...testing 1, 2, 3.

Well, this is the first time I have been able to get into beta blogger since I dont know, 3 weeks now? I am still unsure as to what's going on. The great Firewall of China finally got to me. I can access all of my other sites fine...but just not blogger. Thanks to David though, I have been able to find a way to overcome this obstacle. The only concern I really have, though, is whether this will slow my blogging process *mainly posting pictures* even more. Anyways, anything is better than nothing and I'm just glad to be back. Quite a bit has been happening lately. But, I should post pictures with them...so, this entry is just a test run. I can run through a couple of updates though.
Midterm week was this past week for me. I think I did alright with my exams and my one paper for history. I'm not sure if anyone would be interested in this topic...but I wrote it on the monastic origins of the Chinese pawnshop. Pretty cool stuff. Let's see, ah..all of us UW students are preparing our ppt for Jeffords (UW provost) this coming week. Most of us already made a ppt for Steve spring quarter of last year...and so we have a basic outline. We just need to add on our new discoveries and progress. I'm sort of conflicted as to how I should approach my presentation. There's the provost...but we also have an audience of SU faculty and students. And I'm talking about the Cultural Revolution. I mean, is it appropriate? I may have to work around it. I feel so silly being here sometimes. You always have to do things on tiptoe, making sure that what you say or do don't offend them. Honestly, it's not like I'm out there throwing profanity in their faces or even doing much that affects them. Yet, I find that it's always me who's having to be careful about everything that I do. People need to accept that there are some things that are just facts of life, things that can not be erased from history, memories and identity that can't be erased from people. It's a shame to still see so many people putting on a facade during their daily lives. Argh, passive aggressiveness.
Anyways, moving on. Today is pretty much a kick back day, working on my presentation. Tomorrow, a couple of us are going to head down to a bamboo forest, something they call "sea of bamboo." Heard it's a really nice place...nice to get out of the city and daily rituals of life in Chengdu again. Alright, gonna go ahead and publish. Let's see if this thing works.