All Saint's Day

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I believe yesterday (November 1st) was All Saint's Day but don't quote me. I had a really kick ass day. In the morning I woke up to take a bus over to Victory Square. After a little while Julia, Shina, Russell, Cat and Nancy all met me there and we went down underground. Victory Square is a huge underground shopping mall. There's a bowling alley down there so we got to play two games for a total price of 12 kuai per person ($1.50). It was a pretty normal bowling alley. At first our two teams were playing against each other (Julia, Cat and I versus Russell, Nancy and Shina). Our team lost by 5 points total. Then Nancy had to leave to meet some of her friends and we each played individually against each other. I believe my total score for the whole game was less than 30. But I still had fun playing. I think the best way to play sometimes is to be conscious of the fact that you really suck at something and just have fun.

After bowling we sat and had a great 5 kuai ($0.75) lunch with TONS of noodles. It was great to sit there at the bottom of the huge mall and just talk a little bit. Then afterwards we all took buses - Shina went to Hae shu jao (don't know how you spell it but it's where Rockies' other school is) and the rest of us took bus 23. Cat, Russell and Julia got off at Olympic Square and I stayed on till Peace Plaza and went up to HaoSha (my gym). I worked out for about an hour and a half and ended up taking some illegal pictures at the end (apparently the gym doesn't want me to take pictures). I met a nice guy working out in the free weight room who spoke to me in English for a little bit. I also am very proud of myself, last time I went to the gym I tried bench pressing the bar (which I normally do) and it was too light for the first time. So yesterday when I went to the gym I bench pressed about 55 lbs. Then I had a shower at the gym and went over to the L Salon. Of course my hair was wet so they blow dryed it and then brushed it a million times (as they normally like to do). I really like it after they do that because it really looks very beautiful. Anyways, I sat with Paul for a little bit. He speaks some English but is trying to learn more. Eason was there so he said hi to me and then mainly hung around me but didn't talk to me very much. All of the other hairdressers kept coming over and sitting when they had time but it was overall a pretty busy day for the Salon. Their boss was there (the only woman who works at the place). Her English is definitely better than the rest of theirs. I really like hanging out with them because I learn a lot of Chinese, work on my listening skills, get to teach them some English and get to hang out with them. There's a really cute one that works there named Camillo (a Spanish name) who is really awesome. Anyways, I spent some time hanging out with them there and then they gave me a locker for me to put my gym stuff in and I went shopping.

I bought a fairly expensive pair of pants at 220 kuai ($27.50) which was a really nice pair. Then I went downstairs to a place that I pass every time I go to the gym but have never actually been in. It's called Hymall and it's actually a really cheap place. I didn't actually go into Hymall because it's basically just like another Wal-mart or Carrefour but I went to the stores outside it that are definitely cheap. I bought a shawl, two sweaters, a spoon, a knife and a small strainer for my tea. Then I went back upstairs and had some "Spicy Chicken" with rice and a Fanta.

I then went back and had fun with the people at L Salon until they had to kick me out because they were having a meeting. The woman there told me "Chang lai" which I believe literally means "often come" or that I should come a lot more. Anyways, then I went back home to do some grading.

Today is testing day. Now we're talking about Chinese students and how much they study. To us these kids are too young to be taking a midterm. But as Michael just said "Have you ever asked a Chinese student what they did over the holidays? They say 'I woke up. I studied and ate lunch. Then I practiced piano, violin and other musical instruments. Then I went back to study and had dinner.' That's all they did for their holidays." They come back and are just as exhausted as when they left because they never relax. Michael's right, there should be some mix between China and the US in terms of their ways of doing things for kids to learn.

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