Road From Home: Mid-Autumn Festival

Today did not start out well. I woke up when I heard my roommate leave the room to go to the bathroom and groggily reached over to check the time. It was 8:56 and my class started at 9! I threw my clock and jumped out of bed. Grabbed my books while trying to get a dress over my head and ran out the door. Luckily my professor started the class late so I didn't miss anything. Also, lucky for me, she decided to postpone the quiz scheduled for today because so many people were missing from class due to their trips to Thailand, Beijing, and Taipei (I am jealous; most international students are here on a pass/fail system, but my gpa will actually be effected by the courses here - plus I don't have that much money!) After Chinese class, I was done with classes for the week. Since tonight is the festival, my tutorial tonight was canceled and tomorrow is a public holiday so no class then and Fridays I don't have class. So, I came back to my room and lounged around all afternoon (watching the new BBC Persuasion and reading) until Trace came back.

I went with her to her family's home for dinner because of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Unfortunately it was kind of overcast today so the moon was kinda of hard to see. Trace's mom cooked some delicious food and then we ate some different flavored mooncakes. I had chocolate and apple. The texture of the mooncakes is very different from anything that I have ever tasted in the US. Trace's younger sister （妹妹）was so cute because she wanted to speak English with me, but was too shy. She did show me a instrument she got as a souvenir in Mongolia. During dinner, Trace asked me to introduce myself to her parents in Putonghua (汉语，Mandarin Chinese).

Here's what I said: 你好。我叫Sarah。我是美国人。我是学生。我是二十岁。我家有四口人。我爸爸，我妈妈，我妹妹和我。我喜欢骑马。我的专业是人类学。
Translation: Hi. My name is Sarah. I am American. I am a student. I am twenty years old. My family has four people. My father, my mother, my younger sister and me. I like riding horses. My major is Anthropology.

After thanking her parents for dinner, Trace and I walked around the area she lives in. We walked past the hotel my grandmother and mom will be staying in when the come visit in 4 weeks (!!!! so excited!). Then we went to the park in Tuen Mun and saw everyone outside with glowsticks, lanterns, and candles, celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival. It was a very fun evening and I will let my photos fill you in with the rest of the details.