It's a small world (世界太巧了！）

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but China is a really really small world. I live in Wudaokou, which is in the University District. While on the street one day near my house, Marin, an Allegheny grad saw me! She sent me a message on fb and we got lunch.

I've been meeting up with a fair amount of Allegheny people over here. Just last night I got dinner with Tiancheng and Shan at hotpot (Tiancheng's favorite - every time we get food, we get hot pot!). This xiabuxiabu was nice in the fact it didn't play the rip off numa numa song. At the xiabu xiabu across the street from my apartment they just changed numa numa to xiabu xiabu. It makes you want to kill someone while you are eating because they play it on loop while you're there for a hour. Tiancheng and Shan were both my housemates at Allegheny (or flat mates, you bloody brits are infiltrating my English!) and we had a grand ol' time. Basically I practiced my Chinese and they practiced their English. They also taught me a bunch of fun (i.e. slang) words and I taught them some from my extensive knowledge of colloquial English.

Phrases I have learned in the past month or so: (a lot, but good ones)
Need to: 需要 （xuyao）（ie 我妈需要发我我的医药）（my mom needs to send me my medicine）
Sleep well：一个好好休息 （or have a good rest）
Really？： 真的吗？ （zhen de ma？）
Turn it up：开小一点儿 （for music or radio － kai xiao yi dianr）
Turn it down：关小一点儿 （guan xiao yi dianr）
Can I try —————— on： 我可以试试件——吗？（wo keyi shi shi jian —— ma？）

I'm at that point where I finally integrated into China (somewhat) and I'm not really missing stuff at home right now. There are some things I miss, but I appreciate the things I'm getting here in China. Well it's more like I miss some things from home, but I'm not letting it ruin what I have here. There are advantages and drawbacks to both.

One of the most important things I've learned here is that don't feel tied down with what you are doing at home. There are so many things you can do in this world. If you are unhappy with what you are doing, change it! I knew I wanted to go to China, and there were many roadblocks in my way, but I made it here. Experience the world, you'll learn a) how small it is and b) your world at home isn't as perfect or bad as you make it out to be.

Much love from China,
Sarah