Today was an extremely good day. I don't know what happened, but somewhere during the last few days I actually got over the biggest chunk of my homesickness and culture shock-related misery; it's too late, for sure, but I want to enjoy the rest of my time here as much as I can. I'm getting so used to the life here that it's a little strange to think that we'll be leaving in less than two weeks, and that we won't be coming back. I've gotten used to the shower filled with tiny bugs, to the tiny washer machine and the clotheslines on the roof to dry our clothes, to rocking out til the early morning with Joyce to the greatest hits of, uh, the Backstreet Boys. I have not gotten used to the food, however, as my stomach decided to throw me a super curve ball today, meaning I spent a good part of the latter half of it not straying too far from my bathroom, but otherwise life is good!
Today was one of our older student's birthdays, so Joyce and I went over to her house. I had such a good time! I have some pictures up here, on pages 2 and 3, if anybody (Mom?) is interested in seeing.
In other news, the whimpered out "I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M GOING TO DO BECAUSE I KNOW I'VE COME TO THE END OF THE ROOOOAD" part in the song End of the Road by Boyz II Men still makes me crack up every single time. (OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. HELP ME OUT A LITTLE BIT, BAAAABY.)
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Friday, July 6, 2007
An In-Progress List
Joyce and Melissa's China Playlist
(Did I mention we now are in possession of a loud set of speakers?)
- Don't Stop Believing, Journey
- End of the Road, Boyz-2-Men (or however it's spelled)
- All I Have to Give, Backstreet Boys
- The Gaston Song, Beauty and the Beast soundtrack
(Did I mention we now are in possession of a loud set of speakers?)
Thursday, July 5, 2007
One Month!
Wow! I've officially lived in China for one month today. This is a little ridiculous (my new favorite adjective), but I feel good today. I thought two days into this trip that I'd have to hightail it home, but it's been a full month now, and while I'm still battling numerous stomach bugs and insect-bugs, I no longer feel that intense compulsion to get the heck out of here. Also, despite how slow time seems to go while experiencing it, I am a little shocked that it's already been a full month -- I guess time flies, and I know these last two weeks will fly by even faster than I'm expecting. (With or without net.)
This trip has been a definite test of character, to be sure. It's stripped me down to my very basics, it's taken away all the vestiges of power that I meekly claim in my home country, it's made me try to rebuild myself from the ground up. These aren't the most comfortable of things, to be frank, but I think I'm learning more than I let on -- even if all it seems I've learned from day to day is how to ask for food and how to not fear crazy guys in rickshaws and motorbikes while peddling my (already falling apart) bicycle to the south campus.
Mosquito bites turn into bruises if they're nasty enough. This is another lesson I've unfortunately learned. I look like I was the victim of some violent right-leg-offender's most recent kick attack, but really, it's just those damn mosquitoes leaving their lasting mark.
There's so much I want to write about (even though a lot of it may, admittedly, be things many people have expressed great lacks of desire to read about), but it'll have to wait for later, since I am hungry and need to find myself some food.
Take care, and I'll be around in a while.
This trip has been a definite test of character, to be sure. It's stripped me down to my very basics, it's taken away all the vestiges of power that I meekly claim in my home country, it's made me try to rebuild myself from the ground up. These aren't the most comfortable of things, to be frank, but I think I'm learning more than I let on -- even if all it seems I've learned from day to day is how to ask for food and how to not fear crazy guys in rickshaws and motorbikes while peddling my (already falling apart) bicycle to the south campus.
Mosquito bites turn into bruises if they're nasty enough. This is another lesson I've unfortunately learned. I look like I was the victim of some violent right-leg-offender's most recent kick attack, but really, it's just those damn mosquitoes leaving their lasting mark.
There's so much I want to write about (even though a lot of it may, admittedly, be things many people have expressed great lacks of desire to read about), but it'll have to wait for later, since I am hungry and need to find myself some food.
Take care, and I'll be around in a while.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Sick of being sick
In three days, it will have been a month since I left America for China. For the 27 or so days I've already been here, I have been absolutely nothing but sick, sick, sick. I'd go into the details, but let's just say that I've been alternating between one, erm, toilet problem to another at a fairly rapid face. Try as it might, my stomach just can't adjust to any food here. I've heard multiple stories of foreigners coming here having to spend weeks in the hospital from the food. I'm not that bad, thankfully, but good God, fatty, crappy American food is going to be like heaven to come home to.
I'm sick of being sick, because that means that I spend most of my days not straying all that far from the toilet. I'm sick of being sick because I know people assume I'm using it as an excuse, when really, the times I do decide to throw caution to the wind and go out and try to live a little, I always end up rushing back home because I need to use the toilet so bad. I'm sick of being sick because it drains me of my energy, makes it difficult to sleep, and just hurts. I have seventeen more days here, but I know I'm going to spend most of those either in my room or feeling paranoid about how close I could find a western toilet to wherever I'll be, and that's not fun at all.
Today we had to teach some little kids, and it was kind of a nightmare, because I don't speak Chinese and the kids were all at different levels and, surprise surprise, we weren't given any sort of plan at all. I need to find a generic plan that will be easy for the real little ones without being boring for the more advanced students. Sigh.
Our AC is broken.
We lose net around July 10th, so if I disappear in a week, please don't worry too much about me (if you're inclined to, that is). Til then, all I want to do is plug the Firefox plugin "Tor" (Google it), because it has absolutely destroyed the Chinese firewall. I can visit websites again! If I don't get sick first.
I'm sick of being sick, because that means that I spend most of my days not straying all that far from the toilet. I'm sick of being sick because I know people assume I'm using it as an excuse, when really, the times I do decide to throw caution to the wind and go out and try to live a little, I always end up rushing back home because I need to use the toilet so bad. I'm sick of being sick because it drains me of my energy, makes it difficult to sleep, and just hurts. I have seventeen more days here, but I know I'm going to spend most of those either in my room or feeling paranoid about how close I could find a western toilet to wherever I'll be, and that's not fun at all.
Today we had to teach some little kids, and it was kind of a nightmare, because I don't speak Chinese and the kids were all at different levels and, surprise surprise, we weren't given any sort of plan at all. I need to find a generic plan that will be easy for the real little ones without being boring for the more advanced students. Sigh.
Our AC is broken.
We lose net around July 10th, so if I disappear in a week, please don't worry too much about me (if you're inclined to, that is). Til then, all I want to do is plug the Firefox plugin "Tor" (Google it), because it has absolutely destroyed the Chinese firewall. I can visit websites again! If I don't get sick first.
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