Chengdu Week 9 - Week of no internet and mild sickness

Oct. 27, 2014

    Back to the grindstone for classes. We started our new book today, again just more of the usual. It’s always weird starting a new book. Today was odd for me in particular because I managed to develop laryngitis.  My voice has been wavering between nonresistant and a high pitched screeching sound. Needless to say, speaking with tones was far out of the question. So I was silent most of class, which was really frustrating considering the exercises were almost all spoken. My voice however, brings a great deal of mirth to people. It’s alright though, as I type this my voice has gotten significantly better, I suspect by tomorrow it will improve. Otherwise this was a day of rest, everyone is still exhausted from our trip back. Many people got sick, our diet of poor food finally catching up to many people. Cassidy spent the day in bed after being sick all night, while Raphi needed to go to the student hospital to get some medicine. Hopefully tomorrow will be slightly more lively and people will be doing better.

Oct. 28, 2014

    Today was probably the most stressful day I’ve had to date. I woke up to a notice from my university that unless I went through an appeal process I was likely to get my financial aid revoked. The reason for this is my university has recently implemented a cap on the amount of credits a student can take before being punished. In my case, I was informed before I left because I had a dual major I was safe from all of this as someone who is dual majoring would naturally go over the credit limit (My biology degree alone is 140 credits, the cap is 180). This however, was misinformation, and now I am facing the very serious threat of not having funding for my spring semester(or any funding ever again). In the email I was given a form to fill out, a link that did not work. I was also told to call the financial aid office if I had any questions, which is virtually impossible without spending money I do not have (not to mention the likelihood of being put on hold until I ran out of minutes on the international calling card). This is really good example of students getting lost in administration. The financial aid office also only seemed aware of History BA and not my Biology BS, which if they simply walked down the stairs to admissions and records this could be cleared up. Needless to say I spent my morning stressing out about obtaining the documents, I was barely able to focus in class because of it.
    After class the day only got worse, we are now without internet until the first of November, five days of no internet access except what I can get in the lobby and second floor when they are open. Thankfully Wentao was able to help me scan and print what I needed. I am waiting on an email so I can finish the last document and hopefully it will be sent off. The thing that is so frustrating is that everything that has caused me grief in China has not been from China, it’s always from America. I can’t wait to finally graduate from UNR and get the out of the system they call higher education.
    I ended up spending my afternoon hyper focused on my homework. I was able to get it done with extreme efficiency and I even wrote out my next oral presentation. So overall my stress was productive for something I care about. I spent the rest of the afternoon chatting with Cassidy, but the stress ended up making me sick after I ate my lunch. I laid down for a while trying to keep myself together. I also had work today, something I really couldn’t miss considering that I missed Saturday. I did manage to get to work and keep a face for the kids. The are a rambunctious bunch, trying to keep them focused is the most difficult thing I have to do. A few of them are totally out of control and there really isn’t anything we can do to stop them. After work (and a pay check) I was feeling better. I spent some time watching Arrow, my new show, and then curled up into bed. I really hope tomorrow works out better.

Oct. 29, 2014

    So my morning was spent running between the second floor where there is spotty internet and getting my laundry done. I had finished all of my homework so I really didn’t have anything that needed doing except practicing my oral presentation. My running nose and laryngitis is turning into a cough which makes me a little nervous. I would prefer not to get sick, but I may not have a choice in the matter. WeiWei gave me some tea to drink that should help clear up voice. I feel like it really isn’t helping but I may need to sleep on it. In America people run for Advil or Ibuprofen, in China the solution for little things is tea. Without internet and with it raining on and off I spent most of the day reading. I actually got through quite a bit of the book I am reading which was nice considering how I have been neglecting reading anything other than Chinese textbooks. Tomorrow will be a more full day, I have morning and afternoon class.

Oct. 30, 2014

    Today I had my second oral presentation  for my Chinese class. It went well I think, Laoshi complimented me on my grammar and word use, so I will take that. Today’s class was strange because we took so long doing our presentations we only had time for a short break. And then we rushed through the words to get them all done. After class I was summoned to lunch at the noodle shop. I was pleased because I was able to understand that she asked if we were eating in or taking out.  It was a natural response instead of the long awkward pause that usually happens when someone rapid fires a question at me.
    After lunch it was off to history. History is quickly becoming a major point of frustration for me. I think it has to do with the fact that not only have I done this course before but the language barrier causes a great deal of confusion. When I talk to Xiao Laoshi on her own it’s great. We had a really interesting discussion about the One Child Policy in China during the break. But in front of the class she quickly becomes flustered or simply doesn't understand. Also she has been taking out entire chunks of relevant information. For example in the Tang Dynasty they lost to the Tibetan King, she just skipped over why Wencheng had to marry the King. Though it is interesting the careful construction of national identity. Class finished quickly enough, and then it was off to lounging around with friends. Tomorrow I think I might have a small adventure, I am finally feeling better after my cold. It’s one of the reasons I really haven’t done too much this week other than classes. Next week will be another exam for Chinese and then we leave for Xian.

October 31, 2014

    Happy Halloween, a holiday celebrated only in America. You see hints of it here, people occasionally dressed up in costume, but generally speaking it’s a Holiday only discussed in English class. That’s alright though most people are going to party hosted by the apartments, but I still feel sick so I will not be going. I spent almost the entire morning sleeping trying to stop feeling so sick, I think I officially have a chest cold. I managed to get myself to Calligraphy alright, but that was about all I could take. I spent the rest of the day sleeping in bed. Jesse had to bring me dinner so that I would eat. I really hope I feel better soon so I can go back to living in China.

Nov. 1, 2014

    Still sick, most of the morning was spent conserving strength for work. I did a lot more reading and finished my homework. I am going to hit the books hard tomorrow, our exam is coming up on Tuesday and I will need all the grammar we have learned thus far. I am less worried about the vocabulary, it has been much more pointed to daily life making it much easier to memorize. Work was interesting. I have been teaching 5 kids, all of whom have been together for a year. They are generally shy, but have definitely taken a liking to me. They often play with me at break time or ask me spontaneous questions. There was a new student today, he was the same age as the others but had obviously less English training. He essentially spent the entire class disrupting it because he didn’t understand what was going on. It got to the point that the other students were incredibly annoyed with him and they had begun to tell him off in Chinese. The little boy also kept speaking to me in Chinese, which I understood, but when I am there I try to get them to use their English words (I usually help them translate or have Lily help). The students actually got mad at him and told him that I didn’t speaking Chinese. It got bad enough that Lily essentially had to take the kid out of class, which was such a bummer because today was supposed to be lots of fun. I wonder what will happen today was meant to be a trial run and I don’t think he can keep up.
    After work I had the epic experience of Chinese rush hour, which mostly entails being shoved on a bus to the point no one can move. There was girl with whom I had an entire silent conversation about the man next to us who continuously kept falling over. After a certain stop the same lady grabbed my arm and hauled me into a seat next to her. It was quite nice to sit down, and we talked a little bit. Then it was back home to the dorms where Jesse and Corey had dinner. Corey had cooked chicken breasts and we all ate sandwiches while enjoying our daily dose of Television. It’s something to do while the internet is down. We ended up watching a really hysterically bad 80s movie called Big Trouble in Little China. Truly terrible but it was hilarious all the same. Tomorrow I have very little planned, let’s home the internet is back up (I suspect it won’t be until Monday or Tuesday).