Sitting on the floor of the bus isn't as bad as it seems

Finally. Internet connection. I've been trying to use my computer at home for the past day or so but it appears that the wifi hates me. Not that I'm complaining, though. Having 1.3Gs on my phone per month compensates for this.

A minor complaint that I have about this trip is taking the 618 bus to school. I know I briefly explained my experience with it on my last post, but I'm going to go ahead and give more detail. It's not the fact that I have to wake up at 5:45 to get there on time, or that it takes one hour total to arrive at Erfuzhong, or its timely unpredictability . It's the amount of people. Almost every day, I've received involuntary hugs from completely random strangers. It's not necessarily an embrace, but rather people drape their arms around me in order to hold onto a pole to keep their balance. There's also hardly any breathable air. It's not that it smells or anything, but it's just so hot that I feel like I'm in a sweaty oven. Except like mentioned before, I'm the only one sweating. I actually feel bad for the people around me who have to be squeezed up against a gross, damp, American girl. It seems that they never experience perspiration, so it's probably more uncomfortable for them than me. Plus sides of taking the bus to school is that it only costs about 1 kuai, or less than 20 cents, per ride. And if you don't know where to get off, everyone around you is willing to help you find your stop.

On Wednesday, we took a field trip to the Temple of Confucius as well as the Lama Temple. It was the first time going on the subway, which turned out to be a much more pleasant experience than expected. It wasn't extremely crammed, like the bus to school, and it was cleaner than the New York subways that I visited during the summer of eighth grade. The temples were beautiful and loaded with color. If you're interested in seeing what it was like, check out my photography blog, which is linked in my bio. The extravagant architecture of the temples did not compare to the amount of pain in my feet that I experienced walking back to school and taking the bus home. There were no seats, which is somewhat less common on the ride home. Lizzie and I were so desperate to sit down that we decided to sit on the floor, which is the ultimate decision of shame. We didn't care, though. The relief was overwhelming.

Another aspect of this trip that has been overwhelming is the amount of homework that we have. It's mostly reading, but it's a lot of reading. It's about 20 pages out of the APES textbook and 10 pages from Chinese History a night. We also have some reading from English and fortunately, our math homework is done during class. Maybe that doesn't sound like a lot, and for some of the SYA kids, it isn't, but freshman and sophomore year at Salinas High definitely didn't prepare me for this.

I LOVE FREE PERIOD. We only get two of these per week, but it's much more than enough. Yesterday, a small group of us who had free period went out to get potstickers, and as soon as we were done, it was lunch. During lunch, I went back to school and Skyped Jackson. It was basically almost 2 hours of free time all to ourselves. I've also used that time to do homework. 

After school yesterday, Lizzie, Grace, and I decided to go out to eat. We took a taxi to an area near a university and ate noodles. We walked around the city more, and took taxis home. It took us three tries to find a taxi who would take us home, and the taxi driver who took Lizzie and I home still didn't know where exactly where to go. It was okay, though. It was a cool night (a low, only mildly humid 73 degrees) and halfway through, we ended up having to take a different taxi home.

Yesterday, we signed up for memberships at Pulsation, which turned out to only consist of one floor out of the giant building. We will be required to go to the gym a total of 50 times this year since the school is paying for our membership. I also volunteered to teach English to "retired intellectuals," as our activities director referred to it. Basically I'm going to be teaching English to a bunch of smart old people who speak Russian because they were alive during the time where Russia was still a thing and it was important to speak Russian, I guess. On top of that, I'm going to be taking a watercolor class and play a musical instrument. I'm not sure what instrument yet, but taking those two classes will fulfill my art requirement. So with going to the gym at least twice a week, music once a week, art once a week, teaching once a week, and homework, I have no idea how I'm going to manage my time. I might end up going insane. Oh well.

We all got an email on Wednesday night from SYA asking people to apply to be campus reporters photographers, and videographers, which are people who will be writing, taking pictures, and taking videos from each countries. They select 4-5 people to be reporters, and to apply, each person is required to submit a sample of their writing, photography, or videos, and why they would be best for the job. Even though the deadline is Sept. 30th, I applied that night to be photographer. It was good timing, because I had just put up all the pictures from the trip. If I get this position, it would go on my professional portfolio, which would be awesome, considering that I've wanted to be a photojournalist for awhile.

All in all, it's been a very long week. I miss home a lot, but I'm surviving. Luckily I'm with a group of 42 other kids who are stuck here. I shouldn't use the word stuck, because I know that this opportunity is once in a lifetime, but I'm still transitioning from normal weather to weather that makes me feel like I'm eternally walking through a sauna. Despite this, I'm ready to experience more.