Class is getting much harder. It’s going a lot faster than the beginning and we’re learning 30+ words per day. It’s hard because there so many words to memorize, plus I’m trying to learn extra words from my writing book. And then I try to review all the words from the past lessons…so as of today I should be reviewing about 240 words. And then the TONES, oh goodness, the tones are killing me. Not only do I have to remember the word, but I have to remember how it SOUNDS too, otherwise it’s meaning is completely changed. In all the other languages I’ve learned, the tones aren’t imperative to the word’s meaning, so it’s okay if I pronounce it wrong. But it’s different for Chinese. It’s killing me. And, some words have the exact same pronunciation, but different Chinese characters. And some have the exact same pronunciation and exact same character, but the meaning differs depending on context. Yeah. Not so easy. Anyways, the words we’re learning are starting to get harder, and the dialogues are a lot more complex, so it’s getting hard to keep up. Some people were complaining about the class being too fast because 30 words per day is too hard to memorize, so the teachers have decided to split up the classes. In level 1 (the beginner’s level), there are 2 classes of about 12-15 people each. Originally they were just split randomly, but now they’re going to split us up based on the speed we want to learn it. One class will do one lesson per day (which is what we’re doing now) and one class will go slower and do one lesson for 2 days. I’m going to stick with one lesson per day, but I know it’ll be hard. I figure I’m in China though, so I should push myself to do the harder level so that I can get better while I’m here. Hopefully it’ll pay off. 我学习很紧张.
The rest of my day was devoted to studying, but I didn’t really study as much as I should have because I’m getting so sick of China. I just want to go home now. I don’t want to hear another Chinese word or eat anymore Chinese food or spend another minute in China. I think I’ve reached the point where I’m just so sick of everything Chinese, I don’t even want to go outside. I just want to go home and go to Disneyland with my sister and ride Buzz Lightyear AstroBlasters, go shopping at Costco with my mommy and daddy and eat all the free samples and call it “lunch”, chase Yuki around the house until he gets tired and lets me catch him, go skateboarding with Wesley on the top floor of a parking structure, play tennis with Zoe on crappy, trash-ridden UCSD tennis courts, sing my heart out to Disney songs while driving Melvin down the highway at 80mph (NOT KILOMETERS), eat a breakfast burrito at OVT with Anna and/or Brennan while people-watching, wear a sweatshirt with jeans EVERY DAY, play some Rock Band and Resident Evil 5 for days on end without bathroom breaks, or watch some mindless American cartoons until my brain oozes out of my ears. BUT alas, reality sets in, and I’m still in China. I still have a pile of flashcards on my bed to memorize, a textbook of Chinese lessons to finish learning, and an iPod full of Chinese lessons to listen to. 16 more days.
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