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Published: April 3rd 2006
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Again, I am still alive, and things are going well. I'm glad to report that my host family has gotten the internet back in our appartment, so these entries should become somewhat more regular again.
It's been a busy few weeks, here. I guess it's easiest for me to work backwards, because I can barely remember when I last updated.
Yesterday all the American girls were invited to the birthday party of Mrs. Fong's host sister, Bin Bin. Bin Bin is an unbelievably sweet girl who's in Senior 2 (Junior year) at Jing Shan. The party was really fun. We were picked up by van at Jing Shan School early in the morning, and the first thing we did was to go see the two most prestigious universities in Beijing: Peking University, and Tsing Hua (sp?) University. They both had really beautiful campuses, and were fun to walk around with the group. For lunch, we had the classic fancy Chinese meal at a really nice restaurant. This involved two connected private rooms with two large tables, each of which had a lazy susan for easy access to the massive amounts of food we were then served. It was the
Tsing Hua University
We got to lie on actual grass! how... liberating most stuffed I've been since getting here, and trust me, that's saying a lot. Later we headed back to Bin Bin's uncle's appartment, which was designed by one of, I think, Andrew Lloyd Wright's students, so it was really pretty. The present part of the party was really fun, because Bin Bin really loves cute things. I had gotten her a big, fluffy, pink stuffed teddy bear, which was so cute that it was almost ugly. I could never pull off giving this away as a present to anyone else, but since it was cute, I knew Bin Bin would like it. When she opened it she was all excited, and told me that she had the exact same one in blue. This morning, Mrs. Fong told me that Bin Bin had slept with them both in her bed last night, which I think is a compliment, since she has a lot of stuffed animals. Bin Bin's really awesome.
Last week I spent most of my time writing my paper, trying to brush up on my French skills (a French exchange group was arriving that Thursday), and, like usual, chilling after school with my group. The French kids have
Dinner
This is a dinner I had some time in the past couple of weeks. It's pretty much the kind of thing I eat every night. been here for three days now, actually, and I still haven't really talked to them. There are thirty of them, which makes it kind of hard. The (Chinese) kids in Maggie's and my class have been really awesome since the French kids got here. We were worried that our Chinese friends would forget about us and give all their attention to the French people, but instead they've been extra friendly, which is awesome because it shows the French kids how much we're a part of the school now. I'm trying to break the stupid American stereotype which may or may not exist.
Nothing else that's very noteworthy has been going on here. I broke my bike, and got it fixed, which was kind of an ordeal. I was actually supposed to be taking a taxi home Friday night, since it was late, but I ended up changing my mind at the last minute and biking home instead. I got kind of freaked out about taking a taxi home by myself late at night, especially after this thing last week where I got followed by some guy-- for more than ten minutes-- who wanted me to teach him english... but
Bamboo
This is the painting that I did in art class that I was super proud of. and still am, actually. hence the picture. that's a story for a different time. Anyway I somehow got it into my head that it would be safer to bike home than taxi home. I only had twenty minutes, but I thought I could make it if I went fast enough. What happened was that about halfway there I heard a piece of metal flying off my bike. I turned around and was looking for it in the dark. Some guy grunted and pointed a few yards away, and I went to pick it up. I realized it was just from the basket, so I put it in my bag and kept going. Later I realized that my bike was making a clonking noise every time the tires made one rotation. It turns out I had totally blown out the tires a few minutes back, and I still had half a mile left to go home. I ended up riding back on my flat tire, because my phone was out of money, and I didn't want my host family to worry about me. Then when I finally got back I found that there was a locked gate keeping me out of the bike area in my appartment. I
Labor Skills!
This is handicrafts class. Here we learn labor skills.. such as tying knots that you can hang on windows. you know. stuff like that. saw a woman walking by so I asked her if I could put my bike in. She told me it was locked. And then she kept talking to me... I had no idea what she was saying. Before I knew what was going on, she went over to the bikekeeper's room (across from the bike room is a small bedroom where a couple of people live. During the day their job is to watch the bikes, and give tickets to people who don't live in the apartment, but want to leave their bikes there). She knocked on the door really loudly, and I felt horrible, because she was waking up the poor bike woman! The bike woman was really nice about it, though. I said I was sorry, and that I didn't know, and she said it was okay, in a tone that really did seem like she didn't mind so much. Now I wave to the bike people every time I see them.
I guess that's all I've got for today. Anyhow, I'm back on the internet, so I'm gonna need more emails to keep me busy! It'd be great to hear from all of you.
-Jill
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Eric
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Beautiful picture
Hi Jill, That bamboo painting is georgeous. I hope you can bring it home with you. If not (or in any event) bring home your artistic skills and make another one here in Newton. Love, Daddy