I'm Freezing....

OK, so I feel really terrible for the delay. To be honest, it's been so cold and lousy, I haven't had much motivation to sit down and write. But here I am, with details to report. And sorry from the start if it seems more disjointed or random than usual- I'm just in a stream-of-consciousness sort of mood.

So yeah, it's finally, officially winter here. The Chinese tell me it's unseasonably cold- this type of freezing weather doesn't normally hit until January. Lucky me. But on the advice of another Sunflower teacher, Chris, I went out and bought a big plaid furry hat with ear flaps. I like to think of it as Homeless Veteran Chic. But it keeps me warm enough on the bike, which is good, because riding around with the cold wind cutting through you is miserable.

Well, at least it should be, if my bike was working. Last week there were some crazy downpours, and I tipped my bike trying to go over a curb too slowly. In my haste to pick the bike and myself back up (don't worry, nothing worse than a bruise on my leg), I didn't realize the foot mat had fallen off. The mat covers the batteries, which is especially important because I cracked one of my battery cases trying to stomp it in last month. And 15 minutes later, when I realized the mat was missing, it had already been stolen. So not thinking, I rode around with the battery exposed, and now, no big surprise, it doesn't work. My tutor is kindly arranging for the bike to be picked up tomorrow, so I can get on with my life! Not having the bike is really annoying, and taking taxis gets expensive (not to mention difficult in the rain/cold).

But onto other things. I've decided to take on some private students to supplement my income. The first is a 14 year old girl named Ting Ting. She's been a student of my Boland instructor Bill for several years, and they decided it was time for a change. We had a demo 2 weeks ago, and then I had my first lesson with her last weekend. Her grammar is great, so I'm mainly focusing on her vocabulary, and more importantly, her conversational skills, as she wants study in the US or UK at some point. She's very sweet, and so far I enjoy it a lot.

The other new students come courtesy of Michael, the head teacher at Sunflower. They are three professional men, probably in their late 20s/early 30s. One is a lawyer, one is a private investor, and the other is a factory manager. So in other words, rich. They're primarily focused on business English, and they're a nice break from teaching kids. Plus, teaching adults is what I learned my first month here at Boland, so it's nice to be able to put some of that into practice. They meet pretty far away, but one has already agreed to pick me up and take me home. I had a demo with them, but I won't officially begin for a few more weeks.

Still going to the gym, although I usually only make it 4 days a week now. I thought it would be difficult to motivate myself to get up and going in the cold weather, but it's actually made it better, because the gym is far warmer than my apartment. So it's a nice break from the cold.

Chinese lessons are going well- Vivian noticed tonight that my pronunciation and tone-reading ability is getting much better, so that's good. She's also started supplementing the book with things I really need to know to survive, which is nice. So like today, for example, she had made up a little vocab sheet for me on ordering food in a restaurant. I knew a lot of the words already, but she taught me how to construct sentences, so that's good.

And to answer my Chazie's question- my Chinese haircut turned out just fine. He spoke English and since I just went for a trim, he did no damage to the curls, although he was a big fan of them. Chinese hairdressers crack me up- they're mainly men, and at home they would be seen as the most over-the-top group of gay men ever, with their eyeliner and 3 foot-high red hair. But then you see them walking down the street holding the hands of their girlfriends. As John Quale would say, they're definitely 'metro-sexual'.

Next week is Thanksgiving, and my friend Alex, from my study-abroad semester in London, is stopping by with his friend as they tour around China. The three of us, plus the one other American friend I have, will most likely be having dinner at a hotel that is hosting what they claim to be a Thanksgiving dinner. T-giving is my favorite holiday at home, and I'm feeling the little pangs of homesickness, especially after how great it was last year. But I'm also looking forward to experiencing a Chinese take on the holiday! And as my Grandma said, it will be an experience I won't forget!

Part II: Wednesday

OK, so I wrote that first part last night (Tuesday), but I didn't get a chance to finish because I went out with my friend. So here we are, Wednesday night, and I'm getting ready to go meet two of the other Sunflower teachers for our weekly Wednesday night bar session. I took my bike to get fixed today, which seemingly went really well- took no time and was completely free. But I got home, and my batteries still won't charge. So tomorrow I'll have to go back, and probably pay to replace them :(. It's very annoying, to say the least.

The rest of my week is pretty good and pretty busy. I'm going to do some serious organizing in my apartment to prepare for Alex's arrival on Monday. I'm also on the constant hunt for warmer clothes- sweaters and such, so hopefully I'll get some more stuff soon.

So that's about it for me. I also want to apologize for not responding to everyone's emails- I do really, really appreciate them, and I'll try to make more of an effort.

XOXO,

RDG

P.S. Chazie- I don't know if Aunt Sylvia reads my blog, but please tell her that I named a lovely Chinese woman after her!

Your Chinese for the Day:

Yi Er San Si Wu Liu Qi Ba Jiu Shi = 1, 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10