Day 27: Dragon Boat Festival

Monday, June 2

Photo 1: Traditional scenery at ZongTongFu (Nationalist-era Presdient's House)

Photo 2:  弟弟 and I at ZongTongFu

I slept past 9:00 am today; it a true gift as we get few opportunities to sleep late on this dialogue. My host family has me sleep in a beautiful Western-style room on the second floor, while everyone else lives downstairs, so it is rather 寂寞 (lonely) sometimes. Today tough was special since it was 端午节 (Dragon Boat Festival)! Alex and Dong Lao Shi set expectations very high since it is a highly celebrated holiday around China. However, I walked downstairs to an empty home; it was oddly quiet and seemed just like a normal day. My host father heard me walk downstairs and soon greeted me "早上好." He explained that my host brother, 弟弟, had a soccer game and we should hurry to go watch him play. We ate a quick breakfast, fried flat bread filled with scrambled egg, and rushed to make sure we didn't miss his game. As usual, my host father drove like a maniac; lanes in China are more of an idea rather than an actual tool. He zoomed between cars and seized every opportunity to get further ahead if he saw an open space, no matter who was around him. Chinese drivers may be crazy, but they are definitely skilled and confident enough to be able drive in such a manner.  

Luckily, we arrived in one piece and even with all of the rushing we found my 弟弟 enjoying a nice 休息休息. Little did I know that he still had a good two hours or so left. My host father and I explored the park and played some basketball to pass the time. Still no 端午节 celebrating. After the soccer game, 弟弟 took me on a tour of China's previous President's home; it was very traditional and beautiful but just like every other attraction in China, it was filled with tourists making it tough to move and fully enjoy the experience. We stopped by 新街口 on the way to pick up my brother's new glasses but made no effort to stay and find some 端午节 activities.

Back home, it was time for another 休息; I guess since my brother goes to school from 7:30 am to 10:00 pm he needs all the rest he can get before he has to do his homework and practice piano, all after soccer practice. The parents must also have been resting since they were nowhere in sight… a very relaxing Sunday for a big holiday. I joined in on in the fun and had a rest for a few hours. My host parents woke me up and told me to get ready as we were going out to dinner. I thought to myself, finally going to celebrate the holiday! But my luck ran short as we just went out to a restaurant nearby; the food was still delicious, although I wonder if it is worth going through all of the trouble to eat the small amount of meat on crawfish. Back home, the parents went to bed and I finally asked my 弟弟why we didn't do anything special for the holiday? His reply was simple, it just wasn't that important to his family…

I got stories from classmates about their 端午节, who had some better experiences. Many students were taught how to make the traditional holiday food, 粽子，a glutinous rice bound in bamboo leaves (one of my favorite Chinese foods). Others explored various places around Nanjing like the Confucius Temple.

Overall it was a very relaxing holiday, very similar to one I would have in the US if didn't have school.  If I really want to see how the Chinese celebrate a holiday, I need to stick around for the Chinese New Year…

- Jonny

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Day 26: Fei Cheng Wu Rao

Sunday, June 1

Photos: Dialogue students pose with some of the female contestants from China's #1 dating show, Fei Cheng Wu Rao

I wish I could write a blog about yesterday, my first day with my host family. I wasn't expecting so much to happen in one day, and it was pretty fun after I got over my initial nervousness from the whole situation. But now I need to try to entertain y'all with the events of today.

I woke up sweating at 4am today in a 27-degree room. Last night Liu Shushu gave me an extra blanket because it was cold, but then I guess he shut off the air conditioning, so it got hot…yeah, I think you understand what I'm trying to say now… So I rose to use the bathroom, and outside the window I heard a cat screaming. You may be wondering if 'screaming' is the right word to describe any sound a cat can make, but I can assure you it is. I'm not sure if it got hit by a car or a poorly thrown knife and was slowly dying, or something else was going on… 

But back to my first-world problem of being a little uncomfortably hot. So I returned to the room and stealthily searched for the A/C remote in the darkness. Finding it did not solve my problems though, as it was not so simple a task as pressing the power button and adjusting the temperature. But they don't call me 俊杰 for nothing. I got that bastard on after several grueling minutes of experimental button pressing. BUT then it was stuck on 20 degrees so I got real cold real fast, and my extra blanket was failing me, and I was failing life. 

So I'm sharing a bunk bed with my 8-year-old host brother Songling. And while lying on the bottom in those early hours of the morning, I had the pleasure of listening to him react to nightmares and make some other unrelated sounds. I don't know what he does on that top bunk sometimes, even while he's awake. There are so many weird noises coming from up there. Maybe it's better if I don't know…

(Spoiler alert: I do know, and it's not as strange as I'm leading you to believe. But I'm still not going to tell you, so I guess this isn't much of a spoiler.)

A few hours later I returned to the bathroom to grace myself to the solo symphony of a suffering cat (alliteration fail). I wonder if it was screaming the entire time. Where's TNR when you need them? But who could care about that when I then shut off the air conditioning with the single push of a button! Yayyyy!

And then I wrote the blog up to this point. Yesterday Liu Shushu kept forcing me to 休息休息 (rest), and every time that happened I frantically wrote everything I could remember in my journals. I'm so on top of things, guys; don't worry. I've already technically fulfilled the word count requirement for blog entries, but I'll keep going for you, my beloved viewers (if you actually exist). Hi Tyler. Hi Bobo. 

Later in the morning, we all ate breakfast together. They said they would be celebrating Children's Day while I'm out at Fei Cheng Wu Rao. It was down-pouring quite a bit this morning, and they kindly drove me back to Nanjing University to avoid the rain. 

I met Bobo at the Xiyuan lobby and then walked over to our former class building to meet everyone. Alex got sick yesterday (condolences) and was not present this morning. He's been working too hard and his body gave out, or someone poisoned his food. But he said he had a really fun time getting an IV at the hospital, so I think I'll be getting sick soon. It seems about my time to shine (with a sweaty hot fever). Oh man…I felt so hilarious writing that, so I think that means I'm really tired (it's the end of the day now), or I am really getting sick.

During our groups long awaited reunion we talked about our first day with our host families. And after Dong Laoshi changed out of her wet clothes, leaving Luther jealously soaked in misery (and rain) at the sight of her fresh, crisp outfit, we took a bus to Jiangsu Broadcasting studio. We were joined by Teal Mingledorff and another woman who I've seen before but whose name I shamefully don't remember. 

Soon after entering the studio, a couple of the "Love Corner" girls from the show started hitting on Steven, aka 帅哥, aka red T-shirt boy, because who wouldn't? Later others in the group tried to give the girls his WeChat. In the end, he let them down 帅-ly.

We were some of the first to enter the staging area, so a lot of people went around taking pictures. I didn't take good pictures today, so I had so steal them (谢谢). Soon other audience members started coming in so we had to scramble back to claim our seats. Now…

CAN YOU FEEL IT? You know, reading that typed-out does not feel as powerful as hearing the music. I apologize for being incapable of conveying the appropriate sensation to you. But anyway, that's the music that signals a male contestant dropping down the elevator to enter the stage. First up was the Alvin look-alike. To cut to the chase, he left the stage alone. Number 13, 王小玲, studied at UCLA and rapped the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song during her introduction. That won me over, and upon hearing her Tyler immediately jumped onto the stage and tried to propose, but I stopped him, if only out of pure jealously. (I'm kind of lying right now, but inhibitions aside, that's what would have happened.) Also noteworthy was Number 24, whose name I didn't get. But she wore these Mario overalls and whenever she was talking or the focus was on her, Mario theme music played. She also downed a mug of beer during the show and sparred with one of the male contestants. Then there was a dancer guy who wore polka dot pants.  Also Ben Affleck. I couldn't take notes during the show, and my memory of the other contestants is already blurry, so that's all I have for you. 

In the audience, we all sat on little blue, plastic stools, and the taping lasted several hours without any chance to stand. We got so hot and uncomfortable. Seong had no issues to speak of, though. I wasn't as interested in paying attention to the last 1 or 2 contestants because I just wanted to get up and out of the crowd, but the show is really fun to watch in a space of physical comfort. And I'm very glad I had the opportunity to see it live. 

After the taping, we were honored with a Q&A session from the show's producers. I'm doing a terrible job with names today, but my notes from the session are otherwise impeccable. 

After the Q&A, we returned to Old Friends for a group dinner before we parted again with countless tears from all, especially Hochiang. But before those tears, Bobo, Judy, Mika, and I were the group discussion leaders this week. We kept everyone waiting while trying to solidify our plan of attack. 不好意思。

I said bye to some people and we walked opposite ways, but their way turned out to be locked in, so they came back my way. How awkward. Then I sat outside Xiyuan using Wi-Fi for a few minutes; others did the same, many waiting to get picked up by their host families. 

After I finished using Wi-Fi, I said bye to Conley and Steven and went to buy an orange juice, then started walking back to my host family. I ran into Bobo waiting for a bus. I think she was nervous about finding her way back to her host family, so I decided to put her out of her misery and pushed her in front of the next bus that came by. But in this episode of Bobo vs. bus, the bus was no match for Bobo. After that she wasn't nervous anymore so she thanked me with a hug. I'm such a nice guy, I know. (I'm kind of lying again. I hope I can maintain credibility after this.) After her bus came I continued walking home.  

I found my way back to my host family without trouble, surprisingly. They made me eat more food.  Tomorrow I will learn how to refuse food (this is future me talking, because it already happened now).

I was able to hear my darling, screaming cat a few more times, as I showered, and as I was writing this blog. Also my room smells like Petco now. I'm pretty sure it didn't yesterday, not that I'm complaining. 

Jimmy

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Day 25: Homestay Begins

Saturday, May 31

Photo 1: Me, Wang Ayi and Li Munan

Photo 2: Me and Wang Ayi in front of the City Wall

Today's the day Dong Laoshi and Alex get rid of us, as we are shipped off to our homestays for the week. I woke up a little earlier, kind of tired and diseased, but needed to do laundry since I was too busy yesterday…not doing it…meh. I bumped into a couple others as well. As I waited for my laundry to finish, I decided to use Momentum's wifi from the steps of Xiyuan one last time. By 10:30, I had finished everything I needed to do, so I went down to check out of the hotel for good. A bunch of us ended up just waiting around the lobby until it was time. A mix of nerves and excitement, we headed to the classroom building, where Dong Laoshi started introducing us to our host families.

I was met by my host mother, Wang Ayi, and host brother, Li Munan (Gareth). It was kind of interesting finally putting a face to the person I had been sending emails to for the past two weeks. Gareth and I chatted a little bit in English and Chinese, but Wang Ayi couldn't speak any English, so we ended up talking about simple things like age, which included a conversation about how young Alex was to be teaching. Dong Laoshi then proceeded with a speech about how weird us Americans can be before we dispersed.

I got onto Wang Ayi's car and she drove for a bit before stopping and letting a man take her place to drive the car to a gas station. After filling up the car, he drove a little further and left. I'm still not really sure what happened, but the man was apparently an acquaintance of theirs… Anyway, afterwards there was talk of going to Gareth's grandparents, but it didn't happen. We arrived at their apartment on the west side of Nanjing, which happened to be very beautiful and well-kept. It legitimately looked like something out of a magazine. Super impressed.

We headed out for lunch at New City Plaza, across the street, with the intent to eat at Pizza Hut…but the line was quite massive…lol. We ended up eating frogs at this restaurant, 一茶一坐, instead. We walked around for a bit in the plaza, which happened to have the second Librairie Avant-Garde in it. We headed back to the apartment to rest for a bit, which turned into a long conversation about family, allowing me to show my collection of photos as well as to see photos of their family, including Gareth's father. I'm still not sure if I'm going to meet him, because his work as a traffic police officer requires him to stay at Nanjing's border, only allowing him to return home once every couple of weeks.

The three of us took the 9 bus to Xinjiekou, where they brought me to the newest shopping mall in the area, the biggest bookstore in Nanjing, Fashion Lady, and 1912. We then hopped on another bus to the Nanjing Library, and walked to the Ming Wall. From the wall, Wang Ayi pointed out the apartment where her parents lived, the schools that Gareth went to, and the two buildings in Nanjing considered as eyesores to the natives. We had a lot of time to talk, which allowed me to learn that Wang Ayi's father was a war veteran. I also found out that Gareth actually hasn't gone to school in a year and when he did, he used to live at high school, rarely going home. It was definitely shocking to me, finally wrapping my head around the situation. It turns out that Gareth actually applied for Northeastern University and was accepted, but decided on Bard College instead. In order to take the SATs, though, he had to study on his own as well as go to Hong Kong to take the actual test.

We headed to a food court at Hunan Road for dinner, where we ate this massive bowl of spicy…something. It was great. Afterwards, we headed back to the apartment on the 56 bus. There was quite a walk back from the stop, since we got off early so that Wang Ayi could try to teach me how to take the buses back by myself. I think I'm gonna get lost anyway. Oh well. So as we were walking back, it turns out Wang Ayi got a ticket because she parked somewhere she wasn't supposed to.  She told me she didn't like driving because parking is a huge problem. After moving the car and getting back to the apartment, Wang Ayi and I watched today's episode of Feicheng Wurao, which started with a talk about waiguorens from Nanda being on the show…Tomorrow's gonna be an experience!

- Steven

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Day 24: Finals, Cooking Class Round 2

Friday, May 30

Photos: Cooking class moments

The most notable thing about today was that we all had our finals (except Judy and Hochiang, who had it the day before). We all were running on a few hours of sleep and a lot of coffee. It was so hard in that previous sentence to resist the urge to say "a latte" coffee. 

Anyways as far as my class (Intermediate 1) goes we pretty much all over-studied for the written part and under-studied for the oral. I personally studied writing for 3 hours when there ended up being 20 words that were all on our previous quizzes. 我不高兴. And in the oral part I literally forgot how to speak, not speak Chinese, just speak in general. Cao Laoshi felt pity for me though and let me restart it. I don't know what the other classes tests were like but I asked Alvin and Seong how they did and they both said "failed" so I think that explains enough. 

After the tests we ate food/napped and then we went to the cooking school for round 2. I was once again partners with Hochiang, to his dismay because his skills were nothing compared to my culinary prowess. That is laden with sarcasm, as my mom and dad (hi guys) will definitely pick up on. I was not a big fan of the cleaver we used to cut a small block of bean curd so I simply observed on that part. The next part was slicing it and I happily partook in that, my large, uneven slices definitely added a much needed element of texture to our dish. Our final dish was bean curd slices with vegetables in a pork broth and while I didn't taste any, the students had no complaints about mine and Hochiang's so it was clearly the best (Kim's group didn't add enough salt and Bobo's put in too much MSG - I didn't know there was such a thing). 

The second dish we made was an absolutely delicious eggplant one. I was really into cutting the eggplants, because they are surprisingly light, so I failed to notice that my trusty (now not so trusty) cooking partner had gone off on his own and made his own eggplant which left me to fend for myself. Luckily the cooking school students basically did all of the work on this one but I was freaking out for like 32 seconds. In the end all of our eggplant dishes were very good and it led to an interesting conversation about eggplant fights. After that we watched the students make sugared apples, which were incredibly hot and totally worth the tongue burn. The students gave us a really cute gift and the end and then we said our goodbyes. 

A group of people went to KTV (kareoke) with their fudaos (Language Partners). I did not attend but johnny got a cake from his so I'm assuming it went well. Judy, Kim and I wanted to go shopping so we went to Xin Jie Ko with Hochiang, Steven and Jimmy, specifically to Fashion Lady. We then went to some traditional Nanjing restaurant for dinner. It was a little expensive but we were able to watch Hochiang eat a half pound of crawfish by himself so it was worth it. Then we walked back to our hotel to sleep and on the way discovered the joy in scaring Kim by popping out from behind trees. 今天很好。

- Conley

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Day 23: Finals and Rock Climbing

Thursday, May 29

Photo 1: The rock wall at Nanjing Normal University

Photo 2: Late-night study session

Once again, like the day before, we woke up to China's high humidity and sweltering 35 degrees Celsius heat. Fortunately that was only outside, because inside, Tim and I kept the room at a very comfortable 16 degrees. As usual, Judy and I went to class together in the morning. Given that I'm a heritage speaker (but highly illiterate) and Judy's high level of reading and writing, the two of us were placed in the standard Nanjing University classes, alongside other international students, many of whom have been in the country for nearly a year. Our classmates included predominantly Italians, French, and Koreans. It was very interesting to learn about the culture and social norms of our classmates in addition to the lesson plan. Despite the fact that class had already been in session for a few months, I found joining the regular classes to be very rewarding in the sense that it gave me a first hand perspective of what being an international student in China may be like.

Following morning classes, we took a group portrait with the assistant dean and several faculty members.  Shortly after, well all had lunch at our hotel's restaurant.  There were quite a few dishes including a large plate of shrimp.  Most of the students didn't care for the shrimp. Perhaps it was due to them having the shell on, or most people just don't like shrimp, but whatever the case, I pretty much had the whole plate to my self, which led to eating over 30 shrimp.

After lunch, Judy and I took our final exam administered by Alex. I'm sure Judy did fine on her test, though I can't say the same about myself.  The rest of the students spent the majority of their afternoon preparing for their exams, which are to take place on Friday.  Deciding to take a break, Jimmy and Tim accompanied me to go rock climbing. Unlike in America where rock climbing has seen exponential growth in recent years, China's rock climbing is still in its infant stages.  Recreational fitness (as we know it) is generally still a foreign concept in China. This may be a result of being a developing country, where energy produced by consuming food should be used towards labor and work, instead of needlessly burning calories. Or perhaps as a result of a high vegetable diet and an obesity rate of less than 4%, most people don't find it necessary to exercise. Though if you looked carefully, you would see the occasional lycra-clad bicyclist or jogger.    

Walking back from the rock climbing gym, we noticed Alvin, Molly, Tyler and many others still studying at Skyways, a nearby German bakery.  Having already finished my exams, I decided to take a nap.  I got back up around 11PM and decided to see what everyone else was up to.  Across the hall from hall was Judy and Seong's room, and inside I found Kimberly and Conley sprawled out on the floor with papers and textbooks all around them.  I sure hope everyone does well on tomorrow's exam, especially after all the hard work they've put in.  

- Hochiang

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Day 22: Fashion Lady, Hot Pot, Massage

Wednesday, May 28

Dialog Blog (DiaBlog?)

Photo 1: Fashion Lady

Photo 2: Hot Pot lunch

Photo 3: Worrisome menu

This Wednesday morning commenced what would be another ordinary day in Nanj-… Hold on… If I've learned anything from this dialog so far, it's that there is no such thing as an "ordinary day" in Nanjing, Beijing or any other town, city or village in this country. No matter how routine our class lives try to be, I am constantly amazed by the unpredictable pleasant surprises惊喜that run that are so prevalent in this country. Below is the story of the most "normal" day possible in Nanjing, and, if you ask me, it is not all that ordinary. 

I woke up in my room next to a sleeping Alvin. Occasionally I will hear his unique 特殊 laugh ring out through the night. It's pretty disconcerting. After showering and getting ready for the day, we set out for class. We no longer had dictation quizzes 听写's in class as Tuesday was our last one. This gave everybody in the class a sigh of relief, but, with the final looming overhead, nobody could really relax just yet. 

After class began, our teachers decided to shake up the curriculum. We were learning lesson 5 from the textbook. This didn't really make any sense considering the fact that it wouldn't even be on our final. Nonetheless, we made the most of it. 包老师 (Bao Laoshi) assigned each of us a passage from the textbook to teach the class about. I think she was just tired of teaching herself, so she found a creative way to make us do her job. 很巧妙. I've never been too great at just reading the passages, let alone understanding and then explaining them. So, needless to say, when it was my turn I walked to the front of the room. Turned to the class, and, as the impromptu professor for the short time, made the class read the passage I was assigned. Two can play this game 包老师. After all, I learned from the best (包老师) who always made me read the passages that I didn't know. 不好意思. Class wrapped up in the next couple of hours and we made our way to lunch.

We went to Bird Flu Alley. Sooner or later, I believe that I will find out why they call it "Bird Flu" alley. I can only hope that it doesn't live up to its name… 担心. After a bowl of FDA approved and sanitary beef noodles and a tray of 饺子, we headed back to the hotel. We usually meet with our 辅导's Language partners at this time, but they were all busy with a graduation ceremony. We had time to study! 

To make the most of this rare study opportunity, I went with people to 新街口 XinJieKo. This section of the city is commercialized, has a ton of stores and vaguely reminds me of a Manhattan with an obvious Chinese flare.  After leaving the hotel with Alvin and Johnny we tried to hail a cab. 

Hailing a cab in this country has proven to be the most difficult aspect of this dialog. There seem to be endless cabs up and down every road, but none of them will pick you up. They have this sign on the top that lights up green when there is a passenger inside, orange when they are en route to a passenger (and thus cannot pick up others) and red when they are FREE. Red is supposed to mean that they will pick me up! As green after green after yellow after green cab speeds by, I finally spotted a red cab. As he drew closer, I saw that the cabin was empty! SUCCESS. We made eye contact, he knew I wanted him to stop and then he just sped away. I'm talking direct eye contact and no passengers, but the man just hit the gas and left! Frustrated as ever, we decided take the subway.

After finally arriving in XinJieKou, we ate iced cream at cold stone. 好吃. Then we finally met up with the others at XinJieKou who were all shopping in a very feminine part of the city called "Fashion Lady". Needless to say, I was not a fan although they did have some fabulous sunglasses 极好.

Luther，Johnny, Alvin and I soon left and ate dinner at Shabu Shabu 呷哺呷哺 Hot Pot. 很好吃. Very delicious, but some of the dishes were rather disconcerting and/or worrisome. 

A week and half earlier, Bobo, Mika, Johnny and myself all won Mystery Nanjing. That meant that we were entitled to one free, full body massage by blind masseuses. We cashed in on this today along with Luther, Jimmy and Dong Laoshi! The massage was, for the most part, amazing. At some points it just simply hurt. A lot. But it was, after all, 非常好. 9/10 would do again. 

So this was our normal day in Nanjing. I managed to write a decent amount here. Pretty surprising considering that we all have a final in a couple of days. I guess I see where my priorities are at now. All in all, China is amazing. I'm still discovering this city and I don't want to 舍不得 leave in a week and a half QQ. 

- Tyler

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Day 21: Class, Jiangsu Province Environmental Protection

Tuesday, May 27

Photo 1: Dinner

Photo 2: Free kites for the advanced class

After a long weekend in a somewhat surreal environment, returning to Nanjing was something of a shock, but it didn't take long for everyone to get back in the swing of things. Today was a fairly typical class day consisting of four hours of language classes, two hours with language partners, and an evening guest speaker. The morning started out with an odd experience at Momentum, the only place near our hotel with affordable hot coffee open before 10 am. I had run out of small bills and needed to get change for 100 yuan when I bought my morning coffee, but the cashier couldn't open the cash register. Thankfully, Rebecca, Molly, and Jonny were able to translate enough to let me know they had made me coffee anyway so I didn't have to borrow money. I'll try to pay for it tomorrow even though I know they won't accept because I felt guilty accepting the coffee without paying.

While most of the other students are in classes with other Northeastern students who are all required to participate in the language pledge, I am in an international class with students from many different countries including South Korea, Australia, Germany, and Sweden. While they are not supposed to speak to me in English, they do sometimes translate words I don't know – their class started two months before I joined and made more progress than I had in my previous class at Northeastern – and one student in particular enjoys teasing everyone. And especially me on days when I can't speak English to come up with a good retort. I had to learn some new phrases to be able to reply, so I think he's actually helping me learn.

During the language partner session today, the Intermediate and Advanced groups went to visit Nanda's hospital clinic and to fly kites respectively. As one of the two in the beginner class, I stayed behind to work with my language partner. As part of the lesson, he asked us to explain the worst illness or injury we have ever had, which involved much cell-phone dictionary consulting on our parts and surprise on his part as to why the other student couldn't remember his injury and why I was indoor rock climbing at the age of six. I think he was more shocked that my parents let me rock climb at that age than that I almost broke my back doing so.

While waiting for my dinner at my favorite Bird Flu Alley shop, I actually had a conversation with the owner, who always insists I take a chair, even when I'm only taking food to go. It was a very simple conversation that consisted mainly of her asking me simple questions, but it was the first time I managed to understand someone with a regional accent at all, which hopefully indicates progress in my Chinese. She's a very nice women who, it turns out, has a daughter a few years older than me who is currently studying at Nanda.

Tonight's guest speaker was probably the most interesting for me so far. Ms. Zhu Mei works for one of the government's water quality control offices, which is attempting to clean up Taihu Lake. As someone who has done environmental work before, I was very interested in what she had to say and received answers to several questions that I have been wondering about for some time. Many of the other students were less interested, but environmental protection is an important issue for China and it was important information for the cultural aspect of our Dialogue to learn about how China is attempting to clean up its pollution and make the environment safer for its population.

- Mika Brown

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