The penultimate month
I don't think it has really sunk in properly yet that I will actually be going home. This month has just been a month of normality, or at least as normal as things can be living in China.
I have caught up with some of my friends over lunch and dinner. Eating out in China is really cheap so I have been trying a lot of delicious foods. Also, every Friday lunchtime myself and few Scottish friends go out and try a new restaurant, and so far we have managed to go to a different one every time.
It felt really normal to go to the cinema, as going to the cinema is something I like doing at home. I chose an American film so that I would be able to understand the film, however, I had overlooked the fact that part of the plot of this film was that the characters could not speak to each other, so they used sign language to communicate. Of course, the subtitles were in Chinese, not in English! I had a hard time understanding the subtitles because it moved so fast, but luckily I could understand enough to understand the majority of the story.
The weather here has been so hot. Sometimes the temperature gets to 40 degrees! To me, this temperature is unbearable, and it makes our days a game of hopping between air-conditioned places and spending as little time outside as possible! Sometimes it makes me miss Scottish weather. Despite saying this, we went to Minyuan stadium after class to relax and enjoy the sun.
This month I bought a Chinese phone! I bought an Oppo phone which is a popular phone in China. You can't buy it in the UK and is very cheap compared to phones at home.
This month Ana’s friends came to visit her. I spent some time with them which was really fun and really nice to get to know them after seeing so many photos of them. We had lunch together and had a nice evening together. It was really nice to show them how we are getting on in Tianjin.
One weekend I went to St Joseph’s Cathedral on Binjiangdao, the Tianjin Water Park and we went to the top of one of the tallest buildings on Binjiangdao. I had a lovely weekend and it felt like I was on holiday even though we were in Tianjin. Sometimes it’s easy to forget how many things there are to do in Tianjin because we live here.
I also visited the Tianjin Library which is an incredibly impressive building. I couldn't believe the scale of it!
This month the University organised a trip to Hebei province to see the acrobatics. The acrobatic performances were very impressive and we had a really nice day.
The biggest thing that I have been doing this month is studying for my HSK 4 exam which was at the end of May. There were 1200 characters to learn! It took a long time to study it all but I am happy with how the exam went and now I just need to wait for my results next month. I'm also glad that it's over because now I can focus on other things!
I also booked my flight home this month. This is an incredibly scary thought as I now have a date that I know this experience will end. I am travelling at the end for about a week which will be a really nice way to end it. Some people have sent some cases home already. It feels like I should start organising some of my stuff so that at the end it's not such an enormous job to clear my room. However, I don't want to think about this room being empty!
Ailsa Brown 白艾栩(My new Chinese name!)