"Today rest"

(A recent picture of my team and I)

A few days ago I was buying fruit at the usual vendor outside the front gate. I am able to understand a lot more lately of what people are saying. The difficult part is coming up with an adequate response. The woman smiled expectantly at me, and declared "Jintian xiuxi!" (Word for word , this translates into "today rest.") Was this a greeting? Was this a command? Later I asked one of my friends what I was supposed to say. She said that it was indeed just a friendly greeting and I didn't really need to say anything in reply.

So I'm feeling more at home, and I can navigate the culture quite a bit better than when we first arrived last fall. I'm able to read a lot more Chinese characters, and can understand a lot more when people are speaking. Sometimes the Nanchang dialect is frustrating, though. I've been learning "standard" Mandarin, and by golly, why can't they speak that on the streets? It would make life easier. :)

And while I'm feeling more at home here, it's obvious that many people in this city can't believe that I actually live here. I'm getting a lot better at ignoring the extremely obvious stares, gaping mouths, or the constant shouts of "HELLLOOOOO!!" or "WHAT IS YOUR NAME?!" But, every once and a while, I realize that I can't every truly be at home, just because I'm not Chinese.

Yesterday, I was happily walking along a street by campus when a man, who looked like he was from the countryside, stopped dead in his tracks when he saw me coming about a mile away. This guy's jaw literally dropped to the gravelly ground, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. He didn't make the slightest movement after that. He was frozen to the spot, and he didn't move until I was inside the gate.

I wanted to laugh, considering what he was probably thinking. He was probably visiting a relative in this neighborhood, and then he spotted the first foreigner in his life--a girl who had white skin and blue eyes and big feet. And she was much taller than all the other people on the street. What a sight! He had heard that foreigners were very strange, and here was proof! And it looked like she actually lived here and knew what she was doing! What a story to tell the wife and village when he got home!

In other news, there's still not a whole lot happening. We were supposed to go visit a random, nearby mountain this weekend, but it's been canceled for unknown reasons. I'm just studying Chinese and hanging out, while trying not to think too much about going home!!