I walked into the classroom and Hannah told Danni and I to smile because she was taking a picture. I turned towards the camera and gave what I thought was a half-smile, but when Hannah turned the camera back around to show me, I looked piss AF. I don’t know why this keeps happening to me.
In drill two, we had a long conversation about driver’s licenses and I somehow managed to explain the GDL program all in Chinese. Of course, I had I to write a few words on the board, but I actually managed to get my meaning across.
Hannah, Faith, Rachel, and I got some awesome noods at the 餐厅, and then Hannah and I went to shidalu to get our usual drinks. They guy there recognizes us and just knows our order, which means we’ve been coming there too much.
Since the drinks are relatively cheap, Hannah paid for mine since we both only had 100s on us. For some reason, people in China get very offended when you hand them a 100 depsite that being the main bill that the ATMs give you; they’re like 20s in the US.
So, we ask the guy if he can break a 100, and he laughs and says he can, but then follows with “why don’t you guys use wechat? It’s much more convenient.” I gave him the usual explanation of “we’re American and we’re going back to America in 9 days, so we can’t use wechat wallet, etc.” Of course, we got asked if we were American or Chinese, but here’s where it gets interesting. Instead of being confused by the answer of “born in China, raised in America” he actually understood because his girlfriend is the same way.
He’s a cute dude, and he posed for a picture when I was trying to take it off the pretty lights. Hannah and I have got to get a photo with him before we leave.
Speaking of leaving, we mentioned that, and I’m not sure what came over me, but I got really sad for a hot second. Like I thought I wouldn’t really be that sad to leave, but something kind of hit me—like the realization that I’m not going to see them everyday. It’s been an adventure that’s for sure, and it feels like I’ve been here forever but not at all. It’s a weird feeling of nostalgia despite the “short time” we’ve had here. I don’t know. It’s not that I want to cry, but that feeling that you get in your chest before you cry swelled for a second.
We left for newspaper class, and I was actually the first one in the classroom. I had planned on doing homework, but I ended up chatting with Li Laoshi for 15 minutes. I told her all about CLS, the program sites, the requirements, and the OPIs. I think I proved that I’m a competent person when I can speak about topics I actually know about. It was a really good conversation actually.
I spoke less in class, but I did pay attention this time. We learned how to say “friends with benefits” which is 炮友. A good word to know.
Fuxi ke was the usual.
I had my yiduiyi second, so I waited on the third floor. Kevin and Holden joined after Hannah had left. When I saw Kevin, he had two laptops, both with runescape open. The other laptop turned out to be Korey’s, and Kevin put me in charge of monitoring Korey’s runescape, which just meant running north so the sand crabs would attack, and making sure he didn’t get logged out.
Holden’s ready to get out of China. He was telling Kevin and I that he’s an optimist, but this country makes him a pessimist. Kevin and I laughed and Kevin mentioned that he’s a pessimist, but Holden’s attitude towards China makes him seem like the optimist.
I think we’re all ready to just go home.
Kevin left without Korey’s laptop, so I just brought it to my yiduiyi. Li laoshi saw what was up, and asked what it was. I told her runescape, and she laughed and said she already knew what it was since Hannah had talked about it during her yiduiyi. I was impressed because she already knew what AFK was.
I told her that I play this game while doing homework and she laughed. Also, she thought Mike was Kevin, and I’ve never been more amused.
She apparently saw Kevin in the hall with both laptops and just thought he was a really hard worker. Oh dear.
I had Li Laoshi help me with my homework, and I managed to get everything done except answer the reading comprehension questions.
The RD meeting lasted until 6:00 because we had to do reorientation, which was basically just us answering questions about our experience in Xi’an and what we miss about America.
My group said that best part of China was how convenient the public transportation was. Korey and Hannah ended up coming up with the same 看法, and they were arguing over who said it first, so when Philly asked our group for our answer, they started being passive and saying “no why don’t you go ahead and answer.” So, being the good friend I am, I said: “Well let me share with you my opinion that I came up with myself” and then proceeded to quote both of them directly.
Our other question was “what’s the first thing you’re going to eat when you get back to America?” and we decided on Chick-fil-a.
And other random conversations from that meeting:
John: I want a Chinese girlfriend.
Phil: No you do not, but that’s a story for another time.
At some point the during the meeting, we were discussing our layovers, and some people (Kevin) don’t get back home until 7:00 AM on the 12, which is crazy. It makes no sense why their layovers are so long. I thought mine was bad because I’m not getting in until midnight, but at least I’m home on the 11th and not the 12th.
Cayleigh and I thought we’d be on the same flight since we both have to go Houston, but her layover is 13 hours long. Like, I’m literally getting home a whole 12 hours before she is. I feel so bless right now, but if our plane is delayed in anyway, I’m going to miss my flight to Houston, and I’ll be sad.
The other thing we had to talk about was how life was going to be when we returned home. Holden talked about how he always gets annoyed when he comes to China, but then once he’s back in America, he misses China. He called it “the grass is greener on the other side.” I call it Stockholm syndrome.
When we were finally let free, Hannah, Faith, and I went to shidalu to get some chicken sandwiches, but the place was closed. We actually missed the place because it was closed, but we didn’t realize it at the same, so we had to walk back. Kevin and Korey were behind us, but they both wanted something else, so they continued walking down the other way.
Funny how things work, because they couldn’t find anything either, so we actually ended up remeeting halfway down the road.
Kevin suggested some restaurant, so the 5 of us went there. We had some chicken, rice, eggplant, and some other food that I have no idea what it’s called.
Also, I’m not sure how this happened, but Kevin asked the waiter for bottled water, and then the guy came back and was like “we don’t have bottled water.” Hannah, Faith, and I threw Kevin and Korey money because they were going to go to a chaoshi and just buy water, but then the waiter came back, and was like “we have bottled water. Where are you going?”
Like, why? Kevin literally said 一瓶水 or “a bottle of water” and this guy comes back and says “is Nongfu Springs okay?” Like clearly it is; it’s what we originally asked for.
We started talking about our moral alignments, and Korey and Kevin said Holden is chaotic evil. Apparently on the train, he turned towards a crying baby and said “it’s a good day for a child to die.” Like Jesus Christ Holden. This country changes you.
We determined that Kevin is chaotic something, Korey’s true neutral, Hannah and Faith are lawful good, and I’m lawful neutral.
Also, Faith told us about some time she spent in Rwanda, which was very cool to hear about.
After food, we went to get ice cream. 10/10 as always.
On the walk back, Korey was asking us to explain what girls meant when they say a guy is cute since we briefly talking about it at dinner. I said that cute can mean a girl is attracted to a guy, or it can just mean she finds him good looking, but not necessarily datable. Hot is more definitive, but I usually say it for emphasis.
We then joked about using the pickup line “ey girl, 你有微信吗?” to which Korey then said that actually happened to him at the gym. Gotta love Chinese’s people’s fascination with 外国人.
(Also I think John’s getting that tattooed on his body, but I hope he has his shots.)
We didn’t get back to the dorms until 8:00ish. I studied and then my roommate came back and showed me the outfits Hannah and I would be wearing for our photoshoot. I told Hannah to come over so she could try them on, and then my roommate told us that they were gifts for us to keep. I was so shook because this is so nice, and now I feel like an asshole for blowing my roommate off sometimes.
I need to get her something nice.
We went to go show Korey our outfits, and Kevin and Logan actually joined us in the hallway. I listened to Kevin and Korey commiserate over some stupid grammar pattern they have and then chatted with Logan for a bit.
I gave him a tide pod and then retreated back into my room to pretend and study.
Right before I went to bed, I had a good convo with my roommate about the SAT and ACT. It’s a shame that I’m just now having deep conversations with her, but the good news is I can because I actually have the vocab for it now.
The other thing that made me laugh was our conversation about history. I was trying to say “another group is going to the Xi’an History Museum” and she goes “yeah I know, but I didn’t tell you about it because I knew you wouldn’t want to go because you probably find those kinds of things boring.”
Like damn call me out.
I couldn’t help but laugh, because there might be some truth to that. I ended up saying “wow you really understand me.”
I told her I did like history though, but my favorite history was American history. She agreed and said it was her favorite too because Americans only have to learn 300 years of history while Chinese students have to learn over 2000 years. Again, roast us.
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