Our lovely room

I meant to do this post earlier, but I didn't have the pics to back me up until now. Our room is basically a cheap hotel room with furniture that has been worn in college-student style. We are fortunate to have our own bathroom with a real toilet, although our shower is kind of hilarious - it's like a foot off the ground and the showerhead is so low that I have to get my limbo on in order to wash my hair. The bathroom also contained this amazing little notice about the tap water:

Dear Guest:
The water where inside the tap is hot spring. It is good for your skin, but it can't for drink.
The coldwater in the tap is for drink after boiled it.

Thank you!
Shaoyuan guesthouse

The other really silly feature of our room was the sign I encountered on the nightstand when I moved in:














The irony in the juxtaposition of the ashtray on the nightstand next to the sign made me laugh.

Sorry I haven't posted other pictures so far, but I have them...it's kind of a pain to upload things to photobucket, but I do it just for you. Feel the love. You can look at my other pics at this address: http://s172.photobucket.com/albums/w11/rebekahbex/

Mmmm time to rest up for my last day of classes this week...noon on Thursday my weekend begins! Hen hao!

Sunshine and friends and fruit on a stick

My amazing jetlag schedule of going to bed early and waking up early is failing a little bit...my alarm went off at 6:40 this morning but I couldn't bring myself to get out of bed until 7. Whatever, though, I ran a little late but I made up for it with my amazing morning hustle skillz of getting all the way to Wen Shi Lou in like 7 minutes. Hen hao! I had a quiz in Kouyu that I totally didn't know about (I could have sworn that she said our only homework was to memorize the dialogue), but whatever because my Kouyu words are all things I knew already, so there were only like 2 characters that I didn't get. Hen hao! Then I hustled my little booty back to Shao Yuan because they were taking the CIEE group picture at 9:50 and my class ended at 9:50...good planning on their part, right? I got there at like 9:58 but I was still in time to slip into the picture. Hen hao! It was sunny today and vaguely warmer and I was so happy!! Taiyang feichang hao!

I have a morning break on Mondays and Wednesdays, but today I used it to study study and finish my homework...piles of fun. Hanyu was a lot less confusing today, though. I worked with the same kid as last class and he's still all kinds of smarter than me, but at least this time I contributed instead of sitting there like a lump with a dumb look on my face. Tingli was easier today too, but it might just be because I previewed the material at home a little bit so I wouldn't be lost. Also I made friends with the dude sitting next to me, which was the only thing preventing the class from being a total snoozefest. His name is Patrik, and we determined that all the truly cool people spell their names with Ks and no Cs. Hen hao!

This evening a bunch of people ordered in but I wanted to go out and get food on campus so I ventured out on my own and ate at a place I had never been to before and figured out how to put more money on my meal card and added 50 kuai to my card. That's a little over $6 American, but it will totally last me a week...I love this country. I got a big fat baozi at dinner that was about the size of an orange, and it cost me 7 jiao, which is less than 10 cents. China is sweet. After dinner I went to Wu-Mei to get water and other groceries, and on my way out I passed the fruit-on-a-stick place and I noticed that they had something very strange-looking, and when I asked, my suspicions were confirmed...they were tomatoes on a stick, coated in sugar syrup. It seemed so gross and weird that I almost got one just to see what they were like, but my hands were full carrying 4 huge things of water. Maybe another day. Probably by the end of the semester the fruit-on-a-stick people are going to be putting all kinds of random substances on a stick figuring I will buy them if they look weird enough, because it's pretty much true.

Anywayyyyyyyyyy I should probably go study and do homework seeing as I haven't done any yet this evening and everyone else on my hall is all stressin' out over their work. If I can get done early maybe I can watch silly Korean reality TV with my roomie and go to sleep early like the old person I am inside. Feichang hao!!!

I met my tutor finally!!

My tutor couldn't come to the meeting when everyone else's tutors came to meet them, and she sent me a note and then we arranged a meeting on the phone, but I hadn't ever met her until tonight! Her name is Joy and she is so adorable and nice and I love her!! She thinks I am hen aixiao (good-natured, I think) and she says that I am like a cartoon, I think because I make silly noises and laugh a lot and talk with my hands. We talked about a lot of random stuff...at one point we talked about monopolies and anti-trust laws...I forget how we got onto the topic, but she said that China doesn't have anti-trust laws because so recently the government ran all the industries, so government companies still have monopolies. Oh! I remember, we were talking about CCTV, because it is the *official* TV station, and I told her about watching it in Chinese class. And she helped me with my homework that I was soooo confused by and now it is all clear to me! Hooray!

Today was a little bit of a discouraging day before, because I was really confused in my Hanyu class (that was the one that had the confusing homework), and we were working in pairs and I felt like I wasn't bringing any knowledge whatsoever to the partnership, and I forgot to do my little assignment for Kouyu, but fortunately we got out of Hanyu early so I got it done and it was all good. I still felt really bad though, and really dumb for forgetting homework on the very first night, like it didn't bode well for the rest of the semester. I was just confused all over the place earlier today, because I got a text message from Jacqui but I couldn't call the number back so I called what I had in my phone book as her number, but it turned out to be Annie's number except I didn't realize it until after I had finished talking to her and I was all kinds of confused, and then I went to pick up my laundry and I couldn't find the laundry place for a while and then it was right in front of me the whole time, I had just thought that that building was a bank so I didn't bother trying to read the characters on the sign that said that it was a laundry place. Anyway, in the end it was okay and everything was straightened out and I got my clothes, but I felt kind of harried this morning and early afternoon, and it was bu hao. But I took a little rest/pseudo-nap this afternoon, and after meeting Joy I just totally feel better. It really put me in a good mood, because I think I will learn a lot from her. And boy do I have a lot to learn! But at least for tonight my homework makes sense. I still haven't had dinner yet though, and it's 9 pm...I'm not really hungry, I kind of ate a lot of random food this afternoon, but if I don't get food now I won't be able to later because the places that are still open close at 10. Whatevs. I need to look up different kinds of vegetables so I can order food better...I had pork and leek dumplings today for lunch but I don't know how to say the first character of leek, which is bu hao because I like leeks. I need a crash course in food words.

Ooh, I found the type of wheat digestive crackers that I like at Wu-Mei...I promise that wheat digestive crackers are a bazillion times tastier than they sound. They are delicious and a little bit buttery tasting...hen hao!

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!

Forbidden City, etc.

So yesterday was our field trip to Tian'anmen and the Forbidden City. The weather was all kinds of cold and wet and gross, and my camera battery died after like 4 pictures, so I think I'll have to go back sometime when it's nicer. It was really pretty and very well-kept-up, but there's not much to tell really. I learned that the emperor had thousands of concubines and we wondered how exactly he managed with that, and I learned that they had huge huge vessels all over that were supposed to hold water for putting out fires and the ones in the inner section were covered with gold but the Japanese scraped it a lot of it off during the war, and I learned that seeing the Forbidden City is not as nice when it's cold and grey and raining out. Bu hao!

After the tour we decided to find lunch instead of taking the CIEE bus back to Beida, so we took a bus to Xidan and ate in the food court of a shopping center, and when I was trying to get out of my seat to go to the bathroom, I put my hand down on the edge of my tray and it shot my food up, catapult-style, and I got soup on my pants and the floor and Pei's backpack (fortunately it was thick soup so it wasn't too messy), and my baozi landed on the floor and got all dirty, which made me very very sad because baozi (steamed buns with various fillings, for you Westerners) are one of my favoritest things to eat here, or probably anywhere. Oh well, I'm sure there will be lots more baozi in my future. Hen hao!

The shopping center we were in was riDICulously large...it had like 8 floors, and I only got as far as like the 5th, but the best part of it was that the first floor where we came in was like Candyland! There were soooo many kinds of sweets and it was all colorful and I was like a small child I was so happy. Jackie and I spent a really long time trying to read labels and guess based on the pictures and eventually I got a couple random preserved fruit things that I didn't really know what they were but they've been tasty so far, albeit rather sticky and messy.

After I got shiny shiny candy, me and Jackie and Steve wanted to go home but everyone else was still shopping, so we ventured out on a mission to figure out the subway system! We went around and asked random people where the "ditie" was until we found it, and then we wandered around reading signs and asking questions until we figured out getting tickets and which direction we should be going and which stops we needed to transfer at and whatnot and we totally didn't mess up or get lost at all! One of the transfers was really silly because there was construction and we had to go up a bunch of stairs and walk around in a big circle outside and go across a street and crazy places and then back underground to get on the next line, and then they made us get another ticket. Bu hao. But then we were waiting in line (people make little lines so when the train comes they are all neatly in line at the doors, which is funny now that I think about it because the Chinese are not all about waiting in line politely) and speaking English with random snippets of Chinese, and the dude in front of us turned around and asked if we were American and we ended up making friends with him and his name was Sebastian and he was from Mozambique and spoke like 5 languages and was studying Chinese at Yuyan Daxue and had just bought canvases to finish a collection he was painting of modern art based on traditional African life, and he invited us to come to the opening of his art exhibition so we gave him our email addresses and it was AWESOME. And then we got off at the right stop and walked back to campus and didn't get lost and were so proud. It was way gross weather, but it was a sweet sweet time. Feichang hao!

Last night was another night where I stayed in and went to bed early...the weather was still yucky, so we just ordered takeout from Manfu (delivery is FREE here because they don't tip in this country and ahh China is so deliciously cheap), and after that I pretty much crashed and went to bed. I slept like 11 hours, it was ridiculous. Today I didn't do much, just bummed around in the morning...the most productive thing I did was take my clothes to the laundry. I brought like NO clothes with me to China. Hen hao! Then we went to lunch on campus...getting food on campus is a little bit amazing because it's like 3 or 4 yuan for your food, which is approximately 50 cents. If you get a drink it frequently costs as much as or more than your food...I'm thinking I should get a water bottle and fill it from the huge things of water I have in my room so I won't always be having juice or sweet drinks with my meals. And so I can be even more cheapo, because $1 for a meal is just too much...mahaha hen hao!

This afternoon I took another stab at the application for the summer volunteer program in Africa that I'm thinking about...it was kind of demoralizing because I kept feeling like I have no qualifications. Like, I'm all about doing nice helping-type things for people, but I couldn't really think of any volunteer work in particular to write about, I've just done little things here and there. And I feel like I don't have any skills...I know lots about linguistics and I feel like I'm a generally useful person to have around, but I can't really name any specific areas of expertise that would be relevant. I don't know. But I would be good at doing humanitarian work! I promise! Whatevs. And also I was having a hard time contacting my tutor and I tried to read my textbooks a little bit and got a little frustrated and I sort of retreated into my bed and just curled up in a lump for a while. But then my roomie came back from shopping and chatted with me and other people came back and I got less lumpish and more normal and non-antisocial. Hen hao! And we ordered food again because it's cold out and we are hen lazy and delivery is free. Oh also today I got more silly foods, including cucumber flavor potato chips and green tea pocky, which are weird because they are made with milk and Chinese dairy products taste very...different. I got jam and what I thought were plain sliced rolls to spread it on for breakfast, but actually the rolls have some unknown orange stuff inside them, so we'll see how that goes. I'm all about the food adventures.

My language tutor finally called me back tonight! Her name is Joy and I get to meet her on Tuesday and I can just tell that she is going to be adorable. Hen hao! Oh and I called MIF this afternoon talked to lots of people and I miss everybody but it was funny because it was like 3 am there so everybody was a little sleepy. It was cute. Everybody should send me emails or something, I'd be happy to hear from you! You can IM me at silly times too, because they'll be normal times in Beijing...I'm 13 hours ahead of the US East Coast.

Time to take another stab at productivity...what what

Busy day, busy people!

I woke up on my own today at 6:40 and it was kind of awesome...jet lag has really kind of adjusted me very appropriately to the times I need to wake up here. This morning we had a huge awesome breakfast and then did team-building exercises, which were pretty awesome. Probably the best was the one where we had a big group of people and they'd tell us how many hands and feet we could have on the floor (it was a little Twisteresque), and we'd have to figure out how to support 13 people with, say, 8 feet and 6 hands. Wooo! After that we went to get our books and find out our courses. Soooo on the downside I have 8 am classes every morning and I can't take any electives because I'm not in a high enough level, but on the upside I have no Friday classes!! I never thought that would happen to me, especially not at Beijing we-work-so-hard Daxue. I'm thinking maybe this will allow me to take some sweet long weekend trips. Or just sleep a lot on some Fridays...hen hao!

So I went to lunch with some peeps, and we were looking for some pizza place, but we couldn't find it, so instead we went to a little hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant. It was pretty decent, and I had my first experience with the awesome public bathrooms that have no stall doors, as well as walls that are like 3 feet high. And no toilet paper. Hen hao! I was really worried about squatty potties before I left home but somehow once I got here they didn't faze me at all. Woo!

In the afternoon we went shopping in Wu Dao Kou, and I bargained for the first time ever. I wasn't very good, although I did talk her down more than 20 kuai from the original price, so I didn't feel like a total loser. Plus the sweatshirt I got is pretty awesome and has backwards letters and silly non-words on it. But bargaining made me feel flustered...I could feel my face turning pink as I did it, and it didn't help that my vocabulary isn't large enough to argue well or understand everything the vendor is saying to me. Oh well, practice makes perfect. There was soooo much clothing with hilarious Chinglish on it that I wanted to buy, but I didn't have the patience or stamina to bargain for it. Whatevs, I have lots more time here and I'll probably be better then anyway.

I still haven't met my language tutor...I have to call her sometime because she couldn't come to the meeting. I should probably do that soon. Tomorrow we are going to Tian'anmen and the Forbidden City! All kinds of touristy I'm sure, but I'm still excited. For some reason my camera batteries died even though I put in new ones yesterday, so I'm not very happy about that...bu hao bu hao!

These green tea cookies with peach chips are growing on me...I can't really taste any green-tea-ness, but the peach chips are pretty exciting. Oh man I ate so much food today. And every other day I've been here really. I think the family-style eating makes me eat more because there aren't set individual portions. Don't be surprised if I come back from China I've, like, doubled in size. The food here is good but Beijing cuisine is so oily! I kind of wish I had access to kitchen facilities...oh well. I should join the gym maybe, or hip hop club. Walking everywhere probably helps, but it makes my poor little feets hurt. Bu hao.

Jackie and I got lychee beer today in Wu-Mei...it's basically nonalcoholic but it is way delicious! Pretty much just like lychee-flavored soda. And lychee is hen tasty!

Mmmmmm well we are meeting at 8:30 tomorrow morning to leave for Tiananmen, so I'm-a go sleep now, even though everyone else just went out to some clubs to party down. I'm such an old fogey, but I don't want to be dead of sleep deprivation tomorrow for our day of walking around and seeing important things. There will be lots of other times for late night dance party action. Hen hao!

Beijing hen hao!!!!

Oh man it's been crazy times...there was a 14 hour flight, and then the airline losing one of my bags, and meeting lots of other students, and zillions of activities. I didn't get my backpack until last night, because the airline lost it and I had to go through this whole process to get it back and yesterday I went out and bought some of the stuff in my missing bag like razors and soap and almost as soon as I got back from shopping they called to say they had found my bag. I maintain that my buying things caused it to come, just like washing your car makes it rain.

There's been so much silliness in the past few days that I just can't remember it all...I've eaten tons of awesome food and seen even more really silly food items...today I bought "Mexican tomato chicken" flavored potato chips and green-tea-peach cookies. Also I ate jellyfish at lunch. It's a little weird texture but not bad.

Yesterday we took a placement test in the morning, which was really really hard and kind of demoralizing, to the point where I just gave up reading the reading comprehension passages because I was struggling so much and it wasn't helping me figure out the answers anyway...I placed into intermediate I written chinese and beginning II spoken, but I switched down into beginning II written as well once I saw the book. I'm not crazy about being in such a low level, but I think it's where I need to be to not be in over my head. Whatever.

After the test they sent us out in little groups on a scavenger hunt in the city of Beijing. I wasn't thrilled at first, because our tasks seemed really extensive, like finding out all the bus routes from a certain spot and then taking a bus to some shopping center, but it turned out to be all kinds of fun, and I spoke little bits of Chinese to people and it was awesome. We went to Carrefour, which is a French Wal-Mart style store, but of course all the stuff is labeled in Chinese with occasional English, so I had a crazy time buying things. I ended up getting mostly Chinese stuff because the American brands were so much more expensive. My sense of prices is changing rapidly...I'm like ew, 20 kuai, so expensive, even though it's like $2.50 American.

Time for dinner! More updates later! Hen hao!