On the left is 焦老师 (Jiao laoshi), my independent project teacher, then 赵老师 (Zhao laoshi), who is one of my favorite teachers, then me, the on the right is my roommate 谢若菲 (her English name is Theora).





Only three days of class left! One more day of review, then a day of spoken test and a day of written test. Then Friday afternoon, we have some sort of graduation ceremony, then ENGLISH! We can speak as much English as our little hearts desire! And then they take us out to eat roast duck.
Last weekend we had 中文之夜 or Chinese Night. It's kind of like a talent show/play/lets all sing cheesy Chinese songs together kind of thing. They say it's "optional," but then force everyone to participate and made us practice all last Friday (no class because of the preparation) and Saturday morning. Most people's Chinese host families came and all the teachers watched, although some did participate too. I was a doctor in a confusing skit about a Chinese girl that only loves 外国人 (foreigners). It was fairly fun and amusing in the end.

Also, this is completely inconsequential, but it's been bothering me: All day today, starting before 7:45, when I ate breakfast, until about 5:30 there have been three Chinese guys outside, on the basketball court below my balcony, washing the ground. They have a large hose and two brooms and have been non-stop spraying water and sweeping the water in seemingly random directions. At first I thought maybe they were washing dirt off the court, but there isn't any dirt to wash away. So, my current conclusion is there are too many people and too few jobs, so useless jobs are created.
By the entrance to our school, there is a guard who stands and when a car want to enter, he picks up a cone and lets the car in then replaces the cone and resumes his standing. There is another such guard outside the supermarket, but he wears a much more official uniform, and gets to stand on a pedestal.