Every day is just back and forth, back and forth.
The weather is crazy. My energy levels are crazy. My level of motivation is also crazy.
Oh well.
I did, however, manage to make myself get out of the house and I got a haircut! It's cute and super short and basically exactly like it was last time I got it cut.
I don't think I have ever had the same haircut twice.
Yesterday I went to lunch with Allen, a friend I met through Megan while she was still here. I probably haven't seen Allen since Megan left. We talk now and then online and have planned to hang out a few times but things seem to fall through often, for whatever reason.
But our Wednesday lunch worked out just fine. We spoke entirely in English although I probably should have been speaking Chinese to him so I can practice. I know it's dumb of me not to take advantage of it, but since I only spoke Chinese to him when I met him because I was only barely learning, it felt a little weird.
Either way, when we were leaving he asked me to say something in Chinese so I spouted off a couple of the typical sentences:
Wo jiao Jimmie. (I'm called Jimmie.)
Wo shr Meiguoren. (I am American.)
Wo shr laoshr. (I'm a teacher.)
Wo jiao Yingwen. (I teach English.)
Allen got this look of shock on his face and exclaimed that my Chinese is better than Megan's. The thing is, it's not. At least Megan was confident enough to actually use her Chinese.
I'll work up the courage now and then and have a decent experience with it, but every now and then I get flustered, tongue tied, confused and, subsequently, embarrassed.
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Ya, the trick is to get over the fear of speaking. Ya, there will be people that will play dumb and not 'understand' you, regardless of how perfect your tones are. There are people who will laugh and make fun of your pronunciation. These people are usually your students. You fix that by laughing at them and then telling them their brain is broken/missing or that they are elephant poopoo (all in Chinese) and then laughing at their English later ;).
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