Diary

I was on the phone with Huan this morning until almost 11:00 AM. Afterward, Dr. Zhao asked me to go grocery shopping with him so we could head back to his place to cook. As usual, we wandered around the mall for a bit and ended up having Mexican food again. Honestly, it wasn’t very good. Later, Dr. Zhao prepared a huge spread of dishes and invited two other friends over. After dinner, they were getting ready to watch a movie, but I decided to head home early. I wanted to make a few phone calls and get some rest. ...

I didn’t sleep well last night because I was preoccupied with the thought of going to talk to Dr. Liu. I wasn’t quite sure what to say, but I was genuinely worried about him. At noon, I had lunch with Dr. Zhao, Luis, and Amir. The turkey I roasted yesterday was actually quite delicious, so I brought some along to share with them. In the afternoon, I had a long, heart-to-heart talk with Dr. Liu. I was able to express my care and share my thoughts with him. Overall, it went very well, though I have this habit of tearing up whenever I sense someone else’s strong emotions. It’s a bit frustrating that I react that way, but the connection was real. ...

English There is so much worth recording today. Since it’s getting late, I’ll write this down now and keep it for my records. First, my English-related anxiety eased up significantly today, especially after attending classes with Derek and Victor. I was amazed to find that I could understand nearly 90% of the content; the remaining 10% didn’t hinder my overall comprehension at all. My confidence in English is finally coming back. ...

Last night I had an argument with Huan again. I reflected on myself and realized that my temper isn’t very good, and at the same time I blamed her for always staying silent and not expressing her own opinions. Today, I feel that my English is really quite poor. My progress has been very slow, and I still have trouble communicating with others when it comes to complex issues. ...

There are so many things to do that I suddenly feel panicked and don’t know where to start. Practice spoken English and writing. Preview upcoming course content and review parts of past courses I didn’t fully understand. Start reading literature and determine my research direction. It’s time to start using my to-do app again; only self-discipline can solve these problems. I studied phonetic symbols and practiced shadowing tonight. It’s hard to pronounce sounds that don’t exist in Chinese unless we build muscle memory through practice. ...

Today marked the start of the winter semester, and with it, the return to a tense and busy academic life. We had a small group meeting at noon with Dr. Liu serving as today’s chair. We shared stories about our holidays and discussed our resolutions for the new year. I shared my four main goals for the year: To continue improving my English and become a more confident speaker. To learn the ropes of academic research and strive to complete one or two first drafts by the end of the year. To travel to another Canadian province. To save up enough money to buy a new laptop. In the afternoon, Dr. Zhao invited me to his office to discuss my future plans. He suggested two research directions: RFID technology and concrete energy storage. Both sound fascinating to me. I need to start carving out time to read the literature and learn as much as possible from the senior students (my shixiong) while they are still here. ...

00:21 Getting ready for bed I feel a muscle twitching or something moving in my stomach every now and then; it’s distracting and making it hard to fall asleep. Opened Pinduoduo to help my dad look for the Amur Cork Tree (Phellodendron amurense) he wants to buy. 00:24 Perfect Using my phone for daily snippets; my computer or tablet for the end-of-day review; and my computer for note-taking or articles. ...