If you don't know the meaning of the above title, I am sorry.
Life since the trip has been interesting. I'm behind on some of my schoolwork, and I think it's because I'm still in vacation mode. Also, I'm decreasingly motivated to do well on assignments that ostensibly have nothing to do with graduation, acceptance to law school, or my future life. I need to change my attitude, though; I'm here to improve my Chinese, and no matter how boring or unnecessary the assignments seem, they will help with that goal.
On the other hand, I'm enjoying life a lot more than I was a few weeks ago. The weather here is beautiful, with the temperature in the high 70s every day and usually sunny with a light breeze. We went to the Sun Yat-Sen tomb/memorial and the Ming Dynasty tombs on Saturday (every few weeks, Chen Laoshi takes us out to one of the historical sites around Nanjing). It was fantastic! Unlike some other historical sites, the natural setting was gorgeous - groves of plum trees on the mountainside, fields of grass (actual grass! a rare find in China), and breathtaking views from the top. Sun Yat-Sen was the first president of China, and though he only lasted in the post for a few months before being deposed, his egalitarian ideas and foresight permanently influenced China's political ideology and development as a nation. The Ming tombs were also cool - they're 600 years old, and remarkably well preserved. The actual tombs are 50 meters into the hillside, but there's an enormous wall in front with a restored hall on top. I'll definitely be going back in a couple weeks when the leaves change colors.
There are always little things that strike me as odd. For example, over the holiday and back in Nanjing, I see flower displays on sidewalks and at memorials everywhere. However, the flowers are always in their individual little pots instead of being planted in flowerbeds as would be usual in the States. It's interesting to think about the thought process behind such things. Obviously it's probably more convenient to just dispense with the pots after the flowers are past their prime, but I don't know which is more expensive, and to my eye flowerbeds would look a little nicer, although the pot arrangements have grown on me since I first saw them.
We've been spending more time with the China Horizons girls (here teaching English) - we play frisbee and volleyball with them, we had a YSA game night at the church on Saturday, and yesterday after church we had a big french toast party at their apartment. They're all really friendly, but I don't think I'm interested in any kind of relationship right now; they're also all pretty young, maybe 19 or 20. Although maybe I shouldn't be picky in that regard - I'm only 23, after all. It's just that I've always kind of thought that I would marry someone who had served a mission and was about my age or even a little older.
Life without a phone for a week has also been interesting. I'm actually kind of enjoying the irresponsibility of no one being able to contact me. I've managed to run into people when they're going out to do things, but other than that I've been AWOL.
That's about it for now...
Life since the trip has been interesting. I'm behind on some of my schoolwork, and I think it's because I'm still in vacation mode. Also, I'm decreasingly motivated to do well on assignments that ostensibly have nothing to do with graduation, acceptance to law school, or my future life. I need to change my attitude, though; I'm here to improve my Chinese, and no matter how boring or unnecessary the assignments seem, they will help with that goal.
On the other hand, I'm enjoying life a lot more than I was a few weeks ago. The weather here is beautiful, with the temperature in the high 70s every day and usually sunny with a light breeze. We went to the Sun Yat-Sen tomb/memorial and the Ming Dynasty tombs on Saturday (every few weeks, Chen Laoshi takes us out to one of the historical sites around Nanjing). It was fantastic! Unlike some other historical sites, the natural setting was gorgeous - groves of plum trees on the mountainside, fields of grass (actual grass! a rare find in China), and breathtaking views from the top. Sun Yat-Sen was the first president of China, and though he only lasted in the post for a few months before being deposed, his egalitarian ideas and foresight permanently influenced China's political ideology and development as a nation. The Ming tombs were also cool - they're 600 years old, and remarkably well preserved. The actual tombs are 50 meters into the hillside, but there's an enormous wall in front with a restored hall on top. I'll definitely be going back in a couple weeks when the leaves change colors.
There are always little things that strike me as odd. For example, over the holiday and back in Nanjing, I see flower displays on sidewalks and at memorials everywhere. However, the flowers are always in their individual little pots instead of being planted in flowerbeds as would be usual in the States. It's interesting to think about the thought process behind such things. Obviously it's probably more convenient to just dispense with the pots after the flowers are past their prime, but I don't know which is more expensive, and to my eye flowerbeds would look a little nicer, although the pot arrangements have grown on me since I first saw them.
We've been spending more time with the China Horizons girls (here teaching English) - we play frisbee and volleyball with them, we had a YSA game night at the church on Saturday, and yesterday after church we had a big french toast party at their apartment. They're all really friendly, but I don't think I'm interested in any kind of relationship right now; they're also all pretty young, maybe 19 or 20. Although maybe I shouldn't be picky in that regard - I'm only 23, after all. It's just that I've always kind of thought that I would marry someone who had served a mission and was about my age or even a little older.
Life without a phone for a week has also been interesting. I'm actually kind of enjoying the irresponsibility of no one being able to contact me. I've managed to run into people when they're going out to do things, but other than that I've been AWOL.
That's about it for now...
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