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Well, it's been pretty eventful since I got back.
First off I confirmed that I am in fact allergic to cats. I was feeling alright when I arrived, not on allergy medicine, and then I went home to five cats and slept and have been pretty miserable ever since. I even took allergy medicine beforehand! I bought some stronger meds with a decongestant so hopefully that does the trick. If not, I'm going to consider the possibility I might be sick.. again.
The day after I arrived my mom had her christmas party which was fun. It was nice to see mom's old work friends that I've now known for, like, 10+ years. The dinner was pretty awesome. I woke up that morning at 6 after going to bed at midnight but then went back to bed at 9 and didn't wake until noon. Then I took a nap after dinner and woke up around 6. My days are really days yet, they're just periods of sleep and awake. It's 2am right now and I just woke up at 11:30pm... I'm really doing the opposite of improving (I'd say the word but I can't think of it).
Then today I finally turned in my computer to be fixed. For those of you who don't know my computer was having trouble starting up and didn't like this one particular update. So after turning it in I found out it's going to need a new hard drive which means bye bye to basically everything that isn't on my old computer or the few videos and school assignments I was able to save on my flash drive before taking it in. Thankfully there's facebook but there were a number of pictures people had asked me not to put on facebook so I didn't and now those are all gone. Oh well, nothing I can do now.
I was able to see my good friend Laura today! It was so nice to see a friend after so long. We're going to see a movie tomorrow night in Atlanta. Then at some point I need to make it down to see my friends' children and give them the gifts I got from China.
I really need to start wrapping my gifts for everyone. I think I'll start doing that tomorrow night when I'm awake when I shouldn't be.
Hope everyone who's made their way back from China (I think everyone has now) is adjusting well and is happy to be back with family and friends :)

Last Full Day in China

Today will be my last full day in China. My plane takes off tomorrow around 5pm. Also, tomorrow will literally be the longest day of my life. I leave Beijing around 5pm, go back in time and arrive in Chicago around 4pm, then I have a three hour wait until my plane to Atlanta leaves around 7pm and then I finally arrive in Atlanta around 10pm. Saturday will last.. well, I'm not sure- my itinerary doesn't say how long my first flight last but it's going to be a long time! I suppose, even on a plane, having a super long Saturday is a good thing.

Anyway, so after I took my final we had our graduation ceremony. Our teachers were there and some people received prizes for, like, best picture, funniest picture, most improved student, etc. It was really nice. We also received a free T-shirt! Well, I'm sure we paid for it somewhere but it felt free! Afterward a bunch of us took pictures and then we left. I decided it would be best to take pictures of what's going on out here so we can do a comparison when I arrive in the US.

However, I become totally badass. This is what I wore in the snow.

Didn't slip or trip once.

Peking Duck in Beijing

First I'd like to say that this blog has gotten more views than my other which has been up since February of this year while this blog started in September. I'm pretty stoked and it clearly shows how much content matters.

Anyway, so our group had decided we really needed to have Peking Duck before we left. (For those of you who don't know, Beijing used to be called "Peking" but changed with the change in pronunciation.) So one night most of got together and walked in the cold for about 15 minutes to this little restaurant to eat three ducks. That's it, we just had three ducks and some tea. Kate tried to get rid of the third duck when she realized not as many people were coming as she thought but apparently they start cooking the duck before you arrive so it was too late. Because they cook before you arrive, it's also very important that you arrive on time for your reservation. By the way, if the reservation part didn't tip you off, Peking duck is pretty expensive.
So we sat down and ordered some tea while we waited for our duck and what they do is a man in a chef's hat actually comes out with the duck on a cart and cuts the duck into tiny slices for the table.

I didn't realize I had my camera on paint mode but it looks cooler this way anyway

Each duck is two plates of slices. Then they also place some steamed pancakes on the table. Apparently, you eat the dish like a burrito with some celery (or other vegetable- I wasn't exactly sure what it was) with some sauce that some compared to Korean BBQ sauce ironically. You put that on the burrito pancake and wrap it up and bam! It was pretty delicious but I wasn't in love with it. I did get a pretty nice shot though, if I do say so myself.

Again, paint mode

We even managed to finish all three ducks so it was a very successful venture!

The Beginning of the End

Today I have my exam in Contemporary China and I totally didn't study enough. I mean, I might have but I won't know for sure until I'm in the class because we've never had a test in the class so I really don't know what to expect. We do have the questions so I can go over but I don't know which questions he's going to choose.
Anyway, after this I have a paper due Sunday that has to be twenty pages and then I have to present and then I have another paper I have to also present on and then I have my Chinese final.
This really is the beginning of the end for my procrastinating, anxious, terrible student self.