courage.

"But courage, child: we are all between the paws of the true Aslan."

— C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia)

I spent 10 hours today with my Dean from Concordia and a business professor who is visiting from America. We had lunch by the Linyin Temple, a meeting with the leaders at Zhejiang University where we sipped tea and they sat around in suits and I smiled and nodded constantly.

Then we had dinner with all the new cohort students in Hangzhou. Two years ago when I was beginning my Concordia masters degree, there were 3 of us in Hangzhou. Now there are 20.

The group is really diverse and interesting. I think they are going to do a great job here. I liked listening to their stories and helping them with small issues. Everyone's experiences are so different.

It was nice to encourage everyone and let them know what I'm doing after the program and how it's opened so many doors for me. There's also talks of future employment, so we'll see what happens.

I'm tired. But it was a good, full day. My voice box needs a break. Or I need to learn to be more concise. Either one. ha.

I also visited my teacher and found out my mid-term score for grammar class. I think I did horrible, but my teacher told me, "good job, you passed, you are a great student." I'm not sure when getting a 68 on your mid-term constitutes being a "great student" but whatever. I just need to pass. I have a masters degree already and I just need to pass these classes to be eligible for the HSK in June (the big test I have to score high on to enter my PhD program). There's no more trying to impress anyone, I've already got 2 degrees. I just don't care about grades. I just need to learn Chinese.

I just said just 800 times. just just just just. haha.

There's just so much to think about. For now...I'm going to rest and be peaceful.

walk slow. xoxo.