Monday, April 11th, 2016
Smog Level: 1/3 Mountains
Life is like dominoes.
Because I stayed up late saturday, I didn’t get enough work done on Sunday; because Sunday is packed, I didn’t get to take a nap; no nap + the game always runs somewhat late = sleeping in even later on Monday; sleeping in monday, I was barely able to fit in the gym, almost missed lunch. How late? The guy was literally collecting the serving spoons from the food trays. I slopped what I could onto a tray and scarfed it down. Scrambled to the teachers lounge to make sure the posts were ready to go up on time today. Looking forward, I won’t be able to catch up on sleep until Wednesday.
Hooray.
I remember someone describing how life can domino like that and thinking that they were blowing it out of proportion. Now I’m eating those words.
On the upside, the morning protein shake seems to help with cutting down on how much I eat for lunch. Lunch is often not very filling, and very oily. Terrible combination.
Finishing my blogwork, I rush across campus to grab my books and get the blackboard ready. All I can see thinking to myself is “was 30 more minutes of sleep worth rushing this much?” Probably not, but who’s to say I wouldn’t have wasted that 30 minutes anyway?
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| In the famous words of Ronnie Colemans, the American Bodybuilder: "tài qīng le!" ("too light!") |
I’m finally ready, expecting the kids and then… nothing. They’re quite late. I welcome it because now I have a chance to catch my breath. The fitbit says my heart rate is at 82, which is high for me. After slowing my breathing, I bring it down to 67 and feel much more at peace.
Aurora is sitting in on the first class, probably all week, as part of her training. I ask questions about the gym and the strangeness I see. Is it common for guys to deadlift? The guys at my gym had been staring at me when I did it. Is it common for guys to stand around their friends taking pictures/videos? Yes, yes to both.
After class on Mondays means Mandarin lessons! We learned more about how to navigate the shopping environment and various colors. Awesome, I only know red, green, and black at this point. Apparently if something is, say, red and black, you don’t have to say “and” you can just say “red black,” or “hóng hēi.” But if there are 3 or more, you need to start using “hé” (and).
Back home, I realize that I had only edited on the weekend and not written, meaning I have to look at the notes from my phone, transcribe them, and flesh them out. This is actually the most far behind I’ve been since arriving in China. So.. I guess that's both a minor victory and failure at the same time.
And with writing that last sentence, I am finally caught up. Time to edit another post, then maybe I’ll have time to relax before falling asleep. Maybe.
Words of the Day
English - Mandarin [pronunciation]
Red
hóng
[h-oh-ng]
Green
lü
[loo; downward tone]
Black
hēi
[hey]
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