My Final Grades

I've gotten all my grades now, and the only reason they're as good as they are is because the teachers are being nice to me. I think it's the "give you an A for effort" approach to grading. I'm not complaining, because this means I can apply for a scholarship for the upcoming semester, because my average is 84.6, and foreign students only need 65 to be eligible (kind of a joke, huh?).

Here's the rundown:
Chinese Paleography 文字學 65
Introduction to Literature 文學概論 76
Selected Readings in Chinese Poetry 詩選及習作 77
Labor for Education aka Raking Leaves 勞作教育課程 82
Physical Education 女生體育 99
Taiwan History 台灣歷史采風與踏查 90
Introduction to Chinese Classics 國學導讀 84
Introduction to Computers 資訊概論 81
English 英文 96
Typing 中英文電腦輸入法 96

I got to choose my own phys ed class for next semester, and since most of the classes offered were those that would require me to actually be able to run or jump, I decided to go for Billiards. :) Course selection is all done online, and we only have a certain window of time in which to choose our classes, so the system is always jammed with people trying to get in. I was afraid I'd be too slow, but I got it! Maybe since it's at 8:00 a.m. no one else was interested. I'll miss having a little sleep-in on Wednesday mornings, but it's worth it to have a class that's fun (although I play pool a lot better when I'm drunk than sober!).

In a couple of days I'll be taking off for Thailand, can't wait. I'm more looking forward to seeing Cheryl and Terry than I am seeing Thailand. I miss those guys, even though I spent quite a bit of time in Hong Kong last year and got to see them. Hopefully I'll have the energy to write about the trip when I get back.

Now it's off to the bank for another withdrawal. It's really a pain to have to go every day, but the maximum my US bank allows me to take out per day is $500. I have to pay my tuition, and that's $1500. I thought I could use my credit card, but turns out they'll only take Taiwan cards, so cash it is. Sheesh. Oh well, it gets me out of the house and walking!

Although yesterday I walked so much that my knee was talking to me last night. Feels better today, and after the Thailand trip, it's to the doctor for the MRI, since I finally have the Taiwan insurance card and can afford it. I don't know if there's anything they can do, and I really don't relish the thought of an operation, but I'm pretty darned tired of not being able to do anything without being in pain. Stairs are sheer misery, and there are a lot of stairs I have to climb at the university.

My weight keeps going up because of the lack of exercise, and of course that makes the knee worse - it's just a vicious circle. Dieting alone doesn't seem to work very well for me, my body needs aerobic exercise before it agrees to let go of the flab. My friends keep trying to talk me into doing the Herbalife diet, since they've had such success with it, but I've done liquid diets in the past and all it did was screw up my metabolism so that now it's even more difficult to lose weight. So, I'm not trying that yet. Man, I do miss the convenience of the frozen diet meals that I had in the US, didn't have to think about what to eat, just pop a Weight Watchers or Lean Cuisine frozen entree into the microwave and that was it. I only recently discovered that there's one of those buffet style restaurants close to campus where I can buy tons of already prepared vegetables. Next semester I'm going to make a point of going there almost every day and getting those and a piece of chicken, as that's what I did when I lived in Zhuwei and it helped with the weight loss. I'll have to soak the oil off of them before I eat (wish they wouldn't drown everything in salad oil here), but that's no big deal.

Anyway, like I said, I have to go to the bank. Happy Chinese New Year, everyone!