thewolvesofnibu

maniacskatergrl @ 12:51pm: New Year (新年快乐）
New Year's resolution: to post more often instead of massive blocks of text because that's too difficult to read. Already I'm behind because it has been 5 days into the new year and I haven't posted anything. A good point, as one of my friends who is also studying in China says, there's so much happening everyday there's at least one good story.

Today, I got the swine flu shot. Ow. I can't remember my other flu shots hurting this much. I got it for $18 at Walgreen's. I don't know why, but I don't really trust China's H1N1 vaccines. Anyway, the woman giving me the shot informed me that the vaccine does not go into affect until 2 weeks after the injection and advised me to stay away from large crowds. Unfortunately I'm going to China which is the biggest crowd in the world.

Leaving on Thursday, eek! Not looking forward to the 12 hour plane ride, but getting excited for China!!

maniacskatergrl @ 8:08pm: Retrospective
After being home for over two weeks and with only about a week and half before I return, I think this would be a good time to write again.

It's been amazing being home. I really missed my family and I'm glad I got to see them again. Also everything in American seems so much easier than China. I didn't realize how hard it was til I got back here. But I am so psyched to go back! I can't wait to explore more and learn more Chinese. Get down and dirty with the locals trying to navigate my way around Beijing.

For my next semester's research project, I am studying the Yi minority who are known for their dragon dance. I am in a group of 5 researching this group so we'll see how this goes. We will be traveling down to Yunnan which is touching Burma and has a plethora of flora and fauna, as well as many ethnic minorities which gives it a rich diversity in more than one respect. Also, we will be going down to Sichuan exploring their spicy food and seeing the panda reservation. Separate from these educational trips, I also want to go north to Harbin where every year they make beautiful sculptures out of ice and lights. Also, there is a tiger reservation where you can feed them meat. I am so excited.

And lastly, gracias a dios that this year is over!!!! So happy new year everyone, and let's all hope that 2010 is a little easier on us all.