some English, some Chinese and even a little bit of French

At this point, I have no new things to say. My life is pretty routine: sleep, eat, work, party. However, I did get two new roommates. Davide, the Italian one had moved out about a month ago (way to update on my life) and Olivier from France and Lu from China moved in. They are both really cool. I see Olivier at home a lot, but not Lu as much. She works a lot at some bank... Wow, I'm very in touch with all of my roommates. Both of them have fit in right away with the rest of the roommates. Especially Lu with Chris, haha. They'll probably kick my ass after they read this, if they do read it...

The only big new thing with my life is that I am currently reading a book in French. It is a book written my Muhammed Yunus who is the founder of the Grameen Bank. This organization finances microcredit to the poorest of the poor in Bangledesh and tries to get everyone above the poverty level. I can understand some French words and get the general idea of the book; but I had to look up the Grameen Bank in English. I'm surprised that I didn't hear of the Grameen Bank before reading this book due to the fact I had studied foreign affairs in college. Though, I have heard of microcredit. Anyway, I am really excited about reading this book, even though it is not light reading, even in English.

Since that I live with two French roommates and Lu can also speak French (she lived in Paris for three years), I hear French almost all of the time now. The vocabulary doesn't seem that difficult for me; but I am clueless about French grammar. I was looking up classes that you can take in Shanghai and learn some French. Ok, that is a little weird, I come to China to learn French. Whatever, Shanghai has a large French population, might be useful to know some. French people always speak French to each other even they know English and are with a lot of English-speaking people. Even Lu said that you can't have a social life in France unless you know French.

Also, sometimes I wonder if France is the European country with the largest ties to China. I used to think it was Britain, mainly because of Hong Kong and the Opium wars. But the French have a lot of connections with Shanghai. Even Olivier himself is half Chinese on his mother's side. Shanghai does have the neighborhood called the Former French Concession--where the French used to have control over Shanghai. I meet more French people than any other nationality here in Shanghai. Even back home, the French-Chinese connection is evident. I know quite a few people back home that are half French and half Chinese (more so in Canada though). There are getting to be more and more Chinese people that know French. The ones that also English--their French is always much better than their English.

Thanks to the handful of French people, I actually changed my mind about them. Back in high school, I had this Latin teacher who was from southern France and she was a bitch. She had always glorified France and how it was the best country in the world. She proved the stereotype that all French people are arrogant and rude. So, that was what I had always thought of French people. This also proves it even further when I studied deGaulle and how he led France, especially in the beginning of what is now called the European Union. He used to say that "France will be France!" Franckie, Olivier and Flo (another French guy that I have come to be friends with) all are very nice people. They all completely changed my perception of the French.

I don't mean to sound very stereotypical in this entry, but I hear American stereotypes flying at me every day from the Europeans. So, I'll be stereotypical back to them. Wow, I'm glad I am living with one other American, Sarah; so we can make fun of the Europeans together. LOL, we all don't care what we say to each other and we all get along great! I have never lived with so many people and never have gotten along so well with others. This is truly a dream living situation for me. 7 people in the apartment and NEVER any drama. Plus I am getting the full international experience by living with four Europeans and one Chinese girl! I really am learning new things everyday and loving other cultures than my own!

Do I really want to go back home ever? Well, obviously I have to go back to the US at some point....