Week 1 Highlights

大家好! I've been slow on posts!! No new pictures today, sorry, but here's the week's update:

One of my best experiences in Tianjin so far was walking through the marketplace the other day with a few of the other students. I saw a huge building with fresh fruits, veggies, fish, grains, clothing, etc. like no market I've ever seen in the U.S. Then we stopped in a random restaurant and they ended up being so friendly! Me and another student, Rowland, had the most Chinese-speaking-experience of the group so we figured out how and what to order...some shop owners are not very patient with this but these ones were. Everything was delicious and we drank some Chinese beer too, "Tsingtao". It was an all-around great day.

I have had some really rewarding language experiences already! There is a swim shop around the corner from our hotel, and so far I have gone there with 3 separate groups of students on 3 different days to help them buy goggles/suits/swim caps. The shop owner's Chinese is relatively easy to understand (compared to a lot of people here) and he loves me for bringing him business haha. We've also had a lot of trouble getting student passes to the university pool here, but in the process I've gotten a lot of practice speaking to the lifeguards! When we talk to people here, they always want to know where we're from, how long we've studied Chinese, when we'll graduate, things like that. I also learned that the lifeguard's younger sister is in Michigan right now! He thought it was cool that I knew where that was.

Alright, that is all for now...I have a lot of homework to do so I can enjoy my weekend! Have fun in America everybody!!!