Tuesday was regular-- nothing interesting. So was Wednesday. This week I did start my language classes in school, though. I was picturing 2-3 hours of intensive language study, but no, not at all. At least that's not how things have started. We have just an hour, and we have to go very slow because the other exchange student, from Venezuela, cannot pronounce any of the words, especially the "zh," because they sound like "j". I guess in Spanish they don't have that sound? I'm not quite sure, but he struggles a lot, and so our classes are slow right now. I am also so glad I learned a teeny bit of Spanish in my middle school because it has really come in handy. Another reason for the short class so far is that the teacher is usually 10 minutes late, so we usually have less than an hour. But still I am glad the language classes have started!
I really want to be able to take Calculus senior year at Justin, so I emailed my teacher from Justin and asked him if he would look at some pictures of my Chinese math book to see if the things I'm going to be learning look anything like the stuff they are learning in Pre-Calculus this year. He emailed me and said yes! It was so incredibly helpful. He said that I could get the same textbook they are using at Justin and use it to understand my Chinese book. He also said that I could ask him any questions as I go through my class here, which is so incredibly nice, and WAY more than I expected! I am happy as well because he was my favorite teacher last year and I learned so much in his class. So, hopefully, I will get my math book soon so I can start understand that class also.
Today I was very lucky to be able to Skype with my parents. It was so fun! Usually at home we have less to talk about because I see them everyday, but man, if you are away from each other for 4 weeks, you can talk for hours! I haven't been talking all that much these 3 weeks in Nanjing, and so my voice hurt from talking so much. One really funny thing I told them about was a thing here called "Chinglish," which means Chinese trying to use the English language, and the results not making sense at all. The place where I see Chinglish the most is on t-shirts. Tons, and tons of t-shirts! Here are some examples: "Kiss the Earth with happy!" "Laughs, big smile, bushy tail." "Hippy, Happy, Hoppy." "I love Beijing best most." And by far the best one, in big, sparkly letters, a t-shirt that just said "THE." That was definitely my favorite! I literally started laughing when I walked past the woman wearing it. I hope I see more Chinglish because it really is so funny.
So then on Thursday... I don't think anything happened either, but I think I might be having short term memory loss right now. One thing interesting thing is that I really am becoming Asian! I mean, I found a black hair on my head the other day! Also, I have an extremely good eye for spotting non-Asians. I used to not understand the staring at foreigners thing, but now I stare too, and try to send them a silent brainwave message to talk to me. Unfortunately that doesn't work too well.
On Friday I went and got some "Resident Permit" thing and I had to stand in line for 2 hours, which was such a pain. Usually I get out of school at 5:00pm, then I take the Metro at about 5:15 and then wait for the bus which comes at around 5:45. But on Friday I didn't get back to school until about 5:20, and so I sprinted to my classroom, and then fast-walked to the Metro station. I really think I could have won the Gold Metal for speed walking-- it was amazing how fast I got there! Then I sprinted onto the train, and then raced up all the stairs to the bus stop. And I made it! It was amazing, but then of course the bus sat there for about 10 minutes, which meant I could have pretty much crawled to the bus and still been there on time.
I haven't eaten anything too abnormal this week. The only thing that really grossed me out was that I think the rice I had the other night had little white bug things in it. I could hardly eat it, it was grossing me out so bad. But I also ate some really good food! They have really good meatballs at the restaurant across the street, I mean, REALLY good meatballs. And I have had some really good meatballs in my life! The restaurant is very good. It's kind of like a cafeteria, but a really good one. You choose 3-4 dishes you want, and then you get a bowl of rice. It is my favorite place so far! Today after dinner, Susan is going to go with me to buy a volleyball and maybe some knee pads--if I can find them. I would like to get a volleyball as well to play around with in my backyard. My backyard has actually come in tons of use! Every other night I go out and run for about 30ish minutes in it. It's not very big, so it's just like running in circles, but that's ok. It feels so great to run. When it gets dark here it's also hot, but there is a little breeze. I even run barefoot, just because I forget my shoes inside. Whenever I run I listen to music and think about my best friend Teal, who is the worlds best runner. She broke the school record for the mile which was set, like, 26 years ago! Pretty amazing! And tomorrow I get to go play volleyball! I think I know how to walk to the Metro now so I can easily get there tomorrow. I am very excited!
That the news for the week. I will write more soon.