I finally got a taste of "Dongpo Rou" - it was actually pretty delicious if you don't remind yourself that you just consumed a giant layer of fat... the flavor was nice...

And today was my first time to "Wai Po Jia" (lit. Grandma's house, ie The Grandma's). It was very interesting to say the least. There was a waterfall wall outside of the restaurant and inside the windows were tinted an interesting green... very trippy... but it was nice, despite the slow slow service... unbearably slow. I think it's because they didn't want us to wait for our dishes, but I don't think we would have minded... and besides, some of our food was cold when it came out =\ so not exactly the best call on their parts... 

But yes... today was Lele's roommate's birthday, so we sang happy birthday at the end of our meal... Imagine the stares we got at the restaurant. A table of 10 singing Happy Birthday in Chinese (8 foreigners, 7 looking like complete foreigners and 1 Chinese-looking one, ie me; and 2 Chinese people). The table behind us just looked over and started giggling, and then one lady had the intention of coming over to practice her English or to get a closer look at the foreigners, but I think she was a bit disappointed when she found out that it was a Chinese person's birthday 

*sigh* sometimes it boggles my mind when I see all these Chinese people oogle over my American peers, it's a bit unnecessary and to be honest quite uncomfortable, because usually after they stare amusingly at my white peers, they look at me and wonder why that Chinese girl is with them =\

but blah...

Anyways, I think I've procrastinated enough for today... now I must go study for my final tomorrow >< (I think I'm going to die *sigh*)

 Wow, it's been three weeks since I've updated this sucker... which means that the last time I updated it was around midterms... and now it's almost time for finals... oh how time flies ><

So much has happened, since that time, but I don't have the energy to think of it at the moment, or type it... I just figured, I'd update my blog for the sake of updating...

But since I'm already here, I'll just list a couple of things:

- Qian Dao Hu - my inner gambler shows herself... and she totally kicks ass =)
- Night Market on a rainy night... fun
- Trip to Suzhou
- Silk Market... I don't think I ever want to see silk ever again lol
- Impressions of Westlake
- My trip to the electronics store
- Apparently in China I'm not American... ever
- and the oh so sensitive subject of Taiwan is unavoidable ><

Anyways, if I think of anything, I'll post, but for now, Black & White, and then sleepies so I can wake up to start studying for finals >< 

加油！ =)

So our midterms will take place on Thursday, I think I'm going to cry. In addition to a written test, our oral test is basically a skit crammed with as many grammar patterns and vocabulary words as possible... I haven't read the entire draft yet, but based off what I and another group member has written... I'm wondering if even we will understand it lol

Anyways, the reason for my post today, because obviously, I should not be online right now, but instead studying for my upcoming midterm... I'm terribly upset over two things. First, I can't believe Asianfantics has been blocked by China... is it because it has articles that contain the word sex in it? (ie. Edison Chen article), or is it because they randomly offended your entertainment industry by writing more about Taiwanese idols than Mainland ones? If anything, maybe you should be more angry that there are more articles about Korean stars, seriously, wtf, I need my random Asian pop news =\

Secondly, I just heard through my internet grapevine that my recent favorite variety show (Mo Fan Bang Bang Tang) is going off air after three years. I think I'm going to cry... I love that show so much... I think I probably love the guys even more. I'll admit that they might be running out of things to do for the show tat will get the attention of the general audience, but as a fan, I still love it. *cry* what am I going to watch now!?! Don't leave me now bang bang tang! What will I watch now!? *sigh*... *tears EVERYWHERE!*

ugh... Anyways, yes, this is what my blog has become, and whine-fest because Facebook's status update is no longer available for my whining pleasure.

Anyways, after midterms, we're going to head to Qian Dao Hu (Thousand Island Lake) for the weekend. Apparently the first thing we're going to do when we get there Saturday is RAFTING! I'm super excited!!! I love it ^^ However, I don't know if i'm up for the 2.5 hour hike up the mountain. I wouldn't mind climbing, but I'm like super slow... and from my last hiking trip, I realize that in the month that I was hope, I became super out of shape lol But I think this had to do with the fact that I didn't anticipate the hike to be that long, or that there would be a continuous uphill feeling when we went to Long Jing Mountain (... btw, not really any sense of accomplishments... all we saw were a bunch of tea leaves... for the most part) =\ But maybe since I know it's going to be at least 2.5 hours long, I won't waste all my energy in the first 15 minutes, trying to overcome my psychological hatred towards uphill climbs and being behind people. Of I'll chill with whoever is going to be at the cafe at the foot of the mountain haha, update you on that later! =D

Anyways, I think I've finished pouting and I'm going to go watch something and then start studying, or go with Weizhi (Thomas) to eat shaved ice =D (apparently it's called "bao bing"... I've always know it as cua bing, with a Taiwanese pronunciation)

I hope my beloved friends will realize that I am no longer able to access facebook, and get on my Livejournal lol, but for some reason, I find that highly unlikely. Everyone's super busy during the summer, or blog reading isn't their thing (totally not mine). 

*Random thought:  After looking back just on this post, I realize that I'll never be able to be a "professional" blogger... I treat this too much like my diary. But then again, I'm writing this for me haha, which means I should probably take advantage and write more about my adventures instead of miniscule concerns that I'd probably have a hope whether or not I was in China. (mmm... minus being unable to access Facebook... Can you imagine how many angry Americans there would be?!)

<3

Is it my imagination or is my Chinese slowly improving without my knowing?! Or have I just become another teachers' pet o.O (let's hope it's the former ^^... I'm pretty sure it is, my teachers are very 公正 (just, impartial)... About 5 minutes ago, I found my graded weekly interview report on my clipboard. My eyes almost fell out when I saw the 96 on the back of the essay. I seriously don't know how I pulled that off, considering the amount of time I had to write the report and the amount of red marks I found on it. Although, looking back on the essay, I feel that a lot of those red marks apparently have to do with my love for the particle 的... (haha anyways). 

Anyways, what is my weekly interview report? As a part of my grade for my core Chinese class, I have to conduct interviews with local Chinese people on subjects related to what we have been talking about in class (usually facilitated by the textbook). The main goal of this report is not only to improve our writing (via our weekly reports), but also our conversational, as well as presentational skills. After we get our reports back, we  must present it to our class during what would be our afternoon one-on-one sessions.

Last week, I conducted an interview on cell phone use among "young" people in China. The scope of participants was students from three Zhejiang Tech University, one student from Zhejiang Business University, a school body guard, a random teacher in my roommate's dorm, and a random man that stopped me to ask for directions (of which I was unable to give, of course...) It's interesting to know what kinds of things you can use a cell phone for other than the basic:  calling, texting, web-surfing, news reading, mp3, game machine... You can apparently even read short stories on them during class... Now pray tell, why would you want to read a short story during class on a dinky cell phone screen. We're not talking about iPhone sized, or even Blackberry sized... we're talking regular, old-school phones... really? Really.... (Yes, really...)

Anyways, this week, I decided to conduct an interview on what "young people" in China think about marriage and having childern. At first I wanted to relate it to only children, but I found it less interesting, and decided it was a little funny to see some of my interviewees awkward reactions. My participants this week were a little less interesting. I asked some of my "teachers" from the CET office and then some of our Chinese roommates. But I think that asking them really gave me a wide spectrum of viewpoints in respect to this subject... and because of this, it also left a lot of unanswered questions. As many of you might know, China has the infamous "One Child Policy" - which mandates that all families are only allowed to give birth once (without having to pay a fine - usually quite heavy, like a year's salary or something). [I'm pretty sure miscarriages don't count, etc] There are, however, loopholes, ie. twins, etc. But also, if both you and your husband/wife are only children, you are allowed to have up to two children. So lucky you, you only children of China - start repopulating your overcrowded (?) country! =) ^^;; (okay sorry, that was mean and aggressive... but we all need somewhere to vent, and my usually space has been indefinitely blocked by the Chinese government... anyways!)

But yes, I found out that all of my interviewees would like to have at least two children, one girl and one boy if possible. Also, my interviewees were quite 開放 (open, accepting of new ideas). Most were okay with the idea of 同居 (two people living together) and 試婚 (two people living together with the intentions of getting married - ie trial marriage), if not for themselves, but for others. Also, from my investigation, its obvious that many of the family structures have fallen away from the "traditional" Chinese family structure (ie. at least 3 generations under one roof). After finding this out, it somehow makes me feel very traditional, very weird, but very special... kinda like a museum haha... well not me personally, but my mom's side of the family. But for some reason, I think that once my generation's children start growing up, this kind of family structure will probably break down, and my mother's side of the family will probably be reduced to the "nuclear" family. It's a pity, but at the same time, it's interesting to watch this phenomena happen before my eyes. 

Before I wrap up and return to reading my newspaper article and classical Chinese story (btw, 文言文 (classical chinese) kicks my butt everyday =\ I cry). I just thought I'd mention that this weekend, I and a couple of my American classmates took a trip to Xitang - I'd call it China's Little Venice (I think Wu Zheng would probably be China's "Venice" but I haven't been, so I can't say). I'm kinda glad we went there instead of Shanghai, because I was pooped from all the traveling lol, that and I had my report due by 9pm tonight. So... smart decision?) lol Anyways, Xitang was fun, and once I get a chance, I'll find a site that won't get blocked - maybe photobucket?, and I'll post up some of my more worthy pictures in my blog. I took like a million pictures when I was at Xitang, manly landscape, but I also took a couple of videos) Let's just say Xitang really had a Chinese feel to it. Also, I think I have some sun spots... =\ Am I going to die? Gotta start busting out that umbrella/sunscreen more often. (Note to self, see dermatologist when I get back to the States, lol... I'm slightly worried, but *sigh* what can I do?)

Anyways, I'm off to newspaper article and story reading and poem memorizing... I've already memorized 4 relatively 經典 (classical) poems... I'm feeling more Chinese already, if I wasn't already feeling Chinese enough lol

晚安 ('night)

 haha, okay so I don't miss Facebook that much, but it's just weird because it's my go-to site for when I'm bored. "What? Can't think of anything to do, type in facebook and see what "fun" games I can play or what have people been posting, etc etc" But now that it's gone, I can't think of where else I can go to procrastinate for 5 minutes lol

Message to my beloved friends who read my blog:
This means that I no longer have access to your physical addresses and therefore cannot send you any sort of correspondence. to some extent, this makes me feel really sad as in 难过, like sad *cry* because I won't be able to accomplish my "dream" of sending a postcard (haha). But also, at the same time, it makes me feel sad, as in pathetic because it makes me realize just how reliant I've become on Facebook for my daily needs. To some extent, I knew that there was a slight possibility that China would block Facebook for some random reason, on the other hand, I didn't think that anything would happen during the six short weeks that I would be here, but 人算不如天算 (lit. People's calculation (of the future) is no match for heaven's plans (for the future)... something like that haha)

So yes, if you don't get anything, and I don't reply to you on Facebook, I hope you check my blog to see that indeed I am still alive, and that I have no way of getting to Facebook. We could still communicate via email if y'all wish, you can find my email on Facebook, since you all can access it =) I look forward to our correspondence, and possibly addresses? lol

Why can't I get on Facebook?
Just in case you guys don't know... In the past few days, there was some uprisings in Xinjiang (northwestern China) and because the Chinese government doesn't want these types of uprisings happening again, or because they don't want people to transmit information/opinions outside of China, they decided to block Facebook and Twitter within China. The Chinese government likes doing stuff like that. Every once in a while, Google will be blocked, or maybe the system overloaded, but I highly doubt that.

Nonetheless, I think this is a very interesting experience. Before coming to China, I knew that China had already blocked Youtube and some blog sites like Blogspace and Blogger. But I didn't think I'd be witness to the restriction of Facebook haha (but I guess it makes sense, considering the government's control on the internet).

[I'm just slightly bitter, from a lacking-Facebook and a non-Facebook-related reason.] Recently I read a bunch of Chinese articles (for class) in regards to their Green Dam program. It's basically an elaborate filter program that the Chinese government bought a year contract for, which basically filters out porn sites and anything that might potentially be dangerous to underage netizens. (The good thing about this program is that it will conduct updates to add more X-rated sites to the list as it comes up). However, this program has really large holes in it. Apparently Garfield is highly inappropriate/seductive, etc in the eyes of Green Dam... I mean sure Garfield can be a little sarcastic sometimes, but seductive? I don't know... maybe he wanted that lasagna in a different way... let's hope not =\  But anyway, the big issue with Green Dam is that the Chinese government originally planned on mandating that manufacturers put this software in the computer as one of the preset programs. Of course, netizens have the choice of whether or not they want to install this program. But once they install this program, not only will X-rated sites be filtered out, but so will other sites like Twitter, QQ (Chinese MSN/Twitter), Kaixin wangzhan/Xiaonei (Chinese Facebook), Youku (Chinese Youtube). And because the software can be updated, the government (who has a one year contract with Green Dam) has the ability to add sites to their list of "inappropriate" sites. This was supposed to be implemented on July 1st, but due to manufacturing reasons, software problems etc, the program has not been installed. 
I don't know, it feels kinda complicated, but I have this feeling that there are a lot of young people who aren't going to care for this program, and after the year is up, the issue might just completely disappear... but whatever, I don't know haha

On to happier things ^^ - School & speaking Chinese
haha okay, so I lie. Classes are okay, we're learning a lot of random things, and writing essays everyday and conducting interviews and investigations every week. I honestly think I'm going to die lol. As I might have mentioned before, one class day here is equivalent to five class days in the regular semester, which means we're going to have our midterms next week. Can you believe it !?!? I can't =\ But I think it'll be fun, we're going to have a performance for the oral portion (I think I'm going to cry haha) I mean I think I'll enjoy, but still... 

Sometimes I don't know how I should speak my Chinese... like I know I should aim to speak it better, but I feel that if I try to imitate the "putonghua" accent too quickly, I might inadvertently insult someone because they might think that I'm poking fun or something, or they might think that I'm being ridiculous. It's not that I can't speak Chinese in this way, I can, I just feel like I would only use it in a comedic fashion... *rawr* I don't know. 

But I guess it doesn't matter, because it feels like my Chinese is getting worse anyways haha. Today, I think I randomly reached my quota and spat out a bunch of English. I've been able to hold it in for the past two weeks, but today, it just all had to come out. I could feel it... my Chinese was getting slower, and my reaction time was getting slower... rawr, four more weeks of Chinese (I complain now, but I know I'm going to miss this feeling of constantly speaking Chinese...)

Another reason I think my Chinese is getting worse is because of who I hang out with. I'm not saying that the people I hang out with's Chinese is bad, in fact, I actually admire them for being able to speak Chinese so well for someone who has only been learning Chinese for about 1-3 years. (For me, it's been a long and tedious road, in which I have a love-hate relationship with the Chinese language - at the moment, I'm going to say that I have a lukewarm to mild hate relationship with my Chinese haha) But a lot of the students have the typical foreign accent. Now I'm not saying they always have it, nor that it's their fault. I'm just saying that I have a retarded personality, which likes to pick up random habits and speech patterns, etc - how else do you think I learned Chinese, I picked up words, phrases, attitudes from watching dramas and variety shows! But because I'm hanging out with them, my Chinese pronunciation and intonation is slowly being influenced by them, I think. Or maybe my Chinese just wasn't that great to begin with, and with the addition of my retarded personality, I've just doomed my Chinese to the depths of its existence =\

I'm not from China, okay? I'm AMERICAN!
Now, speaking of Chinese... every time I talk to someone in Chinese, my language skills are complimented... but I don't know... maybe it's just me, but I'm not satisfied with myself. I feel that in regards to being a foreigner and in comparison to my peers who are in the lower levels, my Chinese level is indeed pretty good. But being here, I feel that my Chinese is still NOT good enough. In fact, I think it's getting worse =\. But when people mistake me for being Chinese, I feel that they might judge me as someone from the deep south of China. I have this feeling that there is a similar sort of judgement passed on southern Chinese people like the sort of judgement passed on southern American people - uneducated country bumpkin. (Why do I assume this? Because my Chinese sounds very southern in terms of words, speed and accent).

Because I'm Asian, I am inevitably mistaken for a local - and usually, when I travel with my white classmate friends, I receive the local treatment (ie. we don't need to treat you better because you don't LOOK American - speaking of which, people in China can't tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese and Korean... they all pretty much mesh together - if they can't quite pinpoint your accent, you're Xinjiang, or from some place not part of China major) Anyways, so when I'm traveling with my white friends pack, everyone assumes that I'm Chinese... it can be frustrating... but interesting for the amusement purposes. Let's use the noodle shop example:
One day, I went out with my Chinese roommate to eat noodles. We went to this place outside West gate (noodles weren't that great... kinda oily). When I ordered in Chinese, the hostess asked me where I was from (ie. where in China are you from?) I told her I was from the States... her jaw almost unhinged haha She and a lot of people have this common reaction. (What? American people can look Chinese too? Yes... yes we can) While we were waiting for our food, she kept staring at me, like she had never seen an Asian American before. It was an amusing feeling... now i know how my white peers feel, sorta...

Speaking of this instance brings up the amusement I feel when I witness the local Chinese people stare at my white peers when we walk by. I always laugh a little when I see a local take a second look or stare incessantly - and it never ceases to amuse me. 

But more on that later... I think I've babbled on for a long time >< And I'm a little tired of hearing me rant...

More on stuff later. Going to go rest up for tomorrow. Some of us are going to this place called Xitang, it's like Chinese Venice, or at least that's what the pictures makes it looks like. More on that later ^_^

Peace out y'all

So apparently it's been a week since my last post... 

A lot of random things have happened since then, but I can't remember them all, nor do I have time to talk about them all =\

Why? Because 1 week = almost an entire month of classes, believe it or not, which can only mean that we're being overworked, this is abuse I say, abuse lol

Right now, I'm just going to list a couple of topics that I've been meaning to talk about, but haven't had time to, 
- Foot massage
- People's confusion over my being American
- Oral test of death
- Mountain climb of death
- The Case of the Missing Dragon-Phoenix Boat
- The rocky boat ride
- Taiji class =)

But I guess, the main reason I've decided to finally post in my blog is because Facebook is DOWN in China. Why? Because of the recent events in XinJiang, it makes me laugh a little, but at the same time, I feel really sad, because I truly live a sad life, because I think I check Facebook at least 3-4 times a day, rawr

But anyways, just wanted to have a place to post ^_^

Time to do homework =D *cry* -_-

Hello my journal, and any of my dear friends reading my journal, 

I have finally settled into my room (ie unpacked my suitcases) and my Chinese roommate just moved in this morning! Gosh, there are so many things to write about, but I'm not sure where to start. But let's just start and see what happens =)

The Weather

Well, if you look at a map of the world, you'll notice that Shanghai/Hangzhou is around the same latitude as Houston, so as you can imagine, it's really hot, or at least it was. After the rain two days ago, it's been pretty humid and muggy, but still a pretty constant 85-90ish, so lovely, as you can imagine =\ In Hangzhou around campus, many people find ways to avoid and adapt to the heat. Many women where hats and use sun umbrellas. Men like to walk around half naked, or have their shirt half-lifted (it's actually really hilarious). And if anyone's curious, yes tons of these half-naked men have farmers tans lol. 

The Traffic & Transportation
So I've always thought that we have crazy and angry drivers in the states, but you know it's bad when a BIKE tries to run you over. There are cars, scooter and motor bikes everywhere. Bikes and scooter/motorbikes have their own lane and traffic light, but every once in a while, I'll see a car go into the lane and wonder if they want to die - I've seen horrible looks shot in many directions. While walking to the bank today, my roommate told me, if you're ever walking and you see a car not stopping even though it's your turn, just let the car go, it's not worth fighting it. Of course, you should also be aggressive while walking the streets of Hangzhou as well because if you let people go ahead of you, you might never get where you want to go. So be cautious and aggressive, just like the traffic haha. Oh, and sometimes the sidewalks aren't really the safest places either. Why? Cars and motor bikes like to get onto the sidewalks so that they can park their vehicle, I think a couple have used it as a detour... ^^;;

On the way to Hangzhou from the airport, at first glance of Hangzhou, I immediately thought of Gongguan in Taiwan - the traffic, the public transportation set up and the people on the streets. However, it was not too long after that I immediately changed my mind haha. As our passenger van was serving in and out of traffic, I thought I was going to die, honestly I think my life flashed before my eyes several times >< ^^;; In addition, my first impression of Hangzhou traffic was a car that had run into a city bus - like almost the middle of the bus - and the two drivers were arguing outside at ground zero. I don't know how anyone could manage to do that, but I've seen several so far, so... hmm.. haha


The People - Chinese
This really depends as it does for everywhere else, but for the most part, the people are ok haha. If you're nice to them, there isn't really a reason for them to hate you. Although... this brings me to another point...

The Staring
Now, I know that these people aren't staring at me - most definitely not. For the past couple of days, we CET students have travelled in packs, and let's just say, even though while we're walking on the streets, I look like I'm part of the majority, I'm definitely part of minority. So as you can imagine, a group of White Caucasian students walking down the streets of Hangzhou, where spotting a foreigner (at least during the summer) is like finding change in your pocket while doing your laundry, there aren't very many of them. So as we walk in groups, or even stand outside a store/vendor to determine prices and stuff, there will be tons of stares from people off the streets (sidewalks and from scooters and motorbikes). It's almost comedic. Many of the people in the program aren't used to the stares. 

To be honest, I'm not really used to the staring either, at least not those few that are directed at me. For the most part, I love observing those that are staring at my Caucasian classmates, it's just funny how blatant these people are, but I guess seeing a foreigner here is like trying to a find a place to uturn on the feeder in Austin, far and few in between. So those stares I've been ok with, and have even considered trying to conduct and experiment with (haha) 

But sometimes, I hate having to travel in packs with my fellow classmates. Sometimes while with them, I forget that I look just like the people that are staring at them. And of course, because I look like I'm Chinese, I'm going to be treated as if I'm Chinese, which isn't exactly the greatest feeling if you've already seen a bunch of your peers who went ahead of you being given the greatest treatment ever. But it's completely understandable, I've just got to learn to accept it because it's not worth fighting it, at least not in this heat. But what I can't stand are the stares from while I'm walking with them and talking to my American peers. Sometimes I feel like the Chinese people around me might think I'm trying to show off, or think that I'm better than them because I'm one of the two or three Asians hanging out with a giant group of Whites. I don't know, it's frustrating, but I'll get over it because I'm not whatever it is they think I am. I'm freakin' American y'all! And to top it off, I'm TEXAN! XP

The People - Program Participants

They're really great people, hanging out with them makes me forget that I look exactly like everyone else. Although since our language pledge - which was yesterday night - I haven't really talked to any of them as much. But then again, everyone else is probably hanging with their roommates, or getting some things done - ie HOMEWORK ><

But ya, they're great people. There are three people from Texas - UT, including myself. And just today, I saw another UT person, he came to visit one of the other participants. I thought my eyes were going crazy when I saw him haha It's nice to see many familiar faces here. 

Anyways, I can't wait to have time to hang out with these guys =)

The Language Pledge
So this wonderful program that we're in has what is called a "Language Pledge". It basically reads, "I will not speak any English until my graduation from the CET program." This means that we are not allowed to speak English to anyone within earshot of teachers, coordinators or other participants. However, we can speak English in the privacy of our own room, if for example someone from the States call, but not within earshot of teachers or coordinators. If we do, it could ultimately lead to expulsion from the program. 

This strict enforcement of the language pledge was one of the reasons I really wanted to join this program. But after talking to one of the people in the program, I realized that the method that I used while in CIEE worked pretty well too, which was a sort of language exchange. But it's understandable why this is in place for this program - after all, it is an INTENSIVE LANGUAGE program.

However, the (I guess you could call it this) "up side" is that we are allowed to spell words. I know they don't want us to use English, but I think this is a hilarious way to find a way around it. But I think that it makes a lot of sense too because there are many words in Chinese that are spelled out, so it kinda gives it that "feeling", but it also makes us consider our communication skills. Is it really worth the time to spell? Would it be better if I just tried to spell the word thing out?

However, if any of you guys call me from the states I'll be able to speak to you in English ^^, we might also be able to do some online talking, but I'm not positive, I don't think I want to risk that yet, I'll have to make sure with others to see if they're doing that. 

The Roommate
She's pretty awesome, and so are her friends. Her name is Chen Xing and is going to be a 4th year in the following semester. I can't figure out what the English equivalent for her major is, but basically it has to do with food sanitation and such. She and her friends are pretty awesome. I have heard stories about people encountering Chinese people that seem "ignorant" to world affairs or stubborn in their beliefs of certain things, but Chen Xing and her friends are actually very open and accepting of many things. Among many things is the issue of Taiwan. Speaking of which, she also speaks Minnan Chinese (ie, pretty much Taiwanese, minus some words, which I thought was pretty awesome. But I don't think I'm allowed to speak to her in anything except Chinese anyways, so I'm not going to try haha (You don't know how many times I've been tempted to add random words of Taiwanese in there >< it's been excruciatingly painful, but that's what I'm here for, to make my Chinese better, not my half Chinese, half Taiwanese skills lol

Also, I just found out one of her friends loves Fahrenheit haha I think we'll have some to talk about after I've gotten out of my awkward phase ^^;;

The Room
The room is semi-reminiscent of living in Kinsolving, or just a dorm I guess. There are two beds along the wall, two desks, each facing a wall and a big window. There is also a cooing/semi-heating system - ie our lifesaver in deathly hot weather. (For the past couple of days it has created a little haven I can return to after my long travels haha

Differences, these are all moveable pieces of furniture and we have a balcony where we can stand an smoke if need be, and dry our clean laundry. We also have a bathroom in our room. There's a sink, mirror and toilet. We also have a shower area which is enveloped in a curtain, yes you read correctly, it's just an area. And for the first couple of days I had the "greatest" time trying to figure out how to make water NOT splash everywhere. Now, I'm just trying to figure out how to turn the hot water on =\ I did take a couple of hot showers, but for the past couple of days, I've just been living with a cold shower. It's better than no shower at all. (You can get unbearably nasty just standing next to an open door. Hell if I just turned my AC off, I'm sure I would just DIE from dehydration ><)

We don't have a mini-fridge or a microwave like we would in the dorms back home, but we do have a kitchen across the hall with three decent sized fridges, microwave, hot plate and some pots and pans. Next door is our laundry facility. The washers and dryers are super tiny, but I'm sure they'll get the job done... at least in terms of washing; as for drying... well, that's what the balcony is for (haha -_-)
Even though we don't have a fridge, we constantly have clean water to drink, we have a mini water cooler, and at the bottom there's a tiny fridge where I have kept my beverages for the past couple of days because I haven't bought a cup yet. 

It's a little simple, but it's nice, I like it in my room. Also, unlike the beds in Taiwan, we actually have a real mattress lol. The mattress is a little hard, but they have kindly put in a mattress pad for us, as well as given us sheets, pillow and a blanket. 

The Food
It's been ok. I haven't really had a desire to eat. It's not that i have no appetite, I think it's just I don't know. Don't get me wrong, I do get hungry when I haven't eaten all day, I just can't seem to make myself eat that much when I'm at a table, but I haven't gone insane and bought a lot of chips or anything yet. But we'll see. 

I haven't really found anything that has wowed my taste buds, but the weather hasn't exactly been terribly inviting either. So, we'll see... maybe I overloaded on Chinese food at home, despite the fact that I tried terribly hard to avoid it before i left >< *cry*

Classes
They haven't started yet, but they're making me cry already haha

Classes haven't even started yet and we already have homework. Apparently one day here is equivalent to 5 days back home, so it's super intense. I think they said that we're supposed to be doing a year's worth in one summer. But I feel like it's about a semester and a half, because usually we'll cover a little over 10, but that's not important. 

Everyone schedules basically looks like this:
0800 - 0850 - Quiz, Grammar and Content
0900 - 0950 - Pattern / Situational Drills
1000 - 1050 - Media Chinese
1100 - 1150 - Business or Literary Chinese - I opted to take Literary, I don't know, I just don't really feel like taking Business =\
- The academic coordinator joked and said it was because I didn't like money, I laughed, but was a little offended. I mean maybe I should have taken business, but I don't want to =\ I will if I have no choice, but you know, choices... I don't know rawr =\

1200 - 1250 - Lunch
1300 - 1450 - One-on-one practicum
- 30 minutes of time with one of our teachers to talk about problems or practice, etc. My time is after 2 for the first week. I'm not sure about weeks after, but ya. 

Then of course, we'll have testing on Fridays. I think I'm going to die >< But hopefully, my Chinese will be awesome when I'm done lol

Time to be semi-productive...
Okay, well I think I will stop here for now. I'm not really sure what else to say at the moment. If my dear friends would like to comment, I think you might need a livejournal account, but you can sign up for that easily. Also, if you would like to know anything, let me know, I'll definitely mention it =)

Anyways, gotta go do five days worth of homework now *cry*

tags: cet, classes, food, hangzhou, language pedge, locals, roommate, shanghai, traffic, transportation, weather