April 13-22

I woke up late on Monday, April 13th, and went to my Government class. After class, I returned home and worked on my Economy essay.


On April 14th, I went to Chinese class, met with and talked to a new friend on campus for a couple of hours, mailed some post cards, and went to my Economy class in the late afternoon.


On April 15th, I went to my Culture class, but left a little early to work on my Economy essay.


On April 16th, I went to Chinese class, bought a cake for Marit's birthday, and sunbathed on my roof with Emma. Emma and I picked up the cake and later Gloria, Christie, Kevin, Emma and I surprised Marit with the cake. Later, a group of us went to Pete's Tex Mex for Marit's birthday dinner.


On April 17th, I went to Chinese class, returned home to nap, ate with Gloria, Emma and Kevin at the rice restaurant around the corner, and then returned to Emma's apartment to watch a movie.


On April 18th, I went to my internship at 4 p.m. to ask the students some questions about their education. Later that evening, I met up with Kevin, Emma, Gloria, and Christie to walk to James' (Marit's boyfriend) place for Marit's birthday party. James and his friends barbecued sausages and burgers and all of us talked and hung out. I returned with Emma to our apartments around 2 a.m..


On April 19th, I woke up at 12:30 p.m., got some food, and started my essay for government class. I ate with Gloria and Kevin at a nearby restaurant and returned home to keep working.


On April 20th, I woke up at 10 a.m. and got ready for class. I went to my government class . I then went to try to buy train tickets to Xian, but couldn't buy them yet because they weren't selling them yet. I went home to nap and finished my government essay once I woke up. Marit and I got take out for dinner and then watched Hancock.

On April 21st, I woke up at 10 a.m. and realized I overslept. I didn't get to my Chinese class until about 11 a.m., leaving me with an hour left of class. I ate lunch on Tibetan street with Gloria, Kevin and Emma. I returned home, packed for my trip to Xian, and surfed the internet until I went to bed.

On April 22nd, I woke up at 11 a.m., wrote my assignment for my Culture class, bought some snacks, and went to my class. My class was about AIDS in China, which the Chinese government tries to cover up. Our professor told us about the way it is transferred in China. Of course, it is spread in the same way as in other countries: unsafe sex, dirty needles, and mother to child. However, it is also spread in a unique way I had never heard of. In order for peasants to get extra much needed money, they would go to the blood bank to donate their plasma. The nurses and doctors would take out the plasma from the donated blood, put the remaining blood from all the patients into one bin, and reinject the blood into the patients. Naturally, once the blood was mixed together in the bin, it would all become contaminated with AIDS. I asked my professor why they even reinjected the blood into the donors and he told me it seemed like a good deal for the peasants, who were unaware that the blood was infected with AIDS. To the peasants it appeared as though they were being paid for donating their plasma and would still be getting their blood back (unfortunately with AIDS). Our professor told us about a story that was in the newspaper about a father who donated his blood hundreds, if not thousands, of times in order to pay for his son's college fees. He was infected with AIDS because of this. One day, he went to visit his son at college only to find out that he was failing his classes, was kicked out of school, and was using his father's money to party with his friends. Fortunately, China seems to be tying to put a stop to the AIDS problem. They have closed down some of the blood banks, have made blood donating (in some areas) volunteer based, and stopped mixing the blood together. Anyways, after class, Mabel and I went downtown to Starbucks, ate chaoshi (kind of like dumplings) at a Chinese medicine restaurant, and then to the Supermarket to buy spices for me to bring back home. We returned to my apartment with Ajian, who installed QQ (a Chinese messaging website) for me to speak and practice my Chinese. I also finished packing for my trip to Xian the next day.