Not much to say

Friday is nearly over. It was filled with a lot of different activities, but I'm still not that tired. I woke up like usual and went over to new campus to teach one class. It was my challenging class. At one point a girl asked, "Miss Laura, please speak louder." I said, "Okay, I will speak louder if you do not talk while I'm talking. You can't hear me when you are talking." It was a very novel idea and made perfect sense.

Then I sat in the office a while and wasn't very productive. I just wrote letters, stood by the window, and danced a little. (I was the only one in the office, by the way). At noon, we drove back to the old campus. Joelle, Shannon, and I ate at our favorite little restaurant. Then we wandered over to the supermarket, dodging traffic the whole way.

At 2:45, we had our Chinese lessons in the classroom. Jodi and I walked over to the classroom building. Along the way we passed a big class of Chinese students in work out uniforms stretching. The instructor faced them, telling them to touch their toes. None of the students could touch their toes, nor could the instructor. I was feeling a little brave and I went over and touched my toes in front of them. They all gasped in amazement and I walked away. It was pretty fun.

Chinese lessons lasted forever--about 2 hours, but I made myself stay alert. Then we went to English corner for an hour, until 5:30. Today they gave me a Chinese name. It is Ou Yang Qian, meaning beautiful or fair lady. I'm sure it's the most overused and cliche name in China, but that was nice of them to give it to me. It only took them about 20 minutes to decide on the "perfect" name.

Then for dinner Rachael, Jonathan, and I went with the FAO assistant, whom I'll call "Sarah." She is about our age. It was fun eating and chatting with her. Then I went to an internet cafe with her. The place wouldn't give me my own computer so I shared with her. I showed her facebook and pictures of my beautiful sister. It was a lot of time and I'm glad I'm getting to know her better and build a relationship.

Well, it's time to go to sleep. And I just wanted to say, I had no idea that the American economy was in shambles. Is that true? I started to realize it a few days ago when Chinese students were peppering me with questions about it. They thought it was serious, so it must be. It's good to know that He's in control.