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Hello Friends!

Hello Beautiful Readers,

I hope everyone all around the world reading this today is having a great day. The sun has finally begun to shine over Shanghai, and I’ve been spending a lot less time wearing my giant wool pea coat (that I hate, simply because my wearing it would have to imply the presence of unfavorable weather).

Today’s topic is not poop, for once. In fact, it is something that has been revealing itself to me, little by little, during my stay here in Shanghai. Today’s topic is sexism.

Friends, Family, Beautiful People of the World, Hello!

I know its been a while, and I am a dirty, terrible liar for telling you that I would be posting bi-weekly. Life…you know…it happens. Since we’ve last spoken, I have started my class (most advanced in the program!) and have been diligently glued to my notebooks and electronic dictionary. The weather has been slowly improving, and I finally saw the sun this week after about 2 months of bitter rain and cold-induced depression. Alas, I hope you can forgive me for not being around!

Hey Everyone!

Just wanted to let you know that I’ve been doing a little playing around with the features of this blog, and I’ve added a “pictures” page, accessible from the top of the screen, where I’ve put up pictures from my journeys around China. Each picture has a caption, the name of the place in which the photo was taken, and the date on which it was taken. All of the pictures are mine, and belong to me, so no copyright infringements here. I will be updating this page as I continue my stay in China, so keep a sharp eye out!

Namaste,

Hallie

Happy New Year to everyone! January 23rd was the official Chinese New Year, and though the Year of the Rabbit left us feeling warm and fuzzy (I had to), the New Year of the Dragon has quite an exciting ring to it.

-Chinese Lessons!-

新 – xīn – new, newly

年 – nián – year

快乐 – kuàilè – happy, happiness

新 ＋ 年 ＋ 快乐 ＝ New Year Happy! Or, uh, Happy New Year!

Hello Everyone!

Do I still have any readers? If not, its completely my fault. A friend recently gave me some advice on blogging. He said something along the lines of, “Really, the only means of writing a successful blog is any form of consistency – people don’t want to feel abandoned by a blogger they’ve given a chance.” This not only made me feel really bad for abandoning you, my few but powerful readers, but also inspired me to do a better job of posting more frequently. Don’t give up on me just yet; I have much more to say.

Hey again everyone,

Hello Lovely Friends and Family,

It has been a busy month. Sorry that it has been awhile!  In any case, it dawned on me that I’ve been keeping this blog for a few months now and have still neglected to mention anything much about the entire reason for my coming to Shanghai in the first place – school!

-Chinese Lessons!-

上 – shàng – upper part, go up, go to, make an entrance, fill, serve, apply, reach, on, in, begin

课 – kè  – subject, class, lesson

上 ＋ 课 ＝ Go to class / Start class!  I say this a lot, but Chinese is seriously cool.

Hello Friends!!

So, last Saturday (October 1st) was the 62nd anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, or National Day. Woo! Exciting!! There were parades and banners and all sorts of fun activities, but in the spirit of honesty, I missed it all. Yeah….I slept a lot that day. But! I did see some cool parades on my Chinese television, heard many fireworks being shot off from inside my room, and saw many celebratory banners around campus. Wow, typing it out really makes me feel pathetic about my lack in participation that day. I am sorry to disappoint!