Adjusting to the US has been easier during my second week at home. There are still moments of reverse culture shock and flashes of missing China like crazy, but I’m handling it better. That isn’t to say that I’ve already begun to lose my Chinese language skills though (thank God). Yesterday I had to take a test administered by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages to test my speaking proficiency as one of the caveats of receiving the Boren Scholarship. Now, when people ask me, “Oh, so you’re practically fluent in Chinese now, right?” I can answer “No, not fluent, but I have an advanced proficiency.” I even have the certificate to prove it 
I’ve spent most of this week starting to organize my things for my upcoming move to DC. I’ve been sorting out what to keep, what to donate, and what to throw away. With some things, it’s been easy to decide (clothes that no longer fit go to the donation pile, for example.) But with others, it’s hard. I threw out a small collection of my favorite/best essays from high school, and it took me a long time to decide whether I should chuck it or keep it. In the end, I chucked it because I do have copies of the essays on my computer. And my book collection… I donated all but perhaps eight books. That’s an entire full bookshelf of books, gone. Surprisingly, it’s been harder to part with my books than it has been to part with some pairs of shoes. A sentimental thing, perhaps?
I haven’t only been packing this week. I had lunch with one of my high school advisors; it was lovely seeing her and catching up. We spoke of people and memories from high school, which made me feel like high school was eons ago (but it’s only been three!). Time flies, and we grow up faster than expected, I guess. I haven’t done the best of job at keeping in touch with my old high school crowd, and oftentimes I wonder how so-and-so has been, or what so-and-so has been up to lately. Then I wonder if anyone ever thinks about me from time to time, but usually my conclusion is no as I was a bit reclusive in high school. Ah, well.
