In four week’s time, my German lesson will be over and there will be a long break before the next course will start. I am please that not only my German is improving; my social life seems to be getting better as well. Earlier in my study of German, I was somewhat distant to my classmates because they are all Chinese and they just speak in Chinese so I always sort of felt left-out. Now, it looks like everybody is so eager to use what they’ve learned in the course so the conversations are mostly in German. I can now join the conversation and this paved the way for them to know me better—which is cool because some of them find me interesting.

I am glad that I am going out more often now and that I am developing friendship with people other than the colleagues and friends of my husband. In short, I now have my own circle. I don’t have anything against the colleagues and friends of my husband because most of them are really nice persons too and I am glad that we could spend time with them sometimes but having my own circle of girlfriends with pretty much the same interest as mine is different. I really miss my girlfriends back in Changchun and in the Philippines but I am glad that after 5 months of staying in Shanghai, I am starting to really feel at home here.