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Got up early in the morning because I had to go for visa fingerprinting. Rode my little e-bike and arrived there by 8:30 a.m., even though my appointment was at 9:15. It seemed like arriving early wasn’t exactly appreciated, but they still let me in to queue up. Then they briefed me, checked my documents, and directed me to a counter. After verifying my details, the staff told me to wait for my number to be called and instructed me to silence my phone and knock before entering when my turn came. ...

I did the laundry during the day and then played some games with Fei Ge. Took the bus back to Kunming to prepare for my visa application. After getting off the subway, Da Huang picked me up on his bike. Then we went to a barbecue stall and had fried rice, oysters, and small yellow croakers.

Today was a particularly fun day. I slept in this morning, and when I got up, Huanhuan’s mom had cooked congee. I had three bowls and ended up stuffed. At noon, Huanhuan’s mom prepared a delicious lunch for us, and everything was very tasty. After eating, I played a few rounds of games with Fei Ge, then pulled out my laptop to prepare some materials. Around 1 PM, Huanhuan’s dad went out for a walk, and we rested for a while. ...

Perhaps it was because I had been drinking, but I had trouble falling asleep last night. Combined with the sound of people drinking outside, I barely slept at all. I woke up early in the morning, took a shower, put on my suit and dress shoes, and went downstairs with Huanhuan to have breakfast before heading to the exam site. I had thought wearing a suit might make me stand out, but when I arrived, I noticed everyone else was also dressed formally, which put me at ease. I also ran into many younger classmates, who clearly had a fresh, student-like vibe. One junior was struggling to button the top button of his shirt—it was obviously too tight. I reassured him, “It’s fine, you don’t have to button it. It might affect your performance, and the examiners won’t mind. You’ll feel better if you’re more comfortable.” ...

12:20 Taking Bus No. 5 to the Train Station This morning, I had a medical check-up arranged by the Emergency Management Bureau. First, I went to the bureau, where Section Chief Wang from the Personnel Department and another colleague accompanied me to the People’s Hospital for the examination. These two colleagues were quite strict at first but later seemed a bit tired and couldn’t keep up. After the check-up, I took the bus back by myself—they still had some things to wrap up. When I got back, I had a bowl of beef dumpling skins with some Laba garlic. It was quite tasty and not too pungent. ...

10:07 Organized Some Files The Vault folder was a bit messy, especially the Obsidian templates and project folders. Did a quick tidy-up and also added a reading log template to encourage myself to read more. 11:00 Feel pretty good Today, my body feels fine with no discomfort, which has lifted my mood quite a bit. The courier called to notify me to pick up my ID card. After retrieving it, I strolled to the market and bought rice noodles, spinach, and cilantro. I ended up cooking too much rice noodles and ate until my stomach was bulging. ...