Wednesday, June ?

Unfortunately, this morning in my Chinese class our professor asked us in Chinese what the day and date was today, I could have answered in Chinese but I had no idea what day it was and what the date even was! While I am doing much much better in the jet-leg area, I am still confused on the day because I skipped completely over a day! I had no idea that when coming to China I would be flying into the future! My Saturday was completely taken away from me. So, that being said, hello from the future! ;o)

But my Chinese is improving! By the end of class today I felt as though everything was going over my head, but tomorrow is another day! My professor is great though. He tries really hard and he gets so excited when we do well. He genuinely enjoys Kendall and me though. After class I was walking back and he happened to ride his bike by. So he slowed down and we talked for a little while. It's too bad that I can't remember his name... You're right mom; all of this language sounds the same to me! It's starting to be clearer to me as the days go on.

I would like to take this moment and give a shout out to the girls at the Key Department. I know how busy you guys are, so thank you for taking some time out to read my blog. Just know that I miss you and all of the work that we do dearly. I feel as though I just have nothing to do here in China in comparison to the Key Department... there was always so much to do. ;o)

Today was again an uneventful day. But it's been nice relaxing. Amara (my roommate) and I switched rooms today. We were on a floor that had a community bathroom, which wasn't the greatest thing in the world. It smelled terrible and there was no toilet paper. Also, the showers were just gross. So we now have a room with a bathroom in it. It will be a nice change. So for the rest of the day I took a nap and watched "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days". I'm on a Matthew McConaughey kick right now.

Later, Drew and I went out to eat at this great cheap restaurant. My meal was $1.50 in USD. Pretty good huh? My new favorite food, that I told you about yesterday, is egg fried rice. It tastes a lot like scrambled eggs, so it reminds me of home a little. I had this great soup though. It had chicken and noodles in it. It was really spicy, but good. And, I have become a pro at chopsticks! I am so impressed with myself! I can eat rice and noodles with them! I think when I come home I might use them all the time. They are pretty cool.

Unfortunately I did not get to "Copy Market" today. We are going tomorrow. I'm way excited to check out the Coach. Now that I have a pair of Puma's, the only logical thing is to get a Coach purse to go with them. I'll let you know all about the bartering Dad :o) and I will be sure to not bring home too much stuff. I'm sure I will be leaving plenty here when I leave. I already have some clothes in mind that I most likely will not bringing home. But I did have 1/2 of a suitcase to fill. Oh, and if Sarah and Leah read this anytime soon, I made a visit to Starbucks today and I might have gotten a few things, we'll see :o) Mom, Dad and Joe, do not worry. I really haven't spent that much money. So far, not including food, I have spent about $50. And my meals cost about $2 each. I love the cheap stuff in China. I completely know how you felt in India Joe.

Jay, thank you so much for the message, but unfortunately the Communists here in China will not let me look at certain webpages! While I can enter blogs on Blogger.com, I cannot read them. So if you could please email me your message about the kids that would be great. I would love to hear how they are doing.

About whole internet thing. We had a conversation with Professor Ni today about the Government here. I guess he has been under high security for years now because he doesn't agree with some of the beliefs that he has. He used to get phone calls from the secret police just minutes after he would arrive in China and they would question him. Last year his bag got stolen and his friend found him here in China to warn him that it wasn't stolen on accident. So he is under high security, but it's not visible. It's all underlying security. He told us that because we are with him, we are under security as well. He told us that they have probably checked all of us out. So anyways, I guess they check out what we are doing online. One of the students on the trip jokingly went to an anti-communist website and right after that his computer crashed. He thinks it was the government but who knows? So there are numerous things on the web that we cannot look at, like CNN and US Sports scores, and I can't get in my AIM. Oh well, I suppose I can do without. Oh and beware, one of the kids said that his parents have gotten a few of his emails and they have had information missing in them. So let me know if my emails don't make sense. We'll see how the response to this blog is. Hopefully nothing will happen.

Anyways, I'm heading off to watch a movie. I miss and love you all and I look forward to hearing from all of you tomorrow!

Mom, I'm praying for Camp Compass that everything will work out. Satan is definitely at work here. Also, I don't think you need to open any of my mail. I can pay all my bills from here except my Nextel bill... do you think you could pay that one? If so that would be great! Love you tons!

Oh and Joe, I forgot to tell you in my email that I'm sorry you still aren't feeling better. Tell you doctor to get on his toes! You obviously have a parasite!! I love you honey.