in class. No other choice, really. I felt like a hero, myself. There is nothing worse than having to act completely normal when all that you want to do is jump back in bed and go to sleep.
Lunch time was dominated by Chinese tables for language practice, after which I went upstairs to my room immediately to relax. There is nothing like a cup of tea to perk up your spirits. I rallied myself for another hour of class, and headed off.
I can't put a lot of details in about today. Partly because I don't want to, partly because I don't know who reads this, and partly because I feel like I was walking through a haze for a large part of the day. All three of those reasons make for a very uninteresting blog. Added to the fact that right now, as I am writing this, I am completely exhausted. My bad. It's just been one of those days.
We watched a movie called 活着 (To Live) today. I don't know if you have seen it. It's a Chinese movie about a family during the Cultural Revolution. It was a tough movie. At the end of it, most of the people that you started out with at the beginning of the movie are dead (spoilers!) Just when you got used to the new hardships of life, something else comes out of the blue. In the end, you were starting to guess who would die, simply by guessing whose death would shake up the story the most. Everyone walked out after seeing that movie, all with the same expression on our faces. That expression? WHAT THE FUCK.
The rest of my night was spent doing my homework (only a page and half of text, and 20 new words. Score!) and relaxing. I didn't get back from the movie until 6, so in my defense, spending a couple of hours doing nothing is perfectly acceptable. And now, I am off to bed. I'll get my blog mojo back soon, I promise.
晚安！Goodnight!
Monday, July 19, 2010
One Ends and Another Begins
I woke up at 5:30 this morning (the first time) absolutely convinced that it was 6:30, and I had slept past my alarm. I was even starting to drag myself out of bed and everything, before I realized that I should probably check the clock on my phone first. You know, just to be safe. When I saw the time, I thought that I must still be dreaming. And as such, I needed to go back to sleep, immediately.
When I woke up at 6:30, I thought that I was still dreaming. Again. I couldn't believe that I was actually waking up, for realsies. At 6:30 in the morning. This marked the end of my week long vacation. To my woe and dismay, it's time to go back to work. For the record, work is completely over-rated. Seriously. Whoever decided that we should all study until we die was very very stupid.
Guess what I got this morning? A cold shower. Surprise surprise. Apparently the hot water takes a little while to wake up as well. (I got a hot shower this afternoon. So I live in a place with moody hot water. Lovely.) There was also no internet connection. I may or may not be a little bit addicted to the internet. I was not happy.
Surprisingly, I was not all that tired when I was sitting in class today. I guess I am just well rested from last week. Outstanding. That's just the kind of consequence that I like to have. We are reading this text that is from the scar literature point of time in China, as a reaction to the Cultural Revolution. So it was very fluffy and cheesy. And so so silly. Honestly, it almost gives me a stomach ache.
We have a new kind of class now. Instead of having two small grammar classes, each an hour long, we now have one small grammar class, and an even smaller speaking class. Today was the first time that we have had the speaking class (we are also supposed to use it to practice for our HSK test. That is not going so well.) It was hard. It was fun, but still hard. I have a hard time speaking sometimes, and when it is on the fly, trying to use our grammar and new words. Bloody hell, I feel like I have a million things running through my head all at the same time. But I guess that is what you sign up for when you try to learn a new language.
Lunch got a little bit interesting. My normal place was closed, so I had to go to my hotel's restaurant to get take away food. It took me an hour to get my food. AN HOUR. I was ready to scream. I had to tell myself very strongly not to lose my cool. But I got my food. Eventually. And headed back off to our class building for my one on one class. Ah, the glamorous life of a summer school college student. It's okay, you can tell me. I know that you are jealous.
During my one on one class with my teacher, we had a good old bonding session over our shared love of detective and fantasy, and alien movies/ TV shows (such as Doctor Who and Lord of the Rings.) It was fun. I promised her that I would bring my Lord of the Rings ring to class tomorrow to show her. Yes, I am a nerd. Deal with it.
I studied until it was time for me to GO TO THE GYM! SCORE! Time to find Jack again. I've been having a serious problem with my clothes recently. Not that they keep falling off or anything. THAT would be awkward. No, my problem is that I don't have enough gym clothes, and they all start smelling really bad really fast. I've been having to get creative. This may call for a shopping trip this weekend.
Jack was in a super good mood tonight. He was joking around non stop. While helping me stretch (to the point of me wanting to hurt him back, that's how much it hurt. He just laughed) he told me that as long as I kept stretching, I would basically be a beast. I'm just going to have to trust him, I guess. But even though he was in a good mood tonight, that didn't stop him from trying to kill me. There were so many lunges. Way too many. I didn't think I was going to be able to walk down the stairs to get back home. And then there were the calf exercises. OUCH. I felt tingly feelings going all up and down my legs as soon as I was done. Oh man. I am going to have a hard time walking around tomorrow. Thank god for elevators.
Jack was also going on and on about his massages tonight. That is the only English word that he uses. Massage. It's excellent. He asks me how his massages are, and then when he saw the marks on my back from the cupping, he told me, in a joking way, that he wanted to go there to learn how to give a better massage. I assured him that he didn't need to. That is seriously the best part about me going to the gym. It also makes me wonder if there is any possible way that I could rope someone into giving me a massage after a workout in America. I'm not going to hold my breath though. (However, if you want to volunteer, you know how to contact me!)
There are some things Jack told me that I can't write here, because, like I said, I don't know who is reading this. No, nothing sexual. Just things that would make for awkward conversation as soon as I get home. Use your imagination.
One last thing about Jack. Before we even starting working out, he asked me if I had eaten already. I said no. Then he asked me if I was going to eat afterwards. My response was something along the lines of DUH. I am a human, eating is something that I happen to like to do on occasion. Then, he asked me me to just eat a banana and an apple for dinner tonight. Only one of each. In order to lose weight, he says. I'm going to start telling him that he is fat, see how he likes it.
Only one other thing of interest happened tonight. (I mean, I went to get my homework checked, but that wasn't interesting.) No, my new language partner came to my room to meet me tonight. I was in my sweats, with my hair up and glasses on, so needless to say, I was not feeling particularly glamorous. But it was nice to meet her. My room was a complete mess (which I warned her about) but I don't think that she believed me. She seemed shocked as soon as she walked in and actually saw the mess. I was embarrassed. Should have listened to my mother and cleaned my room. Yes, I did just put that in writing. My mistake.
It was nice to talk to her. She is very friendly, much more friendly than my last language partner. This one actually wants to be a teacher, so I think she had a much better view of foreigners than the last one. And I think that this one actually wants to talk to me, and isn't just in this for the money. She is a third year student, studying Chinese as a Foreign Language. I am actually really excited to see her again. Hopefully we can go out for dinner or something this weekend.
And that was my day. My week of relaxation has ended, and the last four weeks of studying have begun. But I am actually excited about it. It's nice to be studying again, to be pushing myself to do the best that I can do. To be studying again. I'm happy when I am working hard. I think that I am a masochist like that. On well. I suppose all the best people in the world are either crazy, or masochists. I think that I am a little of both.
And with that lovely thought...
Live long and prosper!
When I woke up at 6:30, I thought that I was still dreaming. Again. I couldn't believe that I was actually waking up, for realsies. At 6:30 in the morning. This marked the end of my week long vacation. To my woe and dismay, it's time to go back to work. For the record, work is completely over-rated. Seriously. Whoever decided that we should all study until we die was very very stupid.
Guess what I got this morning? A cold shower. Surprise surprise. Apparently the hot water takes a little while to wake up as well. (I got a hot shower this afternoon. So I live in a place with moody hot water. Lovely.) There was also no internet connection. I may or may not be a little bit addicted to the internet. I was not happy.
Surprisingly, I was not all that tired when I was sitting in class today. I guess I am just well rested from last week. Outstanding. That's just the kind of consequence that I like to have. We are reading this text that is from the scar literature point of time in China, as a reaction to the Cultural Revolution. So it was very fluffy and cheesy. And so so silly. Honestly, it almost gives me a stomach ache.
We have a new kind of class now. Instead of having two small grammar classes, each an hour long, we now have one small grammar class, and an even smaller speaking class. Today was the first time that we have had the speaking class (we are also supposed to use it to practice for our HSK test. That is not going so well.) It was hard. It was fun, but still hard. I have a hard time speaking sometimes, and when it is on the fly, trying to use our grammar and new words. Bloody hell, I feel like I have a million things running through my head all at the same time. But I guess that is what you sign up for when you try to learn a new language.
Lunch got a little bit interesting. My normal place was closed, so I had to go to my hotel's restaurant to get take away food. It took me an hour to get my food. AN HOUR. I was ready to scream. I had to tell myself very strongly not to lose my cool. But I got my food. Eventually. And headed back off to our class building for my one on one class. Ah, the glamorous life of a summer school college student. It's okay, you can tell me. I know that you are jealous.
During my one on one class with my teacher, we had a good old bonding session over our shared love of detective and fantasy, and alien movies/ TV shows (such as Doctor Who and Lord of the Rings.) It was fun. I promised her that I would bring my Lord of the Rings ring to class tomorrow to show her. Yes, I am a nerd. Deal with it.
I studied until it was time for me to GO TO THE GYM! SCORE! Time to find Jack again. I've been having a serious problem with my clothes recently. Not that they keep falling off or anything. THAT would be awkward. No, my problem is that I don't have enough gym clothes, and they all start smelling really bad really fast. I've been having to get creative. This may call for a shopping trip this weekend.
Jack was in a super good mood tonight. He was joking around non stop. While helping me stretch (to the point of me wanting to hurt him back, that's how much it hurt. He just laughed) he told me that as long as I kept stretching, I would basically be a beast. I'm just going to have to trust him, I guess. But even though he was in a good mood tonight, that didn't stop him from trying to kill me. There were so many lunges. Way too many. I didn't think I was going to be able to walk down the stairs to get back home. And then there were the calf exercises. OUCH. I felt tingly feelings going all up and down my legs as soon as I was done. Oh man. I am going to have a hard time walking around tomorrow. Thank god for elevators.
Jack was also going on and on about his massages tonight. That is the only English word that he uses. Massage. It's excellent. He asks me how his massages are, and then when he saw the marks on my back from the cupping, he told me, in a joking way, that he wanted to go there to learn how to give a better massage. I assured him that he didn't need to. That is seriously the best part about me going to the gym. It also makes me wonder if there is any possible way that I could rope someone into giving me a massage after a workout in America. I'm not going to hold my breath though. (However, if you want to volunteer, you know how to contact me!)
There are some things Jack told me that I can't write here, because, like I said, I don't know who is reading this. No, nothing sexual. Just things that would make for awkward conversation as soon as I get home. Use your imagination.
One last thing about Jack. Before we even starting working out, he asked me if I had eaten already. I said no. Then he asked me if I was going to eat afterwards. My response was something along the lines of DUH. I am a human, eating is something that I happen to like to do on occasion. Then, he asked me me to just eat a banana and an apple for dinner tonight. Only one of each. In order to lose weight, he says. I'm going to start telling him that he is fat, see how he likes it.
Only one other thing of interest happened tonight. (I mean, I went to get my homework checked, but that wasn't interesting.) No, my new language partner came to my room to meet me tonight. I was in my sweats, with my hair up and glasses on, so needless to say, I was not feeling particularly glamorous. But it was nice to meet her. My room was a complete mess (which I warned her about) but I don't think that she believed me. She seemed shocked as soon as she walked in and actually saw the mess. I was embarrassed. Should have listened to my mother and cleaned my room. Yes, I did just put that in writing. My mistake.
It was nice to talk to her. She is very friendly, much more friendly than my last language partner. This one actually wants to be a teacher, so I think she had a much better view of foreigners than the last one. And I think that this one actually wants to talk to me, and isn't just in this for the money. She is a third year student, studying Chinese as a Foreign Language. I am actually really excited to see her again. Hopefully we can go out for dinner or something this weekend.
And that was my day. My week of relaxation has ended, and the last four weeks of studying have begun. But I am actually excited about it. It's nice to be studying again, to be pushing myself to do the best that I can do. To be studying again. I'm happy when I am working hard. I think that I am a masochist like that. On well. I suppose all the best people in the world are either crazy, or masochists. I think that I am a little of both.
And with that lovely thought...
Live long and prosper!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
The Foreigners' Curse
I bet you have hot showers all the time, don't you? Every time you turn the shower on, hot water comes out. It's not something that you have to cross your fingers and hope for. I can see you smiling at the computer, I know what's up. Well, you are all lucky. I am not a member of the exclusive "Always have hot water" club. All of last week, I only had luke warm showers. There is something to be said about hot water for mental health. It can completely wake you up and get you ready for the day in the morning, or it can calm you down and get you ready for bed at night. Hot showers keep me sane. Thankfully, I my hot shower numbers have finally started to increase, meaning that I actually have hot water again. It's a miracle.
Well, this morning, it was only luke warm. But still. It gives me a reason to move more quickly in the morning, so I am not freezing my ass off for quite so long. And this morning, I had a reason to get out the door quickly: Beijing Dirt Market.
No, it's not a market that sells dirt. Wouldn't that be silly. No, it's the biggest outdoor flea market in Beijing. It's huge, and a complete rip off. True, there are a lot of foreigners there, but a lot of Chinese people there to actually do some serious purchasing. It is completely massive, and you can get anything you want there. Jade, wooden statues, books, posters, vases, tables... it has everything. I went there once last year when I was living here, and I had a great time. It also happens to be a great place to pick up presents for people back home. Yes, all of you, I now have presents. You know who you are.
I left my room at 9:45, planning to get there at about 10:30. I went on my own, because everyone else was working on writing their paper. Never have I been so happy that I finished that paper on Thursday. As it turns out, the trip took way longer. I was taking the subway, and it took me an hour. AN HOUR. Of riding a Beijing subway. They are actually very nice, the subways. Very clean, and air-conditioned. Well, most of them are, anyway. Just boring. And some of the people on the subway smell like they don't shower very much. Lovely.
Not to mention the fact that it was batshit hot today, and I had to wear a sleeve shirt because of the cupping bruises. Getting out of the subway, and walking 15 minutes to the Dirt Market was not a happy time for me. I just kept telling myself not to think about the sweat. Maybe, just maybe, I can imagine it away. There's a first for everything, right?
I fully intended to enjoy myself once I got to this market, and I definitely did. I walked around, looking at all the stalls, and brushing off the sales people who tried to grab me and drag me to their stalls to buy things. I wanted to look around first, and not buy anything and regret it later. Unfortunately, I didn't last for long. My first purchase? A small wooden monkey figurine. So cute. Second purchase? String of pearls and a Buddha statue. And so on. Every girl has to have a string of pearls, right? I whole-heartedly agree.
I bought other stuff as well. Don't think I stopped there. And now onto the reason behind the title. Here in China, whenever you buy anything (well, almost anything) you have to haggle. If you are a foreigner, the price doubles. If you are a foreigner and you don't speak Chinese, well, then the price quadruples. I can speak Chinese, so I don't get ripped off quite as bad, but still. The prices that I pay would probably make any other Chinese person cry. Well, maybe not cry, but get depressed at least. But the kicker is that Chinese people are not even ashamed of this fact. When you are haggling, Chinese people will tell you that the price is already low, because I can speak Chinese. They will freely admit that the fleece unsuspecting foreigners on a regular basis.
Today was no different. Looking back on all my purchases, I definitely spent too much. Not as much as it would have cost in me in America, probably, but still. Too expensive. I did my best to haggle, but when trying to stand up to professionals such as these sellers, I just don't stand a chance. My best just is not good enough.
When I got home, I was tired, hungry, and covered in sweat. Needless to say, all that I wanted to do was grab a quick lunch, and head back to my room for the rest of the afternoon. And just relax. Possibly shower. But definitely be in the air conditioning, and gloat over my new purchases (conveniently forgetting the prices that I paid for them). So I read my textbook, did my homework, watched a movie, and read. And it was just the day that I wanted. I was absolutely and completely happy with myself. I had gone out in the morning, and come back to relax for the rest of the afternoon. For once, I was content. It is a rare feeling for me, believe me.
At 7:30, I had one more appointment to keep. I had to go meet my teacher to go over my essay that I wrote for Social Studies project. And boy, there was a lot of small editing to be done. Not huge problems, as she said that I expressed myself well, more just problems that have to do with me translating things from English into Chinese. We spent an hour going over it, before the head of our program, Feng Laoshi, came over to chat with us. He grabbed my essay, and read it, while my teacher kept working on it with me, using my computer.
I was super nervous while he was reading it. Bloody hell, he is the head of our program. I get to be nervous. But he liked it. He said that I expressed myself well, and it was mostly well written. And he thought it was interesting. I was insanely happy. He asked me a couple of questions about when I had gone to get acupuncture and cupping done, and then proceeded to talk to me about Chinese medicine, and his own experience with it. It was a pretty amazing conversation. There are some miracle stories about Chinese medicine, honestly. He had a bone spur in his foot, and with Western medicine, it was going to take 5 years to fix. But with Chinese medicine, it took him a week. And even though it was in 2000, he still has no problems. It's things like that that make me believe. I don't really know what I think about Chinese medicine still, but I am starting to believe in it. It definitely has some help, I think.
And that, my friends, was my Sunday. My last day of freedom before going back to class. Time to go back to reality.
Well, this morning, it was only luke warm. But still. It gives me a reason to move more quickly in the morning, so I am not freezing my ass off for quite so long. And this morning, I had a reason to get out the door quickly: Beijing Dirt Market.
No, it's not a market that sells dirt. Wouldn't that be silly. No, it's the biggest outdoor flea market in Beijing. It's huge, and a complete rip off. True, there are a lot of foreigners there, but a lot of Chinese people there to actually do some serious purchasing. It is completely massive, and you can get anything you want there. Jade, wooden statues, books, posters, vases, tables... it has everything. I went there once last year when I was living here, and I had a great time. It also happens to be a great place to pick up presents for people back home. Yes, all of you, I now have presents. You know who you are.
I left my room at 9:45, planning to get there at about 10:30. I went on my own, because everyone else was working on writing their paper. Never have I been so happy that I finished that paper on Thursday. As it turns out, the trip took way longer. I was taking the subway, and it took me an hour. AN HOUR. Of riding a Beijing subway. They are actually very nice, the subways. Very clean, and air-conditioned. Well, most of them are, anyway. Just boring. And some of the people on the subway smell like they don't shower very much. Lovely.
Not to mention the fact that it was batshit hot today, and I had to wear a sleeve shirt because of the cupping bruises. Getting out of the subway, and walking 15 minutes to the Dirt Market was not a happy time for me. I just kept telling myself not to think about the sweat. Maybe, just maybe, I can imagine it away. There's a first for everything, right?
I fully intended to enjoy myself once I got to this market, and I definitely did. I walked around, looking at all the stalls, and brushing off the sales people who tried to grab me and drag me to their stalls to buy things. I wanted to look around first, and not buy anything and regret it later. Unfortunately, I didn't last for long. My first purchase? A small wooden monkey figurine. So cute. Second purchase? String of pearls and a Buddha statue. And so on. Every girl has to have a string of pearls, right? I whole-heartedly agree.
I bought other stuff as well. Don't think I stopped there. And now onto the reason behind the title. Here in China, whenever you buy anything (well, almost anything) you have to haggle. If you are a foreigner, the price doubles. If you are a foreigner and you don't speak Chinese, well, then the price quadruples. I can speak Chinese, so I don't get ripped off quite as bad, but still. The prices that I pay would probably make any other Chinese person cry. Well, maybe not cry, but get depressed at least. But the kicker is that Chinese people are not even ashamed of this fact. When you are haggling, Chinese people will tell you that the price is already low, because I can speak Chinese. They will freely admit that the fleece unsuspecting foreigners on a regular basis.
Today was no different. Looking back on all my purchases, I definitely spent too much. Not as much as it would have cost in me in America, probably, but still. Too expensive. I did my best to haggle, but when trying to stand up to professionals such as these sellers, I just don't stand a chance. My best just is not good enough.
When I got home, I was tired, hungry, and covered in sweat. Needless to say, all that I wanted to do was grab a quick lunch, and head back to my room for the rest of the afternoon. And just relax. Possibly shower. But definitely be in the air conditioning, and gloat over my new purchases (conveniently forgetting the prices that I paid for them). So I read my textbook, did my homework, watched a movie, and read. And it was just the day that I wanted. I was absolutely and completely happy with myself. I had gone out in the morning, and come back to relax for the rest of the afternoon. For once, I was content. It is a rare feeling for me, believe me.
At 7:30, I had one more appointment to keep. I had to go meet my teacher to go over my essay that I wrote for Social Studies project. And boy, there was a lot of small editing to be done. Not huge problems, as she said that I expressed myself well, more just problems that have to do with me translating things from English into Chinese. We spent an hour going over it, before the head of our program, Feng Laoshi, came over to chat with us. He grabbed my essay, and read it, while my teacher kept working on it with me, using my computer.
I was super nervous while he was reading it. Bloody hell, he is the head of our program. I get to be nervous. But he liked it. He said that I expressed myself well, and it was mostly well written. And he thought it was interesting. I was insanely happy. He asked me a couple of questions about when I had gone to get acupuncture and cupping done, and then proceeded to talk to me about Chinese medicine, and his own experience with it. It was a pretty amazing conversation. There are some miracle stories about Chinese medicine, honestly. He had a bone spur in his foot, and with Western medicine, it was going to take 5 years to fix. But with Chinese medicine, it took him a week. And even though it was in 2000, he still has no problems. It's things like that that make me believe. I don't really know what I think about Chinese medicine still, but I am starting to believe in it. It definitely has some help, I think.
And that, my friends, was my Sunday. My last day of freedom before going back to class. Time to go back to reality.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Jack's Back!
I have this chronic problem where I never know what I want to do. I always think, what SHOULD I do. You would think that doing what I want to do would be easy, but for me, it never has been. That was one of my big problems today.
Because I had already sent off my essay to my teacher so that she could help me edit it, I didn't feel like there was a whole lot of studying that I needed to do today. Sure, I could read my text and work on my new words, but why do today what you can put off until tomorrow? I agree.
I woke up late, so it took me a little while to get going. By the time that I felt like I was ready to join in with the rest of the world, it was already 11. Then, because I thought that I was supposed to be meeting with my teacher around lunch time to discuss my essay, I kept hanging around, waiting for a phone call. I called my mom, talked to people on facebook. You know, all the usual things us college kids do to kill time. For lunch (when I finally decided to leave my room) I decided to try a new place. There is a western restaurant on campus that I haven't had a chance to try yet, so I decided to use today as a first time. When I got there, I ordered a ham and cheese sandwich. I wasn't expecting wonders (after all, this is China) but still, it was below my expectations. The sandwich was cold, it was packaged ham, cheese, and there was ketchup on it. Yum. I ate it though. Better than a kick in the head. And it was kind of fun to have western food again. Speaking of which, I would absolutely kill for a piece of pizza. KILL.
After lunch, because it was a relatively good day outside, I decided to go for a walk, in search of my favorite red bean paste bao. They are so yummy. The bao bread and easy sweetness of red bean paste make for both a great meal, and a good dessert. Yum. Unfortunately, my little bao place said that they didn't have any, and never did. Which I know is a lie, because I have bought some there before. Oh well. I will catch them in the act again one of these days. You'll see.
Walking back, I hit a jackpot. No, I did not buy a bunny, although I saw some, and desperately wanted to buy one. I also passed a cart selling stuffed animals, and saw the cutest monkey, but no, I didn't buy that either. Can't go crazy now. No, I bought books. What can I say, books are my weakness. Honestly, I should just drag someone around with me who is willing and capable to hold my wallet hostage until we are at least 100 feet away from any one, or any place selling books. I have no willpower. So today, walking down the road, I passed a cart selling books (actually, I passed many, but I finally stopped at one. They all sell the same books anyway) and I stopped to browse. I decided on the complete works of Sherlock Holmes (I have been meaning to read them, and I anticipate finishing my current book soon) and the original Chinese version of 红楼梦 (Dream of the Red Chamber). Have you heard about it? It's very famous in China, one of the Four Great Classical Novels. I don't anticipate being able to fully understand it any time in the near future, but I am going to do my very best. Dictionary in hand, I intend for this to be my next big challenge.
On my way back to campus, after buying these 4 books (both Sherlock Holmes and Dream of the Red Chamber were 2 book sets, and I got the whole thing for $9.59: still pretty expensive, but better than in America) I hit on another jackpot: ice cream cones! Let me tell you, I was feeling very white at this point, but who cares? I am only here for another 4 weeks. I'll do whatever the hell I want to do. So, walking back to campus with 4 books in my bag, and a chocolate and strawberry ice cream cone in my hand, I felt on top of the world. Now if only all the smog would just disappear...
The rest of my afternoon was not interesting enough to describe. But guess what I did at 6? Look at the title of this blog. That's right, I WENT TO GO SEE JACK! Finally. Can't tell you how excited I was to see him, and actually get a proper work out. I feel like going to the gym is kind of like my re-set button: my brain gets so tired, that when I recover, I feel good as new. It keeps me sane, let me tell you. Today, Jack didn't disappoint. He said he had a good time visiting his family, and then we got right down to business. And it was hard. Bloody hell. By the end of it, my head was spinning, my stomach was upset, and I was dripping sweat from my entire body. I know, lovely picture, right? I have discovered that when it comes to working out, I don't really know how to pace myself. I kind of just give it my all until it is over, or I collapse, whichever comes first. That is probably the reason why I always feel sick; it's definitely the reason why I go lie on the bathroom floor after I row. Today, same thing. Oh well. I guess I will learn, in time.
Jack was also up to his usual tricks. First, he asked me (while I was getting my post work out massage) if I had eaten dinner yet. When I told him that I hadn't, he said good. Then he said, "Just eat fruit tonight, okay? It will help you lose weight." Thanks a lot, Jack. I've gone a week without hearing that, I was just starting to get used to it. I had to beg him to let me eat meat. Well, I had to prod him a bit for his consent. But honestly, I was hungry. Whatever I want to eat at night, I will eat. Jack's consent or no.
After the gym, I bought my obligatory fruit, and then headed back to my room to quietly die. JUST KIDDING. If i had died, I wouldn't be here writing, would I? Nope. I showered, and headed out again. Where was I going, you might ask? Off to get a massage, of course! What else would I do on a Saturday night in Beijing? And if you value your life, don't answer that. I don't want to know. I was on my own for a massage tonight, because Grace had already made plans, but that didn't stop me. When I got there, my friendly Inner Mongolian man was waiting to give me a massage. As he was working, I listened to everyone else talking. There was another foreigner next to me who was getting a massage, and it sounded like she was either really not used to Chinese massages (as in, they hurt) or she was getting a happy ending. But since her massage person used to be a monk, I am going to go with the first option. For many, many reasons.
My massage person was super chatty. He is a lot of fun, always asking questions and making conversation. He asked me when my birthday way, and told me that on my birthday if I come in, they will give me a cake. Too bad I am going to be in America for my birthday though. No problem, he says, I will come to America! Apparently, he likes to party. This should be interesting. When posed with the problem of how he would get to America, he simply said that he would run really fast. Right. Good luck with that. Then he tried to set me up with one of the other massage guys. Awkward! He was kind of cute, but shit son, I think i can find my own men. We moved past that little conversation rather quickly.
They also told me that my legs are very muscular, and then I am pretty sure that they started to compare me to a turkey. Well, they compared my legs to a turkey. I think that that was their idea of a compliment, saying that I have strong legs. Still. I was not overly enthused.
I did a stupid thing next. I know I said I wouldn't do it again, but I did. My lower back was hurting a lot from working out, so I got cupping done. Again. As I was lying there with 18 cups suctioned onto my back, I couldn't for the life of me remember why I had thought that it was a good idea. It definitely hurt more this time than it did last time. But I can handle it. Pain is beauty, right? Well, at least, comfort. In the future. I am planning ahead.
I know that it sounds crazy, but it actually did work. After 10 minutes, as soon as the cups came off, my back didn't hurt anymore. Yes, I now have massive bruises all over my back that are only going to get worse, but hey, I can handle it. No pain no gain, right? It's not too bad. Besides, my back definitely does feel better.
And now, I am sitting in my room, writing, and watching the Crossfit Games. And i must go to bed soon. Love you all!
Because I had already sent off my essay to my teacher so that she could help me edit it, I didn't feel like there was a whole lot of studying that I needed to do today. Sure, I could read my text and work on my new words, but why do today what you can put off until tomorrow? I agree.
I woke up late, so it took me a little while to get going. By the time that I felt like I was ready to join in with the rest of the world, it was already 11. Then, because I thought that I was supposed to be meeting with my teacher around lunch time to discuss my essay, I kept hanging around, waiting for a phone call. I called my mom, talked to people on facebook. You know, all the usual things us college kids do to kill time. For lunch (when I finally decided to leave my room) I decided to try a new place. There is a western restaurant on campus that I haven't had a chance to try yet, so I decided to use today as a first time. When I got there, I ordered a ham and cheese sandwich. I wasn't expecting wonders (after all, this is China) but still, it was below my expectations. The sandwich was cold, it was packaged ham, cheese, and there was ketchup on it. Yum. I ate it though. Better than a kick in the head. And it was kind of fun to have western food again. Speaking of which, I would absolutely kill for a piece of pizza. KILL.
After lunch, because it was a relatively good day outside, I decided to go for a walk, in search of my favorite red bean paste bao. They are so yummy. The bao bread and easy sweetness of red bean paste make for both a great meal, and a good dessert. Yum. Unfortunately, my little bao place said that they didn't have any, and never did. Which I know is a lie, because I have bought some there before. Oh well. I will catch them in the act again one of these days. You'll see.
Walking back, I hit a jackpot. No, I did not buy a bunny, although I saw some, and desperately wanted to buy one. I also passed a cart selling stuffed animals, and saw the cutest monkey, but no, I didn't buy that either. Can't go crazy now. No, I bought books. What can I say, books are my weakness. Honestly, I should just drag someone around with me who is willing and capable to hold my wallet hostage until we are at least 100 feet away from any one, or any place selling books. I have no willpower. So today, walking down the road, I passed a cart selling books (actually, I passed many, but I finally stopped at one. They all sell the same books anyway) and I stopped to browse. I decided on the complete works of Sherlock Holmes (I have been meaning to read them, and I anticipate finishing my current book soon) and the original Chinese version of 红楼梦 (Dream of the Red Chamber). Have you heard about it? It's very famous in China, one of the Four Great Classical Novels. I don't anticipate being able to fully understand it any time in the near future, but I am going to do my very best. Dictionary in hand, I intend for this to be my next big challenge.
On my way back to campus, after buying these 4 books (both Sherlock Holmes and Dream of the Red Chamber were 2 book sets, and I got the whole thing for $9.59: still pretty expensive, but better than in America) I hit on another jackpot: ice cream cones! Let me tell you, I was feeling very white at this point, but who cares? I am only here for another 4 weeks. I'll do whatever the hell I want to do. So, walking back to campus with 4 books in my bag, and a chocolate and strawberry ice cream cone in my hand, I felt on top of the world. Now if only all the smog would just disappear...
The rest of my afternoon was not interesting enough to describe. But guess what I did at 6? Look at the title of this blog. That's right, I WENT TO GO SEE JACK! Finally. Can't tell you how excited I was to see him, and actually get a proper work out. I feel like going to the gym is kind of like my re-set button: my brain gets so tired, that when I recover, I feel good as new. It keeps me sane, let me tell you. Today, Jack didn't disappoint. He said he had a good time visiting his family, and then we got right down to business. And it was hard. Bloody hell. By the end of it, my head was spinning, my stomach was upset, and I was dripping sweat from my entire body. I know, lovely picture, right? I have discovered that when it comes to working out, I don't really know how to pace myself. I kind of just give it my all until it is over, or I collapse, whichever comes first. That is probably the reason why I always feel sick; it's definitely the reason why I go lie on the bathroom floor after I row. Today, same thing. Oh well. I guess I will learn, in time.
Jack was also up to his usual tricks. First, he asked me (while I was getting my post work out massage) if I had eaten dinner yet. When I told him that I hadn't, he said good. Then he said, "Just eat fruit tonight, okay? It will help you lose weight." Thanks a lot, Jack. I've gone a week without hearing that, I was just starting to get used to it. I had to beg him to let me eat meat. Well, I had to prod him a bit for his consent. But honestly, I was hungry. Whatever I want to eat at night, I will eat. Jack's consent or no.
After the gym, I bought my obligatory fruit, and then headed back to my room to quietly die. JUST KIDDING. If i had died, I wouldn't be here writing, would I? Nope. I showered, and headed out again. Where was I going, you might ask? Off to get a massage, of course! What else would I do on a Saturday night in Beijing? And if you value your life, don't answer that. I don't want to know. I was on my own for a massage tonight, because Grace had already made plans, but that didn't stop me. When I got there, my friendly Inner Mongolian man was waiting to give me a massage. As he was working, I listened to everyone else talking. There was another foreigner next to me who was getting a massage, and it sounded like she was either really not used to Chinese massages (as in, they hurt) or she was getting a happy ending. But since her massage person used to be a monk, I am going to go with the first option. For many, many reasons.
My massage person was super chatty. He is a lot of fun, always asking questions and making conversation. He asked me when my birthday way, and told me that on my birthday if I come in, they will give me a cake. Too bad I am going to be in America for my birthday though. No problem, he says, I will come to America! Apparently, he likes to party. This should be interesting. When posed with the problem of how he would get to America, he simply said that he would run really fast. Right. Good luck with that. Then he tried to set me up with one of the other massage guys. Awkward! He was kind of cute, but shit son, I think i can find my own men. We moved past that little conversation rather quickly.
They also told me that my legs are very muscular, and then I am pretty sure that they started to compare me to a turkey. Well, they compared my legs to a turkey. I think that that was their idea of a compliment, saying that I have strong legs. Still. I was not overly enthused.
I did a stupid thing next. I know I said I wouldn't do it again, but I did. My lower back was hurting a lot from working out, so I got cupping done. Again. As I was lying there with 18 cups suctioned onto my back, I couldn't for the life of me remember why I had thought that it was a good idea. It definitely hurt more this time than it did last time. But I can handle it. Pain is beauty, right? Well, at least, comfort. In the future. I am planning ahead.
I know that it sounds crazy, but it actually did work. After 10 minutes, as soon as the cups came off, my back didn't hurt anymore. Yes, I now have massive bruises all over my back that are only going to get worse, but hey, I can handle it. No pain no gain, right? It's not too bad. Besides, my back definitely does feel better.
And now, I am sitting in my room, writing, and watching the Crossfit Games. And i must go to bed soon. Love you all!
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