手术

I'm beginning to get my second wind after a few days feeling down-and-out in old NJ. I still have quite a while before returning to the U.S. and really need to get out of my comfort zone even more to improve my Chinese as best I can. I was exhausted by 8:30 this evening after spending the entire afternoon translating into English a triple bypass surgery record from 南京鼓楼医院. The surgeon was none other than my one-on-one teacher's father. Translating surgery records into English every week and then discussing them with my guy is pretty challenging, but he is patient and after these grueling sessions he and I usually discuss the difference between the U.S. and China's medical care systems (using Mandarin of course :) ).
Anyway making local friends is key; I have my roommate 樊星 "Fun-Star" who is a character, as well as campus bad-ass Xiao Hu and my recent addition: "Henry" who is a party member. He seems excited that both of our fathers come from Hunan. And then there is "Sugar Ray" Tang Le, another strange one from Beijing who just seems incredibly chilled out every time I see/talk to him. I definitely should seek out some more contacts with whom I can practice speaking. Or at least going out and about can afford some practice as well. Then again sometimes not. Though the coming weeks are packed, I still have a few independent travel plans up my sleeves..