Making Progress on My Goals and Building a Relationship Built on Trust and Mutual Respect

I am making consistent progress on my fitness and language learning goals.  I have lost 2.25kg (almost 5lbs) thanks to diet and exercise. My fluency in Mandarin is showing much slower progress, but progress nonetheless. My lessons are going well but by the time I have them I am usually pretty tired and have a hard time remembering the vocabulary that I have learned and using it in practice. 

My most recent assignment for my mandarin lessons involved writing a few paragraphs explaining my life.  The course also includes a text and work book called HSK1. Duolingo is working to improve my vocabulary as well.

I went on the hash again this week.  It was a lot of fun running a trail that was actually well marked.

I decided on a charity effort for the greem dress run.  I put it to a vote and the hashers decided to raise money for the earthquake relief effort.  I am sharing the charity below because a friend of mine is leading an effort to raise funds for this cause.  I encourage anyone who wants to support the relief efforts to donate.  The Shekou H3 will do their best to raise as much money as they can on March 18th while running around the mountains in green dresses.  I even ordered a custom made green tutu for the occasion.

Faye and I had a little bit of an argument over a misunderstanding.  She expressed to me her concern that she would hear rumors about me from our mutual friend.  A couple weeks ago she asked me if I have ever dated anyone else on the hash.  To which I honestly responded that I had gone on one date with someone almost two months before even meeting her.  While I had asked that woman for a second date, when she refused I gave up and I have had no lingering interest in her. Faye insisted that I tell her who.  I was hesitant at first but in the spirit of honest transparency I did end up telling her who it was.  

She did not say anything about it for a few weeks but on Tuesday she expressed a baseless concern that she will hear gossip about me and this other woman.  I assured her that I had only gone on one date with the other woman and had no interest in her so there was nothing to gossip about. I emphasized that I wanted a relationship built on trust and mutual respect and insisted we talk about this matter in person to work it out.  It really was not much of an argument.  I expressed how I felt and did my best not to invalidate her feelings in the process. She did not respond for a while and I expressed concern about that as well. She asked for space and time to think about where she stands.  I granted her that space. Last night we talked and worked things out.

My hope is that her and I can continue to build a strong and durable connection.