well, my listening class went waaaay better than last week. i didn't feel like a complete moron this time. thank god for good old Mr. Hao who giggles at me everytime i come to his office with another question. i just feel really bad for the kids though because that class is so boring and there's not a whole lot i can do about it because i'm required to present certain information. they literally look comatose during it.

i actually managed to get my self study kids out of their shells. we had so much fun in class on monday. we worked with introducing one's self and basic conversation starters. and then later in the evening some of them came to see me and actually used some of the phrases i had gone over in the class. it made me feel pretty spiffy. i have had one student though who comes to me and wants to talk about very emotional things. They wanted to talk to me about how they tend to feel sad alot and it makes them not want to make the effort to talk to people. it really caught me off guard and i really didn't know how to approach it or what i should say.

I've definitly become alot busier and my days just fly by. at the end of this week i will have been here a month....kind of hard to believe. it doesn't feel like it at all. I'm really enjoying encountering and learning about all the little quirky differences in mentality and such between western and chinese thought. i'm definitly learning alot from talking to my students and other people outside of a classroom situation.

ohhh...i had a girl the other day tell that the reason i look asian, but don't actually have any asian background is because i was made destined to have a chinese husband. hahha, quite an interesting theory. the girls here love to find out if you a have boyfriend or girlfriend, but the best is when i say i don't and they offer me advice on how to meet a "nice chinese boy".
I've been sick lately with a bad cold so my voice has been sounding more like a 12 year old boy going through puberty. i also have one of those amazing loose crazy sounding coughs. so in all my classes i've been beraited with lists of chinese medicines and tricks i should use in order to get better. They all always sound so concerned...everywhere i go, as soon as someone hears my voice, i get a lecture on how important it is that i take care of myself and how i should be resting.
it's kind of like being surrounded by jewish grandmothers all day.

i have some sad news....my handy man friend no longer seems to work here. the building seems so empty without him ;)


i'm really starting to feel settled here...and it feels pretty good. I'm sure this can just be a called a "honeymoon phase" but i find myself loving it here more and more everyday.
Sorry America I just don't miss you yet...