In some places in the world, the darkness and cold of Winter has slowly turned into Spring. In other places the brightness and warm of Summer is fading into Autumn.
And then there's China. The colours of the trees are not fading, it is still hot and humid outside and the sun still sets at the same time as in the past month.

Today is October 1. China's national day, when they celebrate the birth of their nation. 62 years. Most are given an entire week off. My hostparents have ventured off leaving me behind in Shenzhen. Which works out very well for me. I enjoy the time off.

My days here in Shenzhen are very alike. I do very little and I spend quite a lot of time in the house. Except for Tuesdays and Thursdays when I have Chinese lessons. This has resulted, not only in a lot of tv-shows being watched, but also a lot of studying being done. Alas, I now don't feel quite as lost in Chinese as I felt just a month ago. Today I went to Dongmen with Kate and her mum, and could actually communicate with the shopkeepers in Chinese. I no longer feel helpless. I am no longer nervous when I walk down the streets, because I can somehow talk my way out of the situation I might end up in.

I haven't made many new observations in China, but I have observed something else: that I have become absolutely used to everything here. Nothing surprises me anymore. Sometimes I believe I am slowly turning Chinese.

Michelle's English is slowly improving. She has improved her flair for English and the pace has significantly increased. My hostparents have actually also improved their English.

One thing I have come to learn about my hostfamily is that they don't do much as a family. I mean, sure, we go out sometimes, to the movies or shopping, or well, now they've gone off on a vacation, but at home they never sit down in front of the tv together, or things like that. My hostdad will quite often spend most of his time home in his office and my hostmum will be in the living room, while Michelle will either be in her room or in the study. They are quite happy with solitude.

Something that I, however, have definitely noted is how spoilt the Chinese kids are. But this is because in most cases they will not have any siblings. A couple of weeks ago Michelle got a pair of rollerblades. Two days later a bicycle. The rollerblades are currently lying on my floor waiting for Michelle to use them, the bicycle is on the balcony being used every so often. Remember the turtles we bought roughly a month ago? One of them is now dead, because Michelle forgot all about it.

Thursday the school was closed because apparently there was a typhoon. Admittedly it was a bit windy, but nothing we haven't seen in Europe, and surely not windy enough that our schools would close down! It was raining though, and I got drenched by the time I reached Chinese class. Hurray.

Someone asked me some while ago to describe what I see when I look out my window. There is a massive grey building, which houses the head office of a security company. To the right of the security building, in the distance there is a row of identical appartment buildings next to two shiny towers. On the other side there is a whole heap of appartments, most of the identical, of course. In the foreground, there is a park, but it is very small. Occasinally I can spot people doing tai chi or other fun stuff. There is of course also a main road with cars driving past all the time.
But everyday I seem to spot something new. For example at the moment one of the shiny towers has a light show on which I haven't seen before. This is why I love my room. Because the view depends on what time of day it is, which day of the week and so on.

Now I will dim the lights, pop on a movie while keeping one eye on the events taking place outside my window and enjoy my time alone.