A New Dumpling

Alright so I've discovered that continuing with my original long blog format is not going compatible with my time constraints on this program. I just don't have the time to sit down for 30-45 minutes every day or so and write a blog entry, so from now on I'm going to try to write a short entry every few days. Today I'll write about why I have so little free time, and over the next few days I'll try to catch up on the events of the last week and a half, including, but not limited to, my trip to the Great Wall, my plans to go to Shanghai, and eating jellyfish. Hopefully by the end of this post my parents will forgive me for my poor communication.

Alright so I'm basically running on 4-5 hours of sleep a night here, maybe 6 hours a day including naps. I'll quickly re-explain my schedule: classes from 8-12, an hour and a half for lunch, 50 minutes of one on one with a teacher, and then lots of work. I now also have a language tutor for two hours every week, and the longer I'm here, the more grammar and vocabulary I'm responsible for. So here is a typical day:

6:00am - wake up. This is if I've done a good job studying the night before, otherwise it's a 5am wake up.

6:00am-7:45am - review characters, shower, eat breakfast

8:00am - class

12:00pm - out of class, lunch time

1:30pm-2:20pm - one on one with a teacher

2:30pm - 3:30pm - sleep! Or do any grocery shopping / school supply shopping I may need to do.

4:00pm-5:00pm - language tutor on mondays and tuesdays, write chinese essay on wednesdays, study for test on thursdays

5:00pm-6:30pm - make flash cards, (try to) do written homework

6:30pm-7:30pm - dinner. if characters are particularly hard, eat alone and study

7:30pm-9:30pm - teacher office hours! get my written homework checked and corrected and questions answers. often my completed homework after office hours does not at all resemble my homework before the aid of my teachers.

10:00pm-1:00am - study new words. This means memorizing the meanings of 50-80 new words and phrases, their pronunciations, and their characters. Often by 12:00am my studying becomes far less productive, so I set my alarm to 5:00am and pass out.

So that's what I'm dealing with here. It is thoroughly exhausting, but again, definitely a worthwhile investment of my time. Until next time.

MS