My Friend Tom

你们好！明天，我有口语考试。我觉得学习汉语非常难！I have my final exams this week. Completed listening today, speaking is tomorrow and comprehensive is Thursday from 8 AM -10AM. I can't wait for 10 AM on Thursday! I haven't really been that good of a student recently, what with Christmas, New Years and my birthday....studying has been low on my list of priorities. However, considering that I knew nothing but 'ni hao' (hello) when I arrived, I'm pretty pleased with the progress I have made! I only hope I have learned enough for Mom and I to survive traveling to smaller cities and villages throughout the rest of China!

Mei Xian left China to spend some time back in Korea before her next semester starts. I am lucky to have had some terrific roommates over the years. Mei Xian is one of my favorites because I was able to teach her a lot of new things such as: the Gators are awesome (she does the Gator Chomp on her own, without my asking now, just to make me smile!), that Junior Mints might just be the best candy on the planet, how to say cuss words with perfect inflection in English, how to make popcorn and peanut butter and banana sandwiches, etc. She is by far one of the happiest people I have ever met - always positive, enthusiastic and smiling. We spent our last night in our room together eating Oreos and dipping them in milk (I taught her that too!). The t-shirts we're modeling in the picture stands for 'I love Beijing (BJ)". Neither one of us are crazy about Beijing, so we thought it'd be funny to wear these t-shirts to remind us that we should love it!

I had a quiet Thursday and Friday night in my room enjoying the solitude. I have only had a room to myself about 7 nights since I left the US in June...so it was much needed downtime for my soul! Saturday, several of my classmates and I went to a fantastic Arabic restaurant. The belly dancers were hilarious. I was expecting Middle Eastern women, but no, they were slightly chubby and tattooed Chinese girls (and one Russian!). My classmate, David (English), definitely enjoyed the show (picture)!

On a sad note, Dexter was stolen on Sunday morning. I rode him to the market to buy some cereal and yogurt. I left him alone, locked up, for no more than 10 minutes. When I came back out of the market, he was gone. I hope that whomever took him will treat him well. They obviously needed him more than I did. The truth is that quite a lot gets stolen in China. Mei Xian's moped got stolen a few weeks ago, Ashley's cell phone, Jessica's camera, etc. If you do travel to China, please be mindful of your possessions!

This blog post is dedicated to my friend Tom, from England. He's just started reviewing my blog and did a Control-F search to see how many times I have written about him. He was disappointed that he hadn't been written about more! The truth is that Tom is one of the funniest Brits I've ever met. He has a passion and enthusiasm for meeting women unlike any man I've ever met. Tom is way better at Chinese than I am because he exerts most of his effort in learning pick up lines. Tom will be staying behind in Beijing to continue learning Chinese. Through family connections, he has set me up with a volunteering opportunity with tsunami orphans in Thailand. For that and his friendship, I will be eternally grateful. Is that better Tom!!? xoxo ;)

By the way, for any of you who have been watching the pollution index tracker I put on my blog, it's been relatively low (less than 100) for the last few weeks, which is acceptable air quality. For the last few days, it's been really bad here...dangerous to be outdoors for long periods of time. When I am outside, my eyes sting and I can feel it in my throat. I can't wait to breathe healthy air again!