"if you come across a robber, handle it calmly (such as throw your wallet on the ground and run in the opposite direction)"

Blogspot has been unblocked! Thanks, China. I'm glad we could talk this out.

Shopping in China is different in a couple of ways. Pretty much everything's cheaper, with some imported exceptions (peanut butter is kind of ridiculous), and you have to bring your own bag or else buy one at the register. There's an entire section dedicated to cooking oil: five-gallon jugs of various brands and varieties, which I originally mistook for apple juice. And of course, there are the different food products:

tastes like...er. anyway.

Chicken Rings (the Chinese literally translates to "chicken-flavored ring") are about as delicious as they sound, which is to say I'm glad they were on sale when I bought them. That having been said, though, there are a number of /wonderful/ things I've never seen before, my favorite of which is basically spicy Chex Mix minus everything but the actual Chex. Delicious.

Last but not at all least: 物美 has an escalator without stairs? It's like a moving walkway, but at about a 20 degree angle, and the novelty of riding it hasn't worn off yet. Every time I'm on it I want to take a picture, but I'm worried someone will get mad at me. And even if I took a picture, you probably wouldn't understand how cool it is.

More adventures in wearing an OOTB t-shirt: someone noticed me in the hallway today and asked if I was from Oxford's Out of the Blue. After taking a moment to clear up the confusion, I found out he's in the SoCal VoCals! We spent a while talking about various a cappella things and made plans to hang out later this week. It was interesting to hear about the workings of another group, even if it was just a bit. (They've got a new album coming out this fall that they've been working on for one and a half years, now -- apparently competing in the ICCAs keeps a group busy.)

On a related note, I almost went and saw the Whiffenpoofs sing at the Yale Club in Beijing, but it was really expensive and I had nothing to wear and a giant pile of work to do. So that didn't pan out. Which is too bad -- I would've liked to see David.

Our text book has spanned some interesting topics this week. Recent lesson titles:
- 一次性产品
- 防盗和防火
- 我不给乞丐钱
- 打官司
I like that it's a little eccentric. The dialogues are usually a little simplistic (one person is for, and one is against), but they give enough vocab to help form your own argument. Which is very cool. It's nice to be able to have a conversation in Chinese about something like welfare reform and get your point across.

I'm having dinner with my Yale Chinese teacher tonight, and with my high school Chinese teacher (who's currently in Beijing) this weekend. Teacher madness! It will probs be pretty sweet.

now in technicolor

As promised:

artsy architectural shot! (i.e. taken out of my dorm room window)

That is, in fact, the sky's normal color. Today was the first exception -- beautiful weather, solid blue sky though still with a strong gray tinge at the bottom. I got a sunburn as a result. Need to think about that next time.

I'm horrible about taking pictures, so that's all I have for now. Other random discoveries:
- Kurt Schneider's roommate is here? He recognized my Out of the Blue shirt and asked about it. Nice to know OOTB has name recognition overseas :P
- I've had quite a few good conversations with my language partner now, probably the most fun of which was an impassioned discussion about various movies (particularly "Amelie", which we both love). Also: I tried to explain "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" in Chinese? I think I got the main idea across, but hell, that movie's hard to explain in English.
- An HTML note: I've discovered the ACRONYM tag! Basically, from this point on I'll be starting to use Chinese characters in these posts, but if you hover over said characters with your mouse, a box should pop up with pronunciation and an English translation. So...hooray!
- Not using English was hella hard for the first 24 hours of the language pledge, but has become second nature surprisingly quickly. I thought little reflexive outbursts (e.g. "Sorry!") would be hard to overcome, but I've already replaced expressions with their Chinese counterparts (e.g. 对不起). I can do this.
- The 饺子 stand down the street from here is my new favorite place. Three 饺子 cost one yuan, which is to say that each dumpling costs about a nickel, and they're absolutely /delicious/. (I've never really liked dumplings before, but these things are just too good to pass up.) It's become my default stop when I don't have time for a sit-down meal: I can assemble a tasty, filling lunch or dinner for under an American dollar. Sweet deal, that.

Anyway, that's about all for now. Some people are planning to go out later tonight; I'm pretty tired from wandering around 王府井 all afternoon, so a friend and I are planning to stay in and watch "The Fox and the Hound" instead. I hear all the cool kids are doing it.


P.S. I only just realized I'm getting comments! Forgive me if I don't reply individually -- things are a bit hectic, and I'm sure I'll have a chance to talk to you all once I get back. Love you, though :)

it's taken me three days to access blogger and post this! woo!

Seeing as how I just finished my first day of classes, I suppose I should probably start blogging, eh?

Various thoughts, since I've gotten here:
- Is that fog? I hope it's fog. I mean, it has to be fog.
- It's not fog. Holy dang.
- I've had a few stunted conversations with actual bei3jing1ren2 so far, but they've all been sort of stumbling on my part. I'm hoping I come across as awkwardly endearing, but I'm guessing I just come across as awkward. Ah well. Smoothness will come with time.
- I like my roommate...even though I've forgotten his name. (Don't tell him.) He's Korean and he goes to UWash/St. Louis, which has quite a few people here. Also: he's cousins with Grace Kim, who was in my math class this year and who I pulled all-nighters with on a regular basis second semester. Small world.
- The Internet, unfortunately, is /horrendously/ slow, and since it requires a login, only one person per room can use it at a time. On the other hand: I have Internet! I can read all my favorite websites...in China! I can email my mother and tell her I'm fine, don't worry...in China! I can waste away my life on Facebook...in China!
- An addendum: Blogspot is blocked at the moment, so I'm currently using GLadder (a Firefox extension; "the Great Ladder to climb over the Great Firewall") to get around that -- hopefully that'll get me through the next two months. If this blog suddenly drops dead, that's probably why.
- Ordering food in Chinese is kind of like Russian Roulette, except that when you lose at Russian Roulette at least you know what you're getting. Everything I've had so far is pretty good, but I feel like it's only a matter of time before I accidentally order something...memorable. (Also, I feel bad for the handful of vegetarians in the group, who are basically restricted to rice, veggies, and tofu. Sorry, guys.)
- Apple Fanta. APPLE FANTA. It's three yuan, it's neon green, and it's freakin' DELICIOUS. Why does the US not have this? I don't usually drink soda, and I would buy this by the /case/. Hell, I may bring a case home with me come August. China is AWESOME.
- Classes were actually really good today, although I imagine having four to five hours of Chinese class a day will lose its novelty eventually. We're doing a lesson a day, so I have 50 or so new characters to learn tonight...just like yesterday :P
- My one-on-one teacher complimented me on my pronunciation. It made me inordinately happy.
- SO MANY BICYCLES.
- The language pledge begins on Wednesday, after which English is BANNED from the premises. As in, we reserve the right to expel you from the program if we catch you using it three times over the next two months. Mildly disconcerting, that. I imagine it'll do wonders for my Chinese, though, which is the point of this whole exercise. I'm actually looking forward to it. (Also, I got a special exception for singing alone in my room -- I know at some point in this trip I will emotionally /need/ to jam out to MEE.)
- Our initial meeting was pretty awkward, but now that I've gotten to know my language partner, she seems really nice. (She's a student here at the university; we're supposed to spend an hour a day talking in Chinese about various subjects.) Tonight we discussed: the Chinese and American educational systems, our families, a mutual love of Ireland, the name 'Phoenix', and Egyptology, among other things. Tomorrow we're meeting at 11:00 and getting jiao3zi (dumplings) for lunch while we talk. It's gonna be /sweet/.
- My foot itches.

Initial impressions: Beijing is pretty great I guess? I haven't been off-campus enough to make any real judgments about the city. This weekend we're going to tian1an1men2 (Tian'anmen Square) and gu4gong1 (the Forbidden City), which should be a pretty good introduction to the culture, and I'll build from there.

I need to go buy batteries for my camera down at wu4mei3 ("Wu Mart") sometime tomorrow, and then hopefully I'll be able to start posting pictures! That way you too can see that fog-that-isn't-fog. Hoo boy.

filler!

So apparently I'm going to China?


Who knew?