“The source of anxiety lies in the future. If you can keep the future out of mind, you can forget your worries.” Milan Kundera

Qin, me, Jeesun; 3 Judges with official badges

Last weekend, I was a judge at an English competition. There were 6 judges. We would take turns asking questions. Each competitor would get one question. My first question…MEH. I realized that she couldn’t understand me and then I made it into mumbo jumbo. I just couldn’t articulate my question. Another time, the speech was so short, I went completely blank. Jeesun saved me and asked a question. Afterwards, she told me she wished she could have taken a picture of my face. I believe it was of pure panic. Near the end, we were all checked out. Most popular topics include “I love China, my motherland” for high school students and “Protect the Environment” for the elementary school students. The elementary students were adorable! They did hand motions (which, btw, I LOVE!).

Hard at work

On Monday, I was going to go out to eat with my counterpart. Unfortunately, she wasn’t feeling well. I decided just to eat pineapple and a croissant for dinner. I went off campus for the pineapple. (They cut pieces of pineapple and put it on a stick. It’s truly fabulous.) I got 2 pieces of pineapple (it’s fruit!!), and was holding a stick of pineapple in each hand. I saw several students, and one student said “Ms. Katie, [disapproving look] you eat too much!” I said thank you. I couldn’t say what I wanted to say. Mali was a good warm up for self acceptance.

Reason #325 I’m glad I decided to extend in China: I showed ET to my freshman students. It was a HIT! How could you not like ET? (Minus the one guy in my class today…but he didn’t even go to the lecture…he just HEARD that ET was ugly so he doesn’t like ET).

I’m going to visit Emma this weekend! I’ve been real slack in China visiting other PCVs.

I’ve been feeling quite sad and overwhelmed (how long has it been since I’ve seen sunshine?!), but it’s getting better. I have a new post PC plan. Yes, they change every week, but I really like this one so maybe this plan will last longer (especially if I start to buy airplane tickets!).

New Post PC Plan:
August: visit Tibet, go down south to visit Becca
September: fly to Malaysia, spend a week in Malaysia and then off to the Philippines
October: visit Beijing and South Korea w/the ‘rents
October 17: visit Amy J. in Japan
MidNovember: South Carolina, begin job hunting