School

I’m still alive.

And I’m still in China.

There is a saying in China, “The mountains are tall and the emperor is far away.” This is true today. What Beijing says doesn’t seem to always matter. Visa has been relatively smooth, besides a full health exam (with xrays, sonograms, and EKGs) and tons of paperwork.

The verdict is still out, however. Ted, the student assistant here, went down today to get it, but it was closed for shouxi, the siesta like lunch time. So he waited, then went over when it opened again and they said, “Come back Thursday.” So he gave me my stuff back and said, “You’re going by yourself next time.”

So Thursday afternoon, I’ll go down to the PSB office and pick up my passport and new visa. Of course, this could change on a moment’s notice.

Other than that, things are well. Everyone arrived on Wednesday and classes started… you guessed it, Wednesday. Our first quiz on Chinese was on Wednesday. Characters, writing characters, Pinyin, and dictation.

Welcome to China.

I’m loving it. I’m learning a lot already. My biggest joy was when I went and had to get a light bulb for my lamp. I didn’t know the correct word, but I knew the word for lamp. So I found a place that sold lamps and motioned inside for the bulb. The shopkeeper knew exactly what I needed. I took it, looked at it, told her I thought this was good and asked the price. I gave her the bill, and after getting change I asked her how to say this (the bulb). Voila, I just learned a knew word. These things make me happy.

It is beautiful here, but bloody hot. I’ll eventually get some photos up.

Posts will likely be shorter now, but I’ll try to keep up some regularity. Studying for bloody Chinese quizzes takes a lot. I’m one of five (out of twenty) who decided to do the extra level of Chinese. I do feel like I’ve cheated, because I know most of the words we’re learning. My pronunciation is terrible, so luckily that is improving.

Whoooo.

Zaijian.