First Day of Class

So today was my first day of class...I know you silly Americans are all getting ready for your spring break, but whatever. Hen hao!

I woke up at 6:40 because I am awesome and I can do that and still get a decent amount of sleep because I go to bed way early like the old person I am. I had Tingli (Listening) from 8-9:50, and the word on the street is that it's a way boring class, but the first day was OK. We mostly introduced ourselves and did a little listening exercise. There's 4 CIEE people in our class, so hen hao! And we made some new friends: Julian, who is French, and Saki, who is Japanese and in every single one of my classes. We are hen haopengyou. I had a break after that, so I went back and chilled and then took advantage of my free time to get early lunch at 11:30. There is a lunch hour from 12-12:30 here where there are no classes for anyone, so you have to go early if you can to miss the insane lunch rush. I went to the dumpling place with Jackie and got egg and leek dumplings and they were delicious (dumplings are my LIFE), although they came with the amazingly flavorless, ubiquitous corn soup. Seriously, it tastes like nothing. Even the corn taste is extremely faint. I tried adding soy sauce and spicy stuff to it, and it was a little better, but still way silly.

In the afternoon I had Kouyu (Speaking) and Hanyu (regular Chinese). My Kouyu class is sooooooo easy, it's totally too low a level for me, but I already signed my life away and switching classes is really difficult. As loath as I am to be in a class that's so mindless, I think it will pick up after a little bit, and I think my spoken Chinese will improve no matter what level I'm in just because of the immersion environment. The Hanyu class was harder to keep up with...I can definitely handle it, but I have to concentrate to understand the teacher all the time. It's a lot of mental effort; hard at the end of the day when you're tired. I spoke lots of Chinese though! I totally volunteered answers in Kouyu and was like kachinggggg I rule. And I talked to Saki in Chinese a bunch. It's funny because now that we're among international students, Chinese is our lingua franca. Now that classes have started we're supposed to speak only Chinese from 8-5 during the week. Sometimes I forget, but I got on a roll today and was speaking Chinese even after 5. Hen hao!

I went to dinner with Vanessa and Amanda and afterwards we went to Wu-Mei to get desserty things (they are not all about dessert here and we ladies felt deprived), and I hadn't brought any money but my nice mommy Vanessa got me fruit on a stick which I had been wanting forever because it is coated in shiny shiny sugar syrup and it was yummy! I got the hawthorne berries on a stick...they are pretty good but full of seeds, which makes them a little awkward. We reached some conclusions about stick food too:
a) food on a stick is awesome
b) all food is better on a stick
c) you can't help but be happy eating food on a stick! Hen hao!

I have 2 quizzes tomorrow already...I studied my characters this evening, and I'm going to review them a little more in bed and then go to sleepies. I miss my flashcards and whiteboard...I can probably find flashcards here pretty easily, although a big ol' whiteboard and markers might be trickier. Right now I'm operating off a single notebook...I suppose I should get me some for real school supplies sometime.

I'm gonna play with Sa Jia Li Ya on Sunday! Hen hao!

I forgot to pick up my laundry today so I only have one more pair of socks! Silly Li bei ka. Also I could have sworn I brought my leg long underwears with me to China, but when I tried to find them today it seems like that is a lie. Bu hao, because it is a bit chilly out these days. Not as bad as Rochester though, I'm sure! Hen hao!