Blogs from Dongbei, China, Asia - page 9

It's funny how the wind changes everything. The trees blow differently with the change of the force. A leaf is blown from one end of the street to another. A man's hair is delicately pushed out of place. The chill on her spine makes for goosebumps. This same wind changes her mood from sweet to sour, just like an apple. Sometimes the wind blows so slowly one barely notices it. Other times the change it takes frightens one so badly it feels as if one has been hit by a brick. This wind is beautiful because although we only take time every now and again, if at all, to notice it, it is always there as a representative of life in all forms. With no exceptions for relations. Over a long period of time Cam and ... read more

So I think that I must start this entry off with a quote from my good friend Sarah Clapp's travelblog (to those of you who don't know she was a good friend of mine from Denison University). "I’m getting to the point that I don’t want to hear about my Japanese anymore. I want it better—doesn’t really matter what it currently is, eh?" Now granted she's currently teaching English in Japan and not China but I totally feel the same thing. I barely even comment any more when I hear the "you're Chinese is really good. How long have you been here? And you never studied in America before then? Wow! You're so "lihi" (closest translation = "great" but not quite)" It gets quite repetitive and she's right it doesn't matter where it currently is because ... read more

My right hand literally feels like it's burning. It's been eight minutes and I can still feel him there. This evening I went to the Salon to hang out with Cam when he got off of work. I wrote this while I was waiting: To some extent this group of boys and my relation to them is exactly the same as my Indian group of boys. They have never been this close or spoken this much Chinese with another foreigner. there is no other girl who knows them as intimately, these boys will walk around in their speedos around me as if I were their grandma but they would never think of doing it around another girl. Take, for example, the other day when I walked in to find Eason cooking dinner with no shirt on. ... read more

New classes are starting tomorrow. This means that instead of my usual two days to relax before a big day I only have one day to relax before a big day - today was my relax day. Tomorrow I have four classes from 10:15-5:15 totalling 5 hours. However, from now on my Sunday will be a lot more relaxed. Now instead of having 7.5 hours I have 5.5 and I have a break from 10:15am-2pm and again another from 3:15-4:15. Seems like a pretty decent day. We'll see. I haven't really had a break like that in quite a little while. It may be a bit of a strange break. Here's my new schedule: Monday and Wednesday: No classes Tuesday: 10:15-12:15 Low Writing class 2:00-5:15 K3.5, K4.5, K2.5 Thursday: 10:15-12:15 Low Writing 3:15-5:15 K4.5, K2.5 Friday: ... read more

It's interesting the ways in which we do things for each other. Sometimes right now I feel like I'm doing everything for Camillo and not getting anything in return. But those are the times when I forget if not for Camillo I would have no base for Chinese at all. The man taught me almost literally everything I know in Chinese and not only that but he taught me a good amount of Hunan dialect and Cantonese to get a grasp of what they're saying. Granted at the time I was helping him with his English too but I wasn't helping him with that nearly as much as he helped me with my Chinese. He also feeds me a lot. Ever since I left my parents home I've had a thing about late night meals. In ... read more