Well, I started school two weeks ago (on labor day). I've been really busy since then. I have class 4 hrs a day, with 4+ hours of homework each night. The homework isn't hard, but just takes awhile. I am learning 50-75 new characters a day (although a lot of them are actually review), plus writing about 2 essays (1 pg) a night, plus 2 texts to read/listen to. I'm in the lowest level (I think), which is really frustrating. Most of the stuff we're learning I've already learned. While reviewing is good and beneficial, I need to be challenging myself much more if I have any hope of surviving next year when I audit courses at Xi'an Jiaotong University (I'll be auditing politics & gender studies courses at the undergrad and grad level, all in Chinese). It's too late to switch classes, but in my individual 1-on-1 class, my teacher said we could work on extra material. While I'd love to do that, I don't really have time to be preparing extra work so we'll see how that goes. Since the semester is broken up into 2 "modules" (8 wks each), I will get to change classes in mid-November so hopefully I can switch into something more challenging then.
Other highlights from the last two weeks:
-Got my bike stolen on Day 3 of classes so I had to walk 45 minutes to get to class, even though I only allowed time for a 15 min bike ride. Yikes. Don't worry, I got a new one already. And I bought 2 locks, although one of the locks was stolen the first day I got it. Goes to show you how secure my lock was...
-Went to dinner with Beijing Fulbrighters last Friday at 海底捞, which is an amazing Hot Pot Restaurant (hot pot is when you put lots of food in a boiling pot w/ various broth flavors, then dip the cooked food in delicious make-your-own sauces. Kinda like "oil" fondue). 海底捞 is one of those Hot Pot places with great service, which includes free manicures, games, noodle dancing shows (the guy takes one ball of dough and stretches it into a really long noodle through interpretive dances. Then you get to eat the noodle), and more. It's amazing. We unfortunately didn't have time for a manicure, but I'll be going again soon for that purpose specifically.
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| We wore aprons so we wouldn't splash on our clothes. Hot Pot is a messy business. |
-Had some delicious Indian food last Saturday near my apartment. Good to know. Also learned how to play Settlers of Qatan, great game.
-Volunteered at Cafe Bridge to Get Out the Vote for the 2012 election. (We're there every Saturday and Sunday from 2-6pm on the 3rd floor so come if you want to register to vote!) We help people get registered, print out, and mail their absentee ballots using votefromabroad.org
-Tuesday night I went to a Democratic Convention Watch party with the Democrats in Beijing. We watched Bill, Michelle, and Barack's speeches. After those speeches, I really wish the ticket was Bill & Michelle, but I guess Barack will have to do. It was really cool watching the speeches from Beijing though. I think many Americans don't truly realize how lucky we are to chose our own leaders, and that we can actually be involved in politics. It's certainly a foreign concept here, literally. Also, how many citizens from other countries are so involved in their home country's policies overseas? I think the fact that Americans abroad still care and want to participate in home politics demonstrates the empowering nature of American Democracy. Ok, that's enough of my American Nationalism...Also Obama mentioned China twice and Beijing once in his speech, which goes to show how important this awesome country is over here (although I didn't appreciate the anti-China jabs. I felt like the Chinese government was going to storm in and arrest us all just for listening to that in a public space here, haha).
-Post DNC Watch party, I headed to the airport to pick up my bestie and now Beijing Roomie- ZAN!!!!!!!!
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| The sign says "Roomie & Bestie!!!" Lots of American businessman kept looking at my sign when I was waiting for her. It was hilarious. |
And bedding (yes, she biked home with it on her arm):
It's soooo great to have my roomie here! She's already met all my Beijing friends and is making serious progress on art internships & english teaching jobs! So amazing. We're already having a blast.
-Went to Ikea two weeks ago. It was insane. Most Ikeas are set up with little sample rooms to show you how things work together, but you're not supposed to take stuff from there or mess with them, right? Well not in China. People were sleeping in the beds, filling their carts with pillows so their babies (well, only their 1 baby of course) could sleep. Just total chaos. It was great. Plus the had the Swedish cafeteria! Check it out, Swedish meatballs:
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| I'm totally getting these meatballs for Christmas. |
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| My new Ikea bedding! The mattress pad is amazing. |
-My landlord is actually being nice to me now!! She came over this week (after several missed appts during which she just never showed up), and actually made an effort to get to know me. She has since decided that I'm very good at Chinese and was impressed when I explained the Fulbright to her. She helped Zan get registered only 1 day late, and is actually fixing my broken window (I convinced here I was afraid it wasn't safe by appealing to her motherly tendencies. Also we had just finished talking about the USC murders of those Chinese girls this spring). And she agreed to mount my shower head (the tape version I made hasn't held up so well...)
-Mass anti-Japanese protests planned for this weekend outside the embassy. Don't worry everyone, I'll stay clear.
Going on a field trip tomorrow, club opening and friend's birthday party tomorrow night, US foreign policy speech next week- lots of fun to come!
Hot Pot place sounds amazing. We need one of those here for sure.
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