March 22-31, 2010

March 22-31
So Frances has officially moved out and taken everything with her. I need to buy a whole apartment of stuff now. I’ve already rearranged the whole apartment and have almost finished buying most of what I need for daily living. It’s nice and more comfortable to be home at nights, I didn’t realize how trapped I felt.

My language learning is still slow but that's mostly my fault for not being diligent about using Chinese whenever I can, also, as is usual when learning a new language I have learned a couple swears before the important phrases. I have made a few more Chinese friends that are a little more strict about me using Chinese around them than some of my other friends so hopefully that helps. Really I just have to suck it up and become more strict with myself, it’s fairly easy to just get by with English.

As for the rest of my daily events, mostly I’ve just been working. The days are split shifts pretty much; I have a few lessons in the morning then a couple hours of break, then a few more in the afternoon, another couple hour’s break and then a last couple lessons in the evening. My day will start at 9:30 am usually and end at about 8pm which isn’t too bad but really annoying that it’s spread out over such a long period of time.

I think my lessons are good, the kids seem to enjoy them and they're slowly learning my routine for the class.

The food still tastes good which is a huge reassurance since I’ve been eating it for so long now, oh and I have even learned how to make dumplings and a tomato & fried egg dish.
The weather warmed up for a bit and is now back to rainy and cold. I guess this is a typical spring. I’m not complaining though because I’m quite enjoying these temperatures. I think it’s been around 15-20 degrees Celsius usually. I’m becoming accustomed to the warmer weather finally, and since that's the case I’m hoping summer won’t be as bad as I have been dreading.

I have started doing a bit of Tai Chi but it’s funny because every time one off my Chinese friends finds out they laugh because “it’s something old people do”. I quite enjoy it though, it’s relaxing and teaches you how to breathe properly.

The dresses I got made didn’t turn out quite the way I hoped, but Anna said the tailor will make the alterations to them that I want and not to worry. Now I just have to find time to go back.

I got my hair cut just above shoulder length with bangs; a very typical Chinese hair style. One of the girls in the school got her hair cut the same way shortly after. Ha ha ha. At that point I thought it would be funny to shave my head to see who follows; not that I really could…I’d be too chicken, but it would be funny.

Massages have been a wonderful past time for me since they are fairly cheap and oh so nice. The last one I got was an oil massage and the girl liked me enough by the end that she gave me 4 free massage oils that I had to hide when leaving the place. She was cute though, very shy.

Wow, what a month March has been.