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.