10:48, time for update before bed.

The internet here continues to be a proverbial pain in my backside as it's now decided that I'm not allowed to open my blog page. Take heart, dear readers, for I still have the ability to post (I think). The only difference now is that should you want to comment (bless your heart) you'll have to instead email me as I won't be able to access them otherwise. jessicalynnjohn at gmail dot com. woot!

So what's new around here...classes continue to go pretty well. I've got lesson plans for the next week or so which makes life ever so comfortable and flexible as far as my free time goes. What am I doing with the extra time? Well let's see...
Completely immersing myself in Chinese, mainly. I've been spending copious amounts of time with my surrogate Chinese family and am taking more initiative when it comes to being social and inviting my Chinese friends places. I've noticed recently that I've started dreaming in Chinese...I even talk in my sleep in Chinese. Pretty wild, hehe. My speaking still remains limited and pronunciation is really a killer but I'm making progress and I find that when I don't think too much about it, I can do just fine as far as making myself basically understood. It's frustrating at times because I find myself comparing this experience to my time in Japan but keep having to remind myself that the circumstances are different (ie I HAVE to speak English, I can't go weeks just functioning in Chinese, I don't have 4 hours of Japanese class each day, nor a host family that I return to each evening and let's be honest, Chinese is REALLY hard) However, I know more about myself and how to learn and am more aware of cultural nuances now here in China than this time when I was in Japan. My progress is slow, but that's just how this language learning thing goes.

Despite not having a designated host family, Wang Wei's family has essentially taken me in and is serving as my link to Chinese life here. I spent most of the weekend with them, going to the market, running errands and just learning the ropes chinese style. My favorite activity as of late is going to the market. The gist: China has a lot of people, so many such that there are not adequate jobs for everyone so many people have taken to setting up "shop" along the streets. Food vendors are ubiquitous--see my previous post. Sometimes, they congregate along a backstreet, creating the Chinese street market. Piles of produce of every shape and size and color, fruit in boundless quantites and varieties, all laid out on blankets on the sidewalk, fish still flopping around on the pavement or in shallow tubs, shrimp, shellfish, large cuts of beef, pig, mutton all laid out on bicycle carts (from bacon to brisket, coagulated pigs blood to chicken feet, it's all there), spices, dry goods from peanuts, flour, sunflower seeds, popcorn, all next to stands of vendors selling everything from faux handbags, long underwear, pirated dvds, nail clippers, combs and fuzzy shoe inserts. It's such a treat to even just go walking through--so many people and so many things to look at. Buying things is fun too--I'm a big fan of getting to haggle and apparently I'm brazen when it comes to low bidding but since I'm foreign, it seems that I can get away with it. One of my Chinese friends lets me haggle when we go out because even though the vendors give me a higher starting price (they assume I have more money) I can usually get a lower price than she can. Highly entertaining!

When you stumble across a street market that you didn't know was there, it's lucky and exciting. Even moreso if that street market is there the next time you try and find it. It's kind of a game, like a scavenger hunt. It's like "I need eggplant and oranges...find-a-market!" In any case, I'm basically to the point where I swear by the street market and all its cheap, fresh and vast goodness.

Wang Wei's mom and i were laughing about the strange fact that i'm foreign yet living a very Chinese lifestyle. Apparently foreigners don't buy from the street markets and they don't eat a lot of the stuff I'm willing to eat. When I cook for myself, it's usually a healthily adapted (read less oil, more vegetables) form of Chinese cooking, mainly because I am an idiot when it comes to cooking american food, but also because it's easier to find and create Chinese style food. Granted, it's not "Chinese" Chinese food...more like Jiexi Chinese food. Whatever, it keeps me happily satisfied.

The whole "living the chinese lifestyle"...it's one of those When in Rome types of situations. I'm kind of chameleon as far as adapting to the environment around me and frankly, it's easier to fall in line and do as the Chinese do rather than insisting on living life just as I did back home. Easier, and cheaper. And more fulfilling too, I think, because in my pursuit to be as anti-sore thumb as possible, I'm interacting with some very cool people. I was telling a friend back home that I like China for its simplicity. Life is not stressful, certainly there are things that cause angst and worry and no, life isn't always roses. But I don't sense the hypertension and stress that seems so overwhelming in the states. I can't really explain it but there's just a different atmosphere. More familiar maybe? I'm not sure, but for now, it's refreshing. I think I'm going to stick around for awhile.

A random note: I got my haircut recently...I should have known. I paid $1.20 (I didn't know it would be that cheap when I started...if I had, I would have found a more expensive establishment) and it basically looks like a buck twenty haircut. I told the guy, all the same length. He goes and uses those damned pinking shear type scissors and totally thins it out and leaves the ends choppy and uneven. He worked way too fast and way too sloppily but as I was having an off-day in my language abilities, I was too shy to tell him to slow down or stop. grr. Oh well, it works for now...if it gets really bad as it grows out, I'll get myself to a real classy place and get them to even it out.

Oh I almost forgot! I found a really cheap gym! And it's close! I can attend yoga and spinning classes, run, lift weights, even take hot showers during the day (preferred readers will recall that my building only has hot water in the early morning and later evening) Year long membership is...$60! Super cheap!! Stoked! No more winter fat! Now, if only they had an erg... (BTW, I looked into getting an erg sent here...a new Model D is something like $850 plus shipping...which to China comes to about $250, all total 1100 buckeroos or about 4 months of my salary. gulp. to erg...or to eat?

Right then, it's late and that's enough for now. Remember, comments go to email now! I look forward to hearing from you!