Short Note

Just a short note today. This week hasn't been the best, so I'll try not to dwell and just highlight the highs and lows.
1. I have officially been sick in China.
It shouldn't come as a surprise, your immune tends to talk a beating when you stay out till 5 am (Halloween) and share a space with ~20 people (also, Halloween). So I got to spend a day in bed and try out Chinese medicines. Not bad, all in all.

2. Midterm Time!
Again, it shouldn't have come as a surprise, but somehow it did. Today I took my writing midterm in the morning and our group gave our Changshu Agriculture presentation in the afternoon. All in all it went pretty well, especially seeing as we started preparing for it on Wednesday. Our group was even one of the two that got an award and gift card for the best presentation! I'm super excited to spend the gift card, it's for the Librairie Avant-Garde Bookshop. Once I finish writing my first (of two) midterm papers my reward will be spending it. I hear it's an amazing bookshop, so I'll be sure to post pictures (if they let me take them).

3. YMCA!
We taught the kids some food today. They were rowdier than usual, but we played some fun rounds of bingo. I discovered that the name 超级玛丽 (my name is 玛丽 mali, 超级 chaoji means "super") that the kids have been calling me means "super mario"! Also, apparently the middle schoolers are afraid of me. I'm not sure if it's my blonde hair, my tattoos, or the fact that I dressed up as Minnie Mouse last week (all three were mentioned when I was told of my scariness) but I'm currently plotting the best way to take advantage of this (something involving sneaking into their classroom and scaring them). It's strange to be scary, I don't think it's ever happened before.

And that's all for now. Weekend! Love,
Maggie