Well I wrote a email to my friend Celest who was over here during the summer. So I wanted to share with those anxious to here from me.(Jillena wink wink.)
My mandarin is getting pretty good but I have a lot still to learn. I went through levels. At first no one understood anything I said and I didn't understand them much either(You were still here then). Then I focused on pronouciation because my teacher in Seattle didn't really teach us how to pronouce things well. Now my pronouciation is very good. But I still work on perfecting it. From that point everyone says "your chinese is hen hao(very good)". But anyone that can say ni hao with any ability is told that. Then people started saying my mandarin is "Ting hao" and I had to ask what that meant. Ting is just a little stronger very than hen is. Later they started saying my mandarin was "hen bang". Again I had to find out what that meant. "Bang" meant more like great than good. Now they started saying that I speak "lihai". When I recently asked what that means I was told that it meant excellent.
When talking with the taxi driver on the way to church on Sunday I just told him the name of the building which is what I often do. The map is not necessary anymore. After conversing a while, he told me that I spoke really well. He then went on to tell me about all the foreigners that spoke really poorly. Then he said that there was this one foreigner that was really good. He supposedly studied in Taiwan. I asked him how long he was in Taiwan. He said between 2 and 3 years. I can only assume he was a RM from Taiwan. My mandarin really isn't as good as I hoped it would be by now.
Actually they have us spending a lot of time traveling for work. You might leave before 7 and get home after 6 and only get 4-6 hours of actual teaching. So I haven't had time to do a lot of studying. So I am looking for a different job. You remember how much our job paid. It was a little over $6. Actually you were making almost $9. But there are jobs here that pay $25/hour teaching english. So of course I am still in the same apartment. But maybe not for long.
The weather is interesting. We were still getting 70 degrees in October. But by November it barely ever got over freezing. Now it is warming up finally. I am tired of wearing long johns. It is very dry. It has snowed a few times. But it very light. It snowed on New years eve and SuperBowl Monday. Actually it snowed just this last Satuday. But only once did it stick around long.
I think I am going to stay here a long time. At least long enough to get very good at Mandarin. If I get a better job I will have more time for study and I hope to take some classes. In the interest of finishing my degree, I might study at one of the very good universities here. But first I have to really improve my Mandarin ability. I have made friends with a older couple. They have offered for me to attend Ohio State and they would let me live with them for free. So I am considering that offer. But odds are I will just stay here. I feel very inspired to be here. I guess it is something I pray about frequently so I can be inspired in case there is other options that the Lord would have me consider.
Dating here has been difficult. But I had a lot still to get over when you were here. I think there is still a bit to overcome. So I guess that I still have to consider timing. Besides there is a lack datable girls here. Most of the YSA are guys, great odds for a girl and Andrea is dragging about 10 more guys here this summer. All probably think they have some chance with her. Sister Coleman made it very clear to me that her daughter might be coming here for the summer in a hint-hint way. Honestly thats a complement to me that she would want me to consider dating her daughter even knowing my background( I told them about it).