Tuesday May 17th - Wednesday May 19th

Sorry the internet has been down and blogspot not working this past week. I will post the weeks events though as I remember them and through by written journal.
Monday:
Mondsay was a pretty down day. We didn't have anything really to do all day so it was alot of catching up on sleep and doing badly with jet lag. We did during the afternoon of that day though meet more of our roomates. We got to know them much more than the other days. We taught them how to play UNO and had much fun playing. We also got on a discussion about beliefs and found their beleifs fall along the same line and they were looking for a place to excersize those beliefs. This was a good conversation and made us feel more like there was a reason we were here. That night they went to dinner with all of us. We tried a new place outside of campus and struggled to order. Many people were called for help but not much could be done. We got food though and it was all delicious, but I don't need to say that. That was all pretty much for Monday but it was a good day!
Tuesday:
Tuesday we still hadn't gotten our schedule of what we were supposed to be doing so we went more with the flow. We got to sleep in a little and that was nice. By a little I mean 12 o'clock. We met many more people and decided to go to a chinese class that was for begginers obviously. I learned many new things and even learned how to write some of the characters. Most of it went over my head and I learned how difficult learning a new language truly is. Spanish isn't quite as hard. It is a very tonal language and I think I'm sounding the same but it is different. We met many more people and had really good conversations with them. Part of what we are supposed to be doing here is socializing and so far that has been really easy. Tuesday was alot of that. Also tuesday we had a banquet with the other american teachers in one of the hotels. This was nice and we got to meet the other teachers who are there as well.
Wednesday:
Wednesday was also very good but much the same pattern as the other mornings. We slept in quite a bit. That night was deffinetly the highlight of everything though. I will have to tell you more about it when I get back, because a lot of the content. We went to a meeting though of women at one of the teacher's houses. We were studying the kings. An intervention happened and I wish I could tell you about it but I can't here. Abortion is a big issue here though we are learning. It is so mundane and normal and even encouraged for any problem. That night we also did english corner. They told us for English corner that we would be asked questions like, "what is your name" etc. We or at least I were asked hard questions. I was asked alot of political questions like "what do you think of Pres. Obama and the healthcare bill" and other questions about the chinese interaction in the U.S. economy and even about the "nuclear" explosion in the south (the oil spill I found out is what was meant). I was also asked when asked about my major (both) why I believe what I believe. Also do I agree with those who spread their beliefs. Many more questions like these were asked. They were the questions we are allowed to answer if asked so that is good, but they are hard to answer. I will post the other days when I get back, LOL I'm going to eat lunch with everyone.
GB,
Lindsay Smith