In Tianjin!

To my faithful followers, ( 1 or 2 of you out there ), I apologize for not having been blogging for the past weeks. I've been battling a cold that's been going on for about two weeks now. Just when I think it's better, I start sneezing again like a wild hyena, and eyes just start leaking with tears like a waterfall. Not sure if it's cause of the weather, or if it's just my body. But either way, each day has been a battle for me. After a 5 hour train ride from Wuhan last week Wednesday morning ( july 18 ), we finally arrived in Wuxi Wednesday afternoon. After a while, cities in China start to look very similar. Nothing really special about this city to be honest. Maybe less cars, but the weather is just as hot here as it is in Wuhan. I am starting to really, really, miss home. The room I’m staying in is definitely a downgrade from the last two places I’ve stayed at. Truth be told, if I were to leave China right now, I’d be completely fine with it. Hopefully when I start learning Chinese in Tianjin things will be much better. I’m really looking forward to just being a student again instead of having to teach all the time. We ended up with only 8-10 students. Somehow the school did not prepare well in advance for our arrival, and therefore student recruitment was a big disappointment. But we ended up having a great session, meeting many different students, who appreciated our time there. We gave a total of 4 lectures on Python, and the rest of the time was spent sharing MIT and American life, exploring Wuxi ( lots of lakes! ), and going to our contact's company to present on interviewing and hometown life. After Wuxi I flew down to Shenzhen to vist friends and family. Yesterday ( July 28 ), I went down to ZhongShan, the hometown of my parents. The last time I went there I was 3 years old. It was so surreal, walking around the neighborhood that my parents grew up in. I wish they were there with me, sharing me some stories, but my uncle did his best to tell me about my mom and her life while growing up. I definitely conjured up this feeling inside that is somewhat difficult to describe. All I can say is that I've definitely found a new found gratefulness for all the sacrifices and hard work my parents have done in order to get where they are today, and raising all up me and my sister so well. This afternoon I arrived in Tianjin, where for the next 3 weeks I will undergo intensive Mandarin lessons. Each day, Mon-Fri, 4 hours of 1 on 1 lessons. I will go at my own pace, but I plan to make a huge dent and impact on my skill level. This is what I've ultimately wanted to do since coming to China ( in addition to spiritual awakening ), and although it's somewhat lonely now that my two travel mates have gone back home, I'm trying to not lose motivation and just remind myself why I came here in the first place. That's all for now. I met this wonderful woman Ann, who's used to be the coordinator of this Chinese program. Before joining the company, she was actually a veteranirian for 25 years before relocating to Tianjin, and has since lived here for 10 years. We got to grab dinner together this afternoon, and hearing about her journeys was definitely exciting. And her Mandarin speaking abilities definitely puts mine to shame. First class at 8 tomorrow morning. Nice to be the student for a change!