Well, I have been pretty busy, which is why I haven't written in awhile. Or maybe I have just been too lazy. But here goes:
Every Wednesday and Friday we have an English reading. This means we just all read out loud something the English teacher picks out for us. The awesome thing about this is that we have been reading and watching Obama speeches! We have read this especially good one, like, five times. I think it was his speech in 2009 about education and making goals and working hard--stuff like that. My English teacher really loves Obama and she has no problem announcing it to the world, so we get along just fine.
Ever since my host mother has gotten home we have been eating very delicious home cooked meals. I love'm! After dinner I always say, "Hao chi!" which means "Good food!" Also I have been eating more mooncakes as the Mid-Autumn Festival gets closer and closer. I have school on Saturday because then the following Monday-Friday we have off! I think that's cheating! If you have school on a Saturday you can't call it a five day vacation. I am very happy anyway because I am tired and I could really use a break. For this National Week I think my family is planning a 3-4 day trip to (hopefully) somewhere very pretty. Personally, I would like to see the country. Another very exciting thing is that my good friend's dad works in Shanghai on a regular basis, and he will be coming up at the end of this week. He very kindly offered to bring me stuff I forgot at home, and also to bring back to the USA some stuff for my family. It is going to be SO nice to see a very familiar face. He calls me daughter #5 (D5).
Last weekend I went shopping and it was very different from shopping in America. The mall was underneath the subway station. It was a series of very long cramped hallways with brightly colored lights. Sometimes the floor was even lit up! The halls wound around and around for what felt like forever... and of course my camera wouldn't turn on. When my friend Maddie visits over her Christmas/New Years break, I will definitely take her there.
One annoying thing about the weather here is that it is making my hair frizzy. Sometimes it's not just frizzy, I have found legitimate curly hairs on my head, which has never happened before.
Another random thing I will note is that some people in my class have asked me to run the 100 meter dash for an Athletics day thing tomorrow. I hope they know that I'm not great at running, but of course I said yes! That might have not been too smart a thing to say considering I don't really know how long that is... but "dash" doesn't sound too long.
I met another exchange student from the USA the other day! She was very nice. Here's what happened when we first met:
Me: "Hey I'm from the USA."
Her: "So am I!"
Me: "That's so great! I'm from California. Which State are you from?"
Her: "California also. Where in California?"
Me: "Kind of by San Francisco. Napa Valley."
Her: "OMG I live in Berkeley!"
Us: "AAUGH!"
Well that was very dramatized but it was something along those lines. It was such a coincidence that we live so close, but we are with different programs. And it was such a nice feeling to know I could say anything and she would understand exactly what I was talking about without having to break it down and talk slowly. After about an hour my voice started getting scratchy and my throat started to hurt because I haven't talked that much in a long time. When I got back to school my friends told me that the English teacher had been talking about me a lot during class. She had been telling the class how it is probably very hard for a girl to come to China alone and she said I am a very hard worker. I think she was very happy that I actually did the English Homework, because she said no exchange student has ever done the homework. After class I told her I would be getting some American Magazines and chocolate from home and I would love to make a presentation for the class about where I live and my family and friends. She said she would love if I did that so I have started gathering pictures together and I will start thinking of what to say. Probably a lot of you will be in it! My friend said that my class is very excited for it, probably just because they want chocolate. I can't wait!
I will write more soon.
Zai Jian!