This year's mid-autumn festival coincides with the National Day holiday in China, so we have an extra long break so that students and staff can go home and be with their families, or travel, or observe this 60th year anniversary of the foundation of the PRC (中华人民共和国）however they see fit.
These two overlapping reasons to celebrate do not, as it happens, mean that our program should have more days off than a normal National Day holiday. So, to make up time, we have classes tomorrow (Sunday the 27th) and the Saturday after break (October 10th).
I'm spending my one precious weekend day in the library (图书馆）staring at an indecipherable text on the development (阶梯 literally: ladder) of law. When I go to class, I understand what my professor wants us to get out of these readings. When I read them, I get very little.
I also have 8 consecutive school-free days beginning Thursday. So there's balance, in the end.
I'm going to move on to International Politics now. The article I'm working on for that is called "Realism, Rationalism, and Revolutionary Thought" (现实主义， 理性主义， 革命主义）。
I'm gonna make it! I'm gonna make it! I'm gonna make it...
In other news: I started a Taijiquan class yesterday, and it feels really good to have something that makes me use my body thoughtfully. I think it's going to help me a lot. A classmate has also started offering yoga classes three times a week, and I'm gonna join in as soon as I buy myself a yoga mat.
I also am going to be hanging out with a local family who has a 5-year-old son with autism, (through a very cool NPO called The Five Project, which was founded by a Center alumnus) for an hour or so every week. More on that after I meet them!
Xiaoxuan (which is actually just her given name. Her full name is Hao Xiaoxuan) met with an American classmate yesterday. They are going to be "language partners" and practice speaking an hour of English and then an hour of Chinese a couple times a week. She inspired her friend Rong Fan and I to make a similar alliance. Hopefully this will help my comprehension of classes as well as my confidence in spoken Chinese.
Goodness, but I have plans for myself. We'll see what works out. It'll be a good year whatever happens, I think.
Life is good.
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It's good to form alliances. I've heard that Nanjing is a lot like Survivor-- every week, the people of the city get together and vote one person out.
ReplyDeleteWhich makes sense, since Nanjing is made up of the Chinese characters 'Nan' meaning 'to not die' and 'Jing' meaning 'crappy reality TV show'.
It's true. I read it in a book.
It's a dog-eat-dog world, man. Or a person-eat-screaming monkey-brain world, at least.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, if this is the same book where you claim to have read that I am a jerk, then it is in your head and you remain a crazy man. And I believe you'll recall that the characters for Nanjing are ACTUALLY "nan" meaning "cool kids" and "jing" meaning "only." Ask anyone here.