Today I went to a Chinese speaking church. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Although I didn't understand almost anything that was going on. Wait, I take that back, I did understand when they wanted me to scoot over to make more room for people, I was rather proud of myself for that one. I should have been able to catch on to the songs, because they sang the same one 3 times, but I didn't. I felt a bit obnoxious at first because I had to text my tutee (Esther) about what time to meet and where, except my phone was acting up (i.e. it kept turning off), so I had to continuously tap my phone back to life.
Afterward Sam and I were going to grab some dim sum (I was super excited about it because I have been missing Cantonese food) but I got a call from Esther and she wanted to meet earlier than we had planned, so we had to ditch the idea. She had volunteered to pick me up, but I thought that was too much hassle, so we opted to meet at Walmart...yes Walmart, I have been there 4 times in my short time in Xiamen. When I met her I thought to myself, she is a lot shorter than I remember. I thought about it more and decided this must be one of Esthers helpers that she sent to pick me up. Then when we were waiting in line at KFC (I was really Western today) she mentioned Marina. And then it all made sense. This was the conversation partner my tutor Marina wanted me to meet with to practice Chinese, but I had never contacted. I guess I accidentally saved her name under the person I was supposed to tutor, and had been sending her texts about tutoring which still made sense to her. After I discovered my mistake I excused myself and called the real Esther to tell her what happened, thankfully she was very understanding.
Ivy, the "fake" Esther, turned out to be really nice. She really wants to learn English to help pass a test, and she seems to be dedicated to teaching one another, I guess I will try to squeeze her in. After we ate at KFC she took me to her house and the markets and made dinner for me. It was cool to meet her, she showed me a different part of town and became the very first Chinese house I have ever been to, in China atleast.
So if you are keeping track:
Conversation partners: 3
People I am supposed to tutor: 2
Number of times I have missed tutoring because of bad communication: 2
Amount of money I have lost for myself: 300 kuai (around 45 dollars)
I guess I should do something about my stubborn cell phone...although this time it wasn't really its fault.
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