Mandarin Lessons!

It's official, after almost 3 1/2 months of being here in China, I have decided to start my Mandarin lessons. I was reluctant to start, for literally no reason. Basically, I was happy being lazy here. I also didn't want to spend the money. But, I realized... if I stay here all year and come away with horrible Mandarin, I am going to be really disappointed in myself. Honestly, what else do I have to do except lesson plan (barely)? So, my roommate did a bunch of research and we decided to group with our friend Amanda (Amanda's Blog!) and get a tutor for the 3 of us through Babel Mandarin.
Last night we met with a girl who works there (a super adorable and nice British girl) and got everything set up. Our focus with be speaking and writing characters. We will have 2 lessons a week, for 2 hours at a time. It will be every Monday and Wednesday evening starting at about 5:30 or 6. I am really excited to get back into learning the language. I did take it for a semester at Purdue and am super thankful for this head start. I think I would be super overwhelmed if not (sorry Mac and Amanda :).
It will be a good amount of work I am sure, I remember it being while I was at Purdue. I was taking classes for almost 7 hours a week, 5 days a week.
On top of this, I also have to take a TEFL course (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) in order to extend my visa. I was not told this when I got here... and I also only have about 20 days to finish it. I havent even started the course yet, but I am starting it this weekend. Say goodbye to like half my paycheck for TEFL and Mandarin lessons... awesome.
Add on top of it lesson planning.... let's just say goodbye to December fun in general.

Dear December,

I am glad I am staying busy with work. That means the holidays will fly by and i won't have to be sad anymore about missing Christmas at home. It also means January is coming, which means Thailand is soon. Then when Thailand is done, my mom is coming! Ah, that means March is here. wow... time is going fast! Also, thank you for being the month of my birth. :) I had a great day.

Love, Jami

ps. I will post pictures and an entry about my bday party as soon as i get the pictures. my camera was dead. go figure.

the closest thing to Christmas lights I have seen so far.