I’m sitting at the same restaurant Gabrielle and I went to the first time we came here. Can’t wait to have some more of their steamed pork buns. Yummy! I’m really surprised and happy I got a year long visa. Only wish I had listed my length of stay for each visit longer.

When we got there we parked at a garage underneath the building. Some guy walked up to us, asked how long we were staying, and asked for my car keys. I was a little bit hesitant at first, because I didn’t know if he really worked there. Plus, it’s strange for a parking garage to park your car for you. I had this bad feeling that I would come back and my car would be missing. That plus my laptop was sitting in my backpack in the trunk of the car. I didn’t want to take it with me, because I didn’t want to create any hassle for security at the visa office.

When we finally found the right suite it wasn’t too crowded and we actually finished pretty quickly. I think we spent maybe a total of 10 minutes there waiting and turning in the application. I made one mistake on my paperwork where I checked a box saying that I planned on studying in China, because I considered learning Mandarin as studying. Silly me. Luckily the person that was helping me just whited it out and all was well. I’m really glad I brought my passport with me though, because I had to had it over to her until I pick up the visa. The website only said that I needed a copy of the info page from it, but I shouldn’t be surprised because it was wrong about the address as well.

Gabrielle scared me a bit while we were waiting. She told me I would have to go into a room and they would interview me. I was worried that they would start asking questions about what exactly I planned to do there and why I only purchased a one-way ticket. When I got to the window I really wasn’t asked anything at all, and was just given a slip with a date to come pick it up.

We still had a lot of spare time after we finished at the visa office, so we decided to grab something to eat. I didn’t want to go to Chinatown, because I didn’t know how long it would take, and it would probably require me having to move my car. Instead we found a nice restaurant just down the blocked named Shanghai Tea House. Appropriate right? The food there wasn’t too bad–although a bit overpriced.

There was this one strange lady who came in while we were there, and she was carrying this big suitcase. She had a strong accent, and I’m guessing she was somewhere from Europe. She came in and sat herself down and the waitress kind of approached her hesitantly. When the waitress offered her something the lady refused and just sat there stretching. About 10 minutes later the waitress came back and gave her a menu and asked if she planned on ordering anything. It was obvious that she didn’t. So the lady just sat there pretending to look at the menu.

Eventually the manager came over and said, “Excuse me… ma’am? Ma’am? Hello??” and the lady blatantly ignored her. Then the manager flat out told her that if she wasn’t going to order something she would have to leave. The lady responded, “I might order tea or something.” And the manager replied, “Well we have tea ready.”

I have no idea why I’m going into detail about this by the way. I know it’s insanely boring. The situation just struck me as odd because of the lady’s mannerism. There was just something really off about her, and Gabrielle and I just kind of sat there watching the scene.

Anyway, on the way home we got lost again, but we made it back with ample time for her to get to class. Next week we’ll have to go back to pick up my passport and visa, and I’m taking her to get her learner’s permit. Maybe I’ll also explain what came up since then and why I’m probably not going to China… It’s been a hell of a week.

I’ve never driven with someone so reckless in my life. Keyia was tailgating people while speeding and weaving through traffic without using her turn signal. I thought for sure she would lose control of the vehicle and we would all die.

What made it so bad was that she was yelling and cursing at the cars around her and had no regard for their lives at all. I really don’t understand people like that…

I’m not too upset, but I am worried that my Japanese will go downhill… I’m going to try to study on my own and keep up so that I can continue taking it at Hopkins during the spring, but we’ll see. I always tell myself I’ll do these things and then end up slacking off.

Speaking of grad school… I still haven’t been able to apply yet, because I need to take the GRE. I would’ve taken it earlier except for the hefty $160 registration fee. For someone who was previously unemployed it was just not an option. As of now it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to take it and apply in time to be accepted for the fall. I’m going to send the chair person an email to see if I can somehow maybe take one or two courses and enroll in the spring. I really just want to take more Japanese classes more than anything, but my chances aren’t looking so good. I’ll try to be optimistic though and keep working toward it.

Sitting at Panera right now enjoying some soup and salad. My main excuse or coming here was to leech the internet to print some shipping labels. I could’ve done it from campus, but that’s a much longer drive than I wanted to make. Plus parking is a bitch. It’s extremely hot outside and I wasn’t up for a long walk to park for free.