Day 108 - Scraping Off Rust

Wednesday, May 25th, 2016

Smog Level: 3/3 Mountains

Getting Back Into It

First day back, and my alarm doesn’t go off. Good start, good start. 

Luckily, I still automatically wake up and make it to school on time. It’s amazing how a week of disruption can screw routine and habits to hell sometimes.

This was just a barren patch
of dirt.. and I wonder if this is
all just overgrown weeds or
has some purpose

I really don’t want to get back into it. I don’t want to go to school, though I have no actual alternative that I do want.

I’m still in a mild daze, but for class I get what performers call “stage health” where you basically just feel fine for the performance. I missed the kids, and they missed me, so my CoTeachers told me. They did behave quite well today, making for unremarkable classes. Not bad, not bad.

Language Barrier Frustration

After work, Ayi is cleaning the apartment. It’s my turn to be back for it, so Josh is trying to communicate that he’s going to leave. She tries to speak to us, though we often have... frankly, no idea. Usually we all just sort of laugh it off. This time, after two or three attempts, she audibly says "bah!" at the situation. It seems she gets tired of it sometimes too. We both laughed at it.

After Josh left, she ended up doing the same thing to me. I think it was because she was asking about more bags to fill the emptied garbage cans with… but I don’t really know the word for bag if it’s not straight-up “bāo." Googling it now, apparently it’s “dàizi.” [die-zz]

I get all of my work done that I had planned to get done, including finally transcribing the interview I had conducted. I have been cooped up too much, and I need to get out.

A Golf Course in the City
(Shimou snapped this on her business trip to Guangzhou)

English Bubble

The past week or so, I basically stayed in my apartment and only spoke/listened to English. When you’re running a mad fever and can’t think clearly, you don’t tend to want to wrangle with another language. Given that, the rust has already started gathering. At least I can see which words were solid.

I’d been craving certain foods, so off I go to wrestle with the mandarin shadow to see if I'm capable of conveying what I want to the people who are selling them. Froyo and bubble tea it is! Which do you think is harder?

Froyo. Definitely froyo. They let you choose the size of cup, which I can do, but then you have to choose from several, unmarked toppings, all of which are behind a glass barrier. Pointing… sort of works, and my vocabulary for fruit... well, it sucks. Location of stuff is also difficult, since I don’t know the word for “row” and consistently screw up the pronunciation of the word “front.” Got “back” down, though! (hòu).

Drop by, grab some groceries for smoothies, prep said smoothies, then I’m whisked off to Westeros for a couple episodes (Game of Thrones) until I pass out.

Words of the Day

English - Mandarin [pronunciation]

Front

qían

[chee-ann]

Back/rear

hòu

[hoe]

Editing Music
In Time
The Black Keys
(Ignore the skateboarding, it's the only version I could find on youtube that was decent)