Brief Update

I know I haven't update in a while, so for whoever reads this, a brief synopsis of what's up:

The last month has brought a LOT of change....good change, but I have been incredibly busy. Schedule changes were part of all this change. Suffice it to say, I have a 9-5....except in China it is more like an 8-7. I am busy, but really enjoying it and finding that I have a lot of sweet opportunities and relationships as a result.

Other things that people want updates on:

-my Mongolian learning has slowed down, but Mandarin is still progressing well. I still have weekly Chinese lessons and of course, at work I communicate with coworkers and clients in Mandarin a lot of times. Always mindful of how much further I have to go with language learning, but it is a really good opportunity to practice.

-I have a studio apartment, a dog, and life feels way too grown-up for me sometimes. Yes, I realize I am almost a quarter-century old, but I still feel like a wide-eyed teenager some days.

Things that I have done that felt old this week:

-bought an oven (and was extremely excited about it)

-got a VIP card for buying dog food (woohoo! haha). You can get VIP cards for anything here.

-got flowers from a boy

-kissed that boy on the cheek (just to clarify, in the context that was entirely appropriate, but it still felt like an old lady/European thing to do)

Other things....cute barista.

Well, shockingly,......we have a fairly normal relationship now. He taught a friend and I to play mahjong the other night. While he started by dramatically declaring that it was too hard a task to teach a foreigner mahjong, he changed his tune and was impressed that we were able to catch on (and subsequently beat him).

Overall, life is busy...but good. I don't have a lot of downtime, but the bit that I do have is sweet and fruitful. I'm enjoying my life here in China and thankful for all God's blessings in my current stage of life. 天天快乐！

Awkward

Ok, I'll admit it...occasionally when I'm having a conversation in Mandarin I nod even if I don't completely understand what the person is saying. If I have no idea what they're talking about I usually tell them, but if I feel like I have a vague idea I just try to ride the wave of conversation....occasionally this causes some awkward fails though...enter recipe for disaster:

-me, having worked from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and exhausted/a bit stressed and distracted and having just taught an English Corner on politics and the American legislative system (hard enough to teach to Americans!)

-cute barista, who looks so cute that I have a mini panic-attack every time he opens his mouth...

Setting: nighttime in the coffee shop after English Corner

I am going to pay for my dinner. Usual exchange of pleasantries and payment, and I turn to walk away.

"Julie!" He calls after me. "I want to ask you..."

I walk back over. "Erm..." he looks slightly awkward and then proceeds to ask me about something. "Do you know...*something*" Now for whatever reason I cannot understand him very well (he speaks a sort of locally-influenced version of Mandarin anyway). However, I think that I have the jist of what he is saying. I answer what I think he is asking. I say, "I have a friend who should know." He says something else. I pull out another conversational trick, which is to ask "Why?" As in, "why do you ask?" Well, that failed because whatever he was saying, when I said that (with my best attempt at a cute grin) he turned red, grinned, and said, "No reason, I just feel that they're better to look at than the Chinese ones. Nevermind." At this point I was totally lost. I thought we were talking about cell phones, I really did. It occured to me later that I have no idea why he would ask me about cell phones. Fail. It turned out later that he was talking about design. sheji. not shouji. Listening fail. I still have no idea why he was asking me about design. But whatever. I salvaged the conversation by inviting him to eat Mexican food.