Day 7: Learning to Create a new way

May 7 Afternoon:
After eating I decided to go out on the "balcony" since the lunch room we were in is on the 3rd floor. It is a pretty view over campus so I people watched (as usual), and photo journaled what I saw (as usual). There was a couple holding hands, girls holding hands, girls with umbrellas (it's very popular to have an umbrella during the sunshine. I have noticed a stark difference between skin hues of people who work outside constantly and those who are students or work indoors. I don't think it's a fade to be tan here as it is among wealthier white Americans). People riding bikes. Maintenance workers. Towels hanging out of dorms.

I then went to the bathroom but realized I had forgotten wipes, I guess that I figure it's not that bad to do a little dance and move on...plus many bathrooms do not soap so if I don't need to wipe then I don't have to worry about being sanitary. To some it is gross but it's not that big of a deal or me. I save my tissue for 'other' times...if you catch my...drift....but hopefully not...hahaha

After lunch we were taken to a class to create art out of a type of play dough clay. The ones we had were brightly colored and were given the option to create from books or imagination, we did a little of both. Most of us worked with a TNU student. My partner and I made a tomato from the book. Then I told her that I'd make her something if she makes me something. I knew I was going to make her a daisy...sort of...I grabbed some hot pink, green and yellow clay. It was very hard to roll, as it came in pretty solid blocks. I asked Milah for the advanced book and she told me it was too hard to do...but I just wanted to see how they created some of the flowers. I think mine turned out nicely and I kind of wanted to keep it but also wanted to give it away. My partner, Helen is her English name (some students have them and some don't). She was very quiet and we did not talk much, more so concentrated on our masterpieces. I was amazed at the talent among our group. Lakia made a cute hotdog, very detailed. Everyone was amazed at the dragon that looked like Mushu from Disney's inaccurate version of Mulan. Bailey and her partner made the cutest teddy bear and Sunny and her friend made blue and pink penguins. Jia made a bubble bee on a sunflower with her peer. It was fun. They were heated and given back to us while we took Chinese handwriting (calligraphy) from a teacher at the school. Helen made me a cute beeish looking figurine. The calligraphy teacher showed us how to write on paper and also used a projection screen to show us his skills. We tried...a girl next to me helped me and explained what they meant to me. I made her a sign in the end that said thank you and made the characters for friends :)
after class we headed home after decided if we were going to go karaoke or not...everyone was too tired I think...