Written 10/24. Nearly Halfway.

It has been a while. I know. Not too much has been going on. Classes are fine. I’m surviving and all that.

I’ve been missing Cross Country especially badly lately. I can’t wait to be at full strength and competing again. Bah.

I’ve decided that my Chinese, though progressing, is progressing too slowly. Therefore, I took two initiatives. I am making flashcards of every vocabulary word in all three of my Chinese books and reviewing them daily. Second, I refuse to speak English to anyone who understands Chinese. Even if their knowledge is limited, like my roommate and the other Americans, I will only speak Chinese if they can get the gist. All of this has made my life much harder, but by God if I come back to the U.S. anything but proficient I will jump off a bridge. I made a playlist on ITunes of all the music without English in it (this means a lot of Star Wars soundtrack and Bluray haha). I bought some Chinese movies (and dubbed Disney movies) and I watch them. I don’t want to break my train of Chinese thought.

I was just thinking: if anyone wants any Chinese products or objects, let me know and I’ll pick it up for you.

I officially haven’t shaved in a month, and it looks like shit.

I have 2 language partners now. I meet with one twice a week and one once a week. So hopefully that should help my Chinese also.

Ben and I went to the Shanghai Museum today. He had to go see some ancient bronzes for his class, so I tagged along. Pretty cool stuff from China’s history. It is apparently the best museum of its kind in China. A lot of bronzes, sculptures, paintings, currencies, and art of various forms. It also included some old furniture from different dynasties. I would have taken pictures, but most of the stuff is online, and the pictures are much better there than I could take through the glass, so if you want to see it, look there.

Oh, I forgot: above I should have mentioned that I also labeled everything in the room with their Chinese names so I can start learning everything. This has been my best idea of them all. I am currently typing on my 电脑.

My bike is falling apart. Like most things in China, it is constructed poorly and cheaply. Every time I leave it for the day, it ends up knocked over and something else loose or askew. My back wheel wobbles around so badly that it wears away on the runner above it. If this thing lasts 2 months I will be amazed.

I’m becoming increasingly pissed off at every local. They do not understand organization AT ALL. If I get cut in line for something by some rude person again, who brushes against me dramatically as he goes by, I will probably punch somebody. Yesterday I came out of a class room and ran smack into some guy because he was on the wrong side of the hall. He wasn’t even fazed. Accidents like that happen all the time, but the people don’t figure out that if you follow a regulation or rule you might actually not have as many problems.

Oh, and I HATE those stupid medical masks. I HATE them. STOP WEARING THEM, CHINA. I feel like coughing on all of your faces.