I'm back...

Today is an exciting morning as I just realized that Blogspot is back in China!!! I don't know how long I will be able to write on here but while I have it I will try to write frequently to take full advantage!

It is about 6.30 AM right now as I sit at my computer. Outside is all hazy and cold-about 34 but I see blue starting to poke through the clouds. I just finished my morning Japanese stretching exercises (one of the Japanese teachers here and another American and I do Japanese morning exercises every morning at 6.10 together. It is pretty fun and a good way to get the mornings going.) I don't teach today so it is very tempting to go back to bed and sleep sleep sleep. However, I am determined today to get stuff done. I am feeling very overwhelmed by the amount of work I need to do and I am wanting to go with my teammate, Bethany, and a Chinese friend to the Harbin Provincial museum this afternoon.

Things have been going well lately. I definitely am feeling at home and used to life here. I have been getting into a more regular schedule of life lately and am feeling pretty good about that. I have been trying to go to bed between 10 and 10.30 each night so that I can get close to 8 hours of sleep. It has been a hard adjustment because it definitely cuts out time I could be doing other things at night so that's why I think I feel like I always have stuff to do. I am just having to learn to manage my time better-something I always struggle with. I have also been cooking a lot lately. At first, it just seemed to take so much time but now I am really starting to enjoy it. I have mostly just been experimenting with different things so I just grab lots of vegetables out of the fridge and start chopping. I feel like a chef or something!

Chinese study has been going well. For a while this year I was at this point in language learning where I was stuck at this wall and to move past it would require a lot of individual work and motivation and I feel like I am starting to get past that point now which is good. I meet 2-4 hours with my tutor from last year and then now 2-3 hours on Sunday with a new friend who is teaching me who doesn't really speak English. It has been hard as it is so tiring to be listening in Chinese only for 2-3 hours but so good for me. She is real funny to so that helps! I have been studying little flash cards learning characters like crazy and probably know a little more that 400 characters, which may sound like a lot but really isn't that much considering how many there are. I really enjoy learning the characters though and they give a lot of insight into the culture. It has been fun to see my improvement in listening this semester especially in the study I am in on Saturday nights. It is about 95 percent in Chinese now, which is great, and I am starting to understand more and more and able to follow what is happening and what they are talking about. It is so great that it is in Chinese as well because they are really taking ownership of the study and are teaching each other-a great thing.

I am thinking of taking a walk now to the morning market before heading to the gym. I have never been (usually am asleep) but hear they have everything imaginable for sale so I figure it would be something fun to check out. Make sure to check out my flickr regularly as I am putting different pictures up on it. (www.flickr.com/photos/chinamegan).