Life without Facebook...
 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