got the hsk6 books for the new school year (discounted on vinted, hurray!), and i don’t know how the teacher is going to do this feat of finishing a book each semester… it will be intense, to say the least, and i don’t feel very confident about this transition. i haven’t even done the hsk5 exam yet, and we’re already jumping ahead…

the free days in the middle of the 10 hour ones continue to be the most relaxing ever — like a mini-vacation every other day. i have so much energy to do things on those days, and long postponed to-do lists are just melting away. of course, everything will change when the parents come to visit next week, and when classes start again. but i’ll appreciate it for as long as it lasts!

continuing on our let’s-fix-stuff streak, paulo replaced the battery in my 15 year-old kindle, which refused to switch on. it worked! last week i also successfully sold the portable AC unit my brother had lent us, while our own was broken. why is fixing old stuff or selling stuff you don’t need so extremely satisfying?

this week, i increased the weight i put on the barbell for squats and deadlifts quite a bit, and it felt good to see progress at the gym. i’m still very much a newbie, but i’m enjoying it — especially how quick the workouts are. 30 minutes of sweating, and afterwards i can do sauna and sit a bit in the swimming pool.

also on the list of “things that never get done” was to repot some plant babies, so now there’s a few more specimens throughout the house. we’ve done a good job so far of picking only sturdy plants that can go a few weeks without water, and some of ours are over 10 years old now. i’m hoping these ones will do well too.