新朋友 （New Friends)

Hey everyone, last night was a lot of fun. We went to vics (which is right across a parking lot from mix) for ladies night so we got free entry and the girls could get us free drinks . The Korean girls also met us there so it was a really fun night. The Korean girl whose phone number I had met us at vics but her friends misheard her and went across the parking lot to mix instead where they had to pay so even when we told them vics was free they didn’t come so it was just us and one of the koreans. After a long time dancing most of the other people ended up going home s it was just me and her and we ended up talking outside the club until 4:30. It was such great chinese practice. B/c she is also learning chinese she is really patient when I don’t know how to say something. She also doesn’t use that hard vocabulary when she speaks as well so I can understand her most of the time. Her other korean friend isn’t very nice and generally doesn’t talk and her chinese friend speaks to me V…E…R…Y  S…L…O…W…L…Y like I don’t know any chinese.I know she means well but it seems a bit condescending. I can understand her just fine it’s just that she used words I don’t know. so out of the three of them the one I talked to at the club (Chanhee) is the best language buddy. She is studying Chinese at Beijing International University and is pretty good. She is also taking english classes as her English is ok but she wants to improve it. I ended up getting back home at 5am this morning and as I had class at 8 I just stayed up all night. Surprisingly I did well on the quiz this morning though getting through the rest of class was really hard. It was worth it though because it was really good chinese practice. I told her I would be leaving in 2.5 weeks so if she is free we should do something else so hopefully she will call me back.

After class today I went to bed and slept for 6 hours and then decided to go get skewers for dinner. I went to a street where I made friends with people who sell flat bread and shaved ice. Every time I pass by I say hi and they all know my name. Today I said hi and normally I keep going by but today I stopped and started talking to them for a while. It came up that one of them didn’t have en English name so she told me her chinese name and I gave her an english name. Then another and another wanted an English name so I ended up naming everyone there. Rachel and her boyfriend Francis work the shaved ice stand. Next to them Jason and his brother Ben make a sort of chinese flat bread and their friends Sam and Shaun sometimes come and help them.

At one point it came up that I had a QQ (chinese AIM) and they all had it so they grabbed me and took me behind their shop where they had a computer in a little shack and signed me on to QQ and went through the process of friending all of them. My friend Malissa from EAP was also with me and she didn’t have a QQ so they helped her set it up and then all friended her as well. After we all got settled with QQ Ben, Sam, and some friends were going swimming in a runoff channel but I didn’t want to go since they are pretty gross and even have signs that say don’t swim. I tried to tell them I didn’t have the right clothes to swim in and they said neither did they. They said they just went in their underwear. I finally told them I had homework to do so they all left to go swim.

I told them I would be leaving china on september 1st and they wanted to know when I was going to be coming back. When I told them I didn’t know they told me that they would miss me but they were excited that they could chat with me on QQ when I was in the U.S. Everyone there was really nice and they even bought me a beer at one point. I meant to have a quick dinner trip but I ended up being there for 4 hours. It was also really good practice because it was me and someone from the class above me  so there were no native speakers to bail us out so we had to work to try to understand what they were saying.

There was lightning in the sky when I was talking to the vendors and right as I started heading home it started to rain cats and dogs so I got soaked on the way back. Also, since I was coming back so late the gate near my dorm was closed so I had to walk a longer distance in the rain. Rachel has a dog and she said she would bring it tomorrow so I am going to go back and see her dog and take pictures with them. She said her dog doesn’t have an english name so I am also going to give her dog an english name. I also told her I liked traveling and taking pictures at places so she wanted to see my pictures.

There was also another guy who was buying bread who we talked to for a while. he gave me the card to the restaurant where he works and his phone number and said for me to come by and eat there so I am going to have to find it some day soon. He was interesting and at some point in our conversation he somehow ended up holding a GIGANTIC grasshopper looking thing. idk where he got it from but it was huge and he kept telling me to eat it but I am pretty sure he was kidding. He ended up walking away still holding the grasshopper.

This weekend I am going to inner Mongolia so I won’t have internet access then but I will post about it when I get back. I am leaving Saturday morning at 5:30am and then I arrive back on Sunday at some point but I am not sure when. I will also post pictures tomorrow.

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