Today was a pretty good day, though I had a very boring evening. I woke up at 8AM, went to my classroom early to finish studying for my tingxie, had Chinese class that consisted of tingxie, learning the new vocab, doing the textbook exercises, and watching part of a movie about food. Then everybody gathered for our final closing meeting. We went over the schedule for the week in terms of classes and field trips, learned our departure procedures, and said good-bye to Zhang Laoshi who has to go home early for business relating to his new tenured position at his university. It is sad to see him go, but he has been an amazing leader for our trip and I'm glad to have known him.
I had lunch with some friends in the cafeteria I ate in with my language partner during the first week of the program. I had some vegetarian dishes, a carrot and potato dish and eggplant, and it was tasty, but there was a lot of gloopy sauce that I didn't want to eat. After lunch, I went back to the dorm to have a break before TCM, and then went back to Building 3 for my class.
Our lecture today was on the integration of TCM and Western Medicine (WM). Our professor was the same guy who talked to us about herbal medicine, and I really like him. He's smart, thoughtful, organized, and has the deepest voice I have ever heard. The first half of class consisted of him lecturing on the history of integration, movements for and against integration, and the successes of integrated therapies. After our break, he brought us into a discussion of why integrated therapy is good or not, and we were able to voice our opinions in class. It was a very productive last lecture.
After class, I made a trip to the store to buy my breakfast food for the rest of this week, then I brought my things home and got to work on e-mail and learning my characters for tomorrow's tingxie. I also tried to set up our TV so I could watch some of the Olympics, and I got it to work, but I didn't enjoy broadcasting the ping pong match with Chinese narration because I didn't understand what the commentators were saying. I really love the Olympics, but I will have to get the videos as a replay after it ends because I just can't figure out how to watch the things I want to see in a language I understand. Still, Jake Herbert for gold in men's wrestling on Saturday!
I had a simple dinner in the building 5 cafe, then came home for a quiet night of studying and video watching. I had initially planned on having dinner with people, but then the plans fell through, so I was alone tonight. I have plans for the rest of the week, so it's fine, but I'm kind of getting tired of spending time alone. I've also realized that it's August, which means I'm de facto participating in BEDA (Blog Every Day in August) since I'll have 12 posts anyway, so I might as well finish out the month or something. Maybe; I've kind of blogged every day all summer, so maybe being home will be a break from writing online. It's just interesting to be doing the thing that I've watched people do.
Today is awesome because TCM lectures wrapped on a high note.
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