Much Irritation, But Not All Is Bad

I know I have kept you waiting long enough. I feel like I've been in Shanghai forever and school is just dragging away my...life! I've been irritated and itchy and tired and frustrated, but I've kept all of that inside. (This may be a long post to cover the week) It all boils down to this:

I am ready to leave Shanghai. I was told that when I was a toddler I couldn't stand dirtiness. With time, a little messy was ok. But Shanghai is one of the dirtiest places I've been in, and it rains on the mess! People seem to relentlessly spit all over the place and eat while throwing their plastic bags/bowls/uneaten food on the ground!? Do they really care nothing about their city? I wanna go home. And when I say home I mean Chengdu. Sure they are dirty too, but it's way more tolerable.
It's too bad. The people here are wonderful but I can't do this environment.

All right all right let's get started.

Monday 23

I went to classes and came home early. Just a normal day. It didn't rain. But I'm mad at myself because I spent 3hrs reading one chapter of my Managing Global Economy book. I guess it was the chapter because usually I am interested and time flies while I study it. Needless to say I put the book down and just read for U.S. China Relations.
[I'm trying to finish the last 5 chapters of MGE before spring break (April 6-10)]

Tuesday 24

This is the morning I was supposed to do more MGE but I didn't even touch the book. I studied Chinese instead. Then I decided to try and study right before the class [4pm] but I just left it in my bag and...I don't remember. But I know I didn't study it.

Wednesday 25

My Chinese teacher gave us a heads up on the next chapter we'd study and told us we would have dictation on Monday[30]. One of my classmates decided that studying 75 words was just too much for 5days. So the teacher cut out a lot. I hate that because half of the words are characters we already know how to write; easy things. Also our homeworks have been slim to none and our class time has been dramatically reduced! (It's been like this for 2 wks already but it's just now making the blog. I didn't want to post my complaints.)
Maybe I'm the class mate you don't like because I would rather use class time and have homework, but I prefer this because I pick classes that I want to use in life.

Anywho, later I finished copying my notes for US China and then went to that class (haha I had the notes highlighted in the readings, I just copied them to refresh. I wasn't lazy.)
In class I was told that my research topic had finally been approved and so even though I'm behind I'm still thankful. We talked about a lot during the class and 2 topics were things I wanted to share with you:

1* My teacher got on the subject of how Chinese girls don't talk about politics and don't know their history and such, and this caused a very offended response from my American counterparts. The thing is, even though I'm sure it's not everyone, the girls that I've hung out with haven't been very historical/political or anything. We always talk about pop culture and such. The guys I hang out with, on the other hand, happily mix those "important" issues into our conversations.

2* We talked about how Chinese people view Americans. The surveys we read proved that only the governments have a problem with each other. One girl expressed that she feels hated and gets dirty looks and gets talked about and stared at....
I'm sure I've covered this before, but let me explain again. Being foreign and black (which she is) you will get stared at hard and talked about!! If you learn the language like you are supposed to, (her choosing this specific program proves she wanted to learn right?) you would hear all of the adoring comments they are making out loud. Maybe one day I'll post a blog about all the things I've heard.

Thursday 26

I wanted to just stay in bed all day but I lured myself to China Phenomenon...late. After that class I wanted to study on campus but I didn't. I signed up to learn how to sing Beijing opera and do traditional dancing. Definitely up for putting myself in a position to understand culture. ;p

Friday 27~Saturday 28

I woke up late so I skipped breakfast and went on to Chinese!! This was the musical chapter so we read about the famous musician in our textbook and then listened to some of his folk songs. I want to get them.
Wang Luobin王洛宾- 在那遥远的地方In That Faraway Place
达坂城的姑娘 The Daban Cheng Girl
After we ended up listening to random songs that are popular nowadays.
Unfortunately (because I missed the first dance class), we had a make-up class right after it. We got our topics for our final speech and we present Wed. Can you believe I haven't started!!

This night was reserved for my friend that had to return to Japan. We karaoked and then hit a night club. I stayed the night at the dorms and in the morning bid her farewell. I'm sad because she was my only language partner. Sure there are other Japanese students at my school but they don't seem to like me much and I prefer her friendship to "strictly" language partner.
I went home and ate brunch and tried to catch up on some Anime. (I know. I know.) I watched the latest English subbed episode of Naruto Shippuden and tried to find more but of course they can only come out as the ones in Japan do. I did find that the Chinese youtube is one episode ahead but of course only with Chinese subs. I can't read that fast yet. Also subs don't work when you understand most of the spoken language. (Maybe I underestimate my Japanese. But I really want to understand every~ word~ o.o) Surprisingly I started another series on Chinese youtube because it wouldn't play on crunchyroll. Yet again, I battled the Chinese subtitles. [I think I'll do more of this to improve my reading.]
And then because of Friday night, I was knocked out hahahaha

Today!!!! Sunday!!!! 29!!!!

I was mad lol because I missed the Earth Hour thing. Even found out that this isn't the first year!! I am such an environmentalist and yet I don't even know these things.
Anywho, I studied and then decided it's better to study at school. Not that I wasn't doing well, but my favorite show came on and I wanted to avoid temptation.
As I walked out of my community's gate, the security guards gave their daily greetings. I really want to type today's in Chinese because it's funnier:

保安人员：你好！（热情地） Security guard: hello! (enthusiastically)
我：你好。（带着微笑） Me: hello. (slight smile)
员：你要去上学吗？ Guard: You going to school?
我：对上学。笑 Me: yep, goin to school. (giggle)
员：今天是星期日！你该休息~！Guard: Today is Sunday! You should relax!
我：我要学习~！ （都笑） Me: I want to study! ( all laugh)

Ok. Maybe it's not that funny. lol but xiuxi rhymes with xuexi so it was cute to me. Mind you there are about 3/4 guards talking to me. They bid me good bye and welcome me back everyday for the past week. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy!

Welp, I have wasted your time enough. I need to study for tomorrow's dictation...again...

**(0.0) **