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| Oh ChinaHey everyone!
Well, China is amazing. There are days when China and I don't get along, such like this morning when our train back from Qingdao stopped in the middle of nowhere for two hours and made us miss Chinese class. But I'll get to that in a minute....
So a lot has been going on. Classes are tough, I have a million things to do. Moses' State and Society class is really awesome, but there's just so much work. And even though I'm learning a lot in Chinese class, I'm not really learning a lot of everyday conversation, so I have to work twice as hard to be able to actually speak Chinese to someone on the street. I love my tutor though, she's amazing and she puts up with a lot. This coming Saturday, my Buddhist Spirituality class is taking a day trip to a monestary, so that should be interesting.
For National Holiday (beginning of October) a few of us went to Shanghai. I liked it, it was nice, I had a lot of fun, but it did not feel like China. To me, it felt like any other western big city would. Plus, there's so many waiguoren (foreigners) that everything is westernized and everyone speaks English.
This past weekend, my friend Brian and I went to Qingdao for his birthday. At first, a bunch of us were going, but then people had homework and papers and stuff. I loved it. It's a port city with 6 beaches. It was too cold to go swimming, but it was perfect to go for walks and stuff like that. We went jet skiing and I was almost thrown off the back I don't know how many times. We were in the older part of the city and I liked it so much better than the newer area. It had more character. Plus, there aren't as many waiguoren here. Coming back, the train ride was miserable. We had seats for an overnight train and it was so crowded. Then, out in the middle of nowhere, we stop for 2 hours. It was ridiculous. All in all, it was a nice relaxing weekend with a bunch of random Chinese people wanting to be our friends.
The week after next, we leave for Guilin. It looks to be an awesome trip, so I will report back when I return.
Love you all and i miss you!
Katie
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| China anyone?Ni hao (hello) everyone from Zhongguo (China). Just thought I would
give you all an update. I am loving my classes and I actually changed
a couple around. I ended up dropping Wushu (tai chi) because it I was
getting any sleep for those days. In place of Wushu, I added the class
State and Society of China which is on a different day. The class is
taught by my Dean and it is amazing. He is an American, but has lived
here for several years and is a political scientist. I also really
like my Buddhist Spirituality class. The teachers here are great.
Chinese is really hard, but at least I'll actually learn something this
semester and be able to start up classes in the states with no
problem. My Chinese name is Xu Kai Lin. Xu is a family name and Kai
Lin is my first name. I'm doing pretty well in the class with writing
the pinyin and characters, it's just figuring out the tones is what's
hard for me.
We finally have the
plans set out for the National Day Holiday break. From September 30th
to October 4th, a group of friends and I will be in Shanghai. I think
it's going to be a blast. A lot of people are leaving the country, but
since it's a national holiday, traveling is very expensive. Also,
there's going to be many kinds of festivals and parades and everything
like that. I'm really excited.
In other news, me, being the restless person that I am,
applied for a tutoring position to help fill up some spare time.
Heaven forbid I take a break. Anyway, I got a job tutoring an 8
year-old girl whose English name is Jessica. I met her at the
interview, which was actually just a dinner. She is really cute, but
also really shy. She is the daughter of a very accomplished artist
here is China. His name is Bai Ming. Here's a website about him http://www.artcn.net/worldstudio/asianpr/baiming/indexen.htm.
I'm getting paid 80 kuai an hour, which is about $10 an hour. That's
actually really good money over here. They also live fairly close to
campus, so I can just walk there. I was worried that they wouldn't
like my accent because I interviewed with two other girls who were from
the East coast, so they speak more of a "proper" English. But they
ended up finding other positions tutoring other students in Jessica's
class. American students are a hot commodity over here.
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| did you hear? there's some many dinosaurs on this island...Hey everyone,
I'm posting from another internet cafe, only this time in the Gobi desert. Last night, we camped out in the desert and I was sad because there was an overcast so we couldn't see many stars. However, they were all, and by all I mean every single star in the universe, as out this morning before sunrise. We rode camels to a sand dune and climbed a really steep, relly tall sand dune before sunrise. We watched the sunrise of sand dunes in the Gobi desert and it was one of the best sunrises I have ever seen before in my life. We then rode camels to a little oasis and natural spring. No one can tell me after looking at this that there isn't some higher being, power or whatever that created this. Something this beautiful doesn't just happen.
Well, until next time,
I love you all and keep the emails coming!
Katie | | |
| My plane leaves tomorrow morning at 7 AM. I am so scared, but I know I'll love it there. Saying goodbye to my sister and Ella on Sunday was so sad. The babe's gonna be so different when I get back. Monday was one of the hardest days of my life because I had to say goodbye to my dad and Travis. I started to tear up. At least I've met some good people already. A girl I met, Jane is leaving her boyfriend here too. We're going to be each other's shoulders to cry on when we get to missing them. I'm gonna get a webcam when I get there so I'll be able to send videos and stuff of me and everyone here. Look for pictures too!!!
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| Today, the ladies from work took me out for lunch. We went to Sekesui sushi/Japanese restaurant. They actually liked it. Then, when I got back, Dr. Tebb (director of the school of social work) gave me a going away gift. She gave me a traveler's watch. It's really nice and has alarm's and everything on it. It also keeps time for two different time zones. She said it was for when I get homesick, I can just look at my wrist and know what time it is and think of what people would be doing right then. I almost started crying. Not only am I petrified to be leaving, when I get back it's just not going to be the same.
By the time I get back, one of the secretaries will be gone, my boss, Beth, will be in a different building and Dr. Tebb is stepping down to become regular faculty and then taking a sabbatical. No one that I know well here at work will be here when I get back. Beth said if she has work-study spots where she's moving to, then she's let me know.
So sad...... | | |
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