back from a hiatus

yes, it's been a freakishly long time since i've written. my apologies.

The past month and a half has pretty much been characterized by having a cold, going out to some good restaurants and bars, getting annoyed with my students, trying to plan my future, and watching tv shows on dvds.

You know when you have so much do say that you don't even know where to begin? I guess that's sort of how i'm feeling right now.

I guess i'll start with some stuff that's on my mind right now. I've been admitted to 3 law schools, and right now i'm leaning towards going to Chicago-Kent College of Law for various reasons, including the fact that they've offered me a full-tuition scholarship. I'm still waiting to hear from 2 schools and i'm waitlisted at 2 others, so it's still a little hazy as to where I'll (we'll) end up.

I'm coming home the first week of May for the labor day holiday in China. I absolutely cannot wait to see Mike (we're having a big birthday party for him while i'm home) and to enjoy all the good things about the US...like cheese, potable tap water, my car, etc. It might make it hard to come back here for my last two months, but I am SURE that my last 2 months here are going to go by so quickly-- just like the past 2 have. My dad and brother are coming to visit at the end of May, which i am SO excited about...and I know it's going to make the time go by even faster. So, my goal is to try to start seeing/doing all the stuff in Shanghai that i feel like i'll regret if i miss out on. For example....I'm spending serious amounts of time at the fabric market, because why would i pass up the opportunity to get any type of clothes i want made to fit my body? It's a good thing i'm coming home in may so I can bring home a load of clothes, etc. My suitcases are gonna be so full!

Next week is the midterm week, after which we have a 4-day weekend. My friend Hayley and I have decided that it's time for us to go to Beijing, since we're both leaving China in July. We're having some issues booking plane tickets (they are far more expensive than we expected) but we're going to stay at a hostel that is right next to Tiannamen square that our other friend stayed at, so that part of the trip should be cheap. I'm really excited to see the Great Wall and the Forbidden City-- after spending so much time in Shanghai, I'm really craving some culture.

As for teaching, it's been sort of up and down. For some reason, this week I've been in a pretty good mood outside the classroom, but the second I walk into a classroom full of children, I am NOT happy. Maybe it's just that the kids are taking more liberties now that the weather is nice and they think they're my friends, so they're noisier...or maybe I've just had all I can take...but either way, it's gotten to the point where I had to make my 4th grade ESL students write "I will not hit, kick, or say mean things to other students" over and over in their notebooks for 20 minutes on Tuesday, and made another class sit quietly doing absolutely nothing for like 10 minutes. It's just really frustrating trying to control these kids sometimes.

That leads me to the girls I tutor. This semester, I started tutoring 2 girls, one on mondays for an hour and a half, the other on wednesdays for an hour. I charge 200 rmb per hour (that's about $25), so that's an additional 500rmb per week that I'm bringing in. It's pretty awesome, except that the girl I tutor for an hour and a half on mondays doesn't care about school AT ALL and succumbs to any and every distraction possible. And it's weird, I can stand in front of a whole class of kids and get them to pay attention and do their work, but one-on-one, this girl is just really difficult to deal with. Don't get me wrong, she's nice, but I knew things were going to be weird the first time when she started hitting my knee (which was crossed over my other leg) to try to test my reflexes the way a doctor does. Then she started touching my arm and asked me "Why you black?" because apparently i was a bit more tan than she was used to. She also likes to try to play with my hair, even saying one time "next week i bring comb." I couldn't believe it when I heard myself saying "no, don't bring a comb. we have to STUDY." On the other hand, the other girl I tutor is a perfect angel. Either way, I like tutoring. It's seriously some of the easiest money I've ever made.

I may or may not have made my first student cry yesterday when I spent quite a bit of time explaining what the word "flirt" means and then accusing him of flirting with the girl next to him. Oh well. It's so distracting, time they learned better than to be annoying about it in my class.

I was at the post office today sending my grandma a letter, and some random chinese guy came up to me and asked me where I was from and asked me if i spoke Spanish. He started saying all the Spanish words he remembered, like 'camarones' (shrimp), 'zapatos' (shoes), 'amigo' (friend) and some other random stuff. It was really bizarre.

Anyway, that's as much as I can handle for an update right now. More again soon?