1/11 - I'm beat up from football practice today. I'm sore from the conditioning, bruised on my arms and now my right knee is sore after my teammate Antonio kicked the side of it. His leg was flailing around as he was making a tackle and my knee got in the way. I think it's just a tweak and nothing bad. But I made a few tackles in practice, including one on Greg, one of our offensive linemen who was playing as a tight end. He has probably 50 pounds on me, so that was a bit of a proud moment for me. Afterwards the linebackers and a couple of the quarterbacks (Richie, Antonio, Matt [Tebow], Tom, Gideon, Justin, Justice [American] and I) went to the pub by our practice field and had some food and drink. It was a good time.
Looking back, I'll always be grateful to these guys for welcoming me to the team in September. They helped me settle into my new home and get a routine. And, of course, I made friends in the process. They made moving to a new country easier for me. But it's just like any other team I've ever been on now; I'm pretty comfortable with everyone so I've been able to come out of my shell.
But we keep getting injuries within the team. I found out yesterday one of our best linebackers, Justin, broke his foot and tore a ligament there during Friday's practice. He's a rookie like me but he's just naturally gifted. The game comes easy to him, and it's disappointing to lose him. It's looking like he'll be out for a while; hopefully not the rest of the season. He showed up to practice today in a cast and crutches but in good spirits, however.
12/1 - I read something really interesting today doing research about national culture. According to Geert Hofstede, culture can be defined as "collective mental programming." He says that because it's so easy to make someone see something the way you want them to. I think that's why it's so important to travel and see different things. You have to prove your mental programming right or wrong, and the only way to do that is to meet different people from all over the world.
13/1 - I turned in two of my three remaining essays today. I wouldn't call it a relief because I was never really stressed about them, but I'm glad I only need to focus on one now, which is the 5,000-word individual essay. And even for that essay, I'm not worried at all. I still have a week and I have 2,600-plus words already, and I'm confident it will be done in plenty of time.
Jess had a friend from her home come to visit. They're from Hong Kong, and Kate and I sat down with them and ate dinner. We learned a bit about Chinese culture there, because her friend began doing the dishes after we finished. Kate tried to get her to stop, but in Chinese culture, the guest cleans up after a meal.
14/1 - This essay is taking so much time to write. I'm so glad I started last week. I'm at 3,900 words, and that includes references and other stuff, like graphs and figures. So I'm thinking another 600 or so should do it. But I think the most annoying part will be getting the referencing correct, which is something I've already begun checking. I'm also going to insert graphs and tables to back up my writing. What's going on here? I rarely put this much work into an essay. Maybe this assignment is designed to cram all the work that should have been scheduled throughout the term into one piece of work. I don't know, but I don't mind it at all.
Oh, and my course is a joke compared to my flatmates'. They work their asses off every day with hardly any breathers, while I'm over here relaxing, slowly but surely getting this one assignment done. I'd be more upset about it if it weren't for the fact this is perfect for a terrible student like me. And also because I'm living in another country, which is what I came here to do. I think Stella is so envious of my laid back, I-have-no-idea-what-the-future-holds-so-I'll-figure-it-out-when-the-time-comes attitude. I think I'm too relaxed. Oh well. If I had to describe myself using some sort of body movement, it would be a shrug. That might be a bit critical, but it's the first thing that came to mind.
One more thought: At the grocery store, everything is packaged, even fruits and vegetables. Whenever I buy groceries, I feel a bit guilty because you realize how much is wasted in terms of packaging. Why do stores put apples in clear plastic bags that can't be recycled? Just put them out on their own. It's wasteful and unnecessary.
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