My Summer Vacation

My summer vacation can be summed up into one post. Which is one of the reasons I haven't posted about my summer at all yet. The reason is mostly because my life just isn't as interesting as it was when I first got here last August when everything was new and exciting. That being said, I can easily say that this has been one of the happiest and best summers of my life thus far.... in going with the theme that this has easily been the best and happiest year of my life. So this summer, when I'm not sleeping or eating, I'm:

1. Teaching English- this takes up most of my time, mostly because I have to prepare lesson plans and commute on the bus to each place and it takes up a good part of my day. I'm teaching government officials who are preparing for the Youth Olympics in 2014, a class of 6 year-old kids at a day camp, and a 14 year-old girl, three 35 year-olds, four 10 year-olds and four 9 year olds at their respective homes. Usually I just look up some lesson plans on the ESL internet websites, print them out, and then teach them. The worst thing is the classes are so long, all of them are at least a straight 2 hours and some of them are up to 4 hours.

2. Studying Chinese- I try to study for 2 hours a day... usually I just end up reading fashion magazines or watch TV and call it a day, but I also study from my textbook and short stories.

3. Going out with my friends- Especially now that I'm leaving so soon, I've been hanging out with my friends a lot, usually either cooking together, getting a cup of coffee or going out to eat together. Also, I have one word for you: Tequila.

4. Exercising- I usually go running around campus or on the track around the soccer field a couple times a week, and I go to Kung fu class around twice a week. Kungfu is particularly entertaining because not only am I the only white person, but I'm also the only female. It's pretty funny when newcomers join the class because they spend the first 15 minutes staring at me and saying things like, "Do you think she can speak Chinese? I wonder if she's Russian. Is she strong? You should say Hello. But I don't want to say Hello." ect, ect, ect. until they hear me talking to someone in Chinese and then they stop talking about me so blatantly and obviously.

5. Applying for stuff for my future. Since I get asked the question "What are you doing with your life slash what are you going to do with your Chinese?" about twenty times a day, I will post my current future plans here.

-Fulbright Grant (if I get it, I can come back to Nanjing University and do research for 1 year)
-Johns Hopkins University at Nanjing University (where I would get a Master's Degree in International Relations)
-Flagship program at Ohio State University (where I would get a Master's Degree in Chinese Language and Literature；be a graduate student at Ohio State University for a year and at Nanjing University for one year)

For the Fall 2010 Semester applying for internships at:
-The United States Peace Institute
-The Hudson Institute
- U.S.-China Policy Foundation

That's about it.......... any questions?????