China=Zhongguo

I'm getting used to classes, and I really like my conversation professor, Zheng Laoshi. Laoshi (lao sounds like "allow" and shi sounds like "sure" (The Beijing accent puts an "r" sound in a lot of places it shouldn't really go, because shi ought to sound like "ship" with out the p, but it doesn't.) (Lots of parentheses!)) means teacher or professor. I think it literally means old master, but it is used as a sign of respect for an educator. Zheng Laoshi is my only male professor, and he is probably in his late 40's. My other professors are women, both in their mid to late 20's, perhaps early 30's. I am getting on well with all of them, and I am even understanding bits of what they are saying, which is really all I ask for at this point. Classes are taught almost entirely in Mandarin. English keywords are thrown out once in a while to help reorient us, but the instruction itself is in Chinese. The curriculum is based around speaking mainly, and so we do a lot of in-class conversational exercises. This helps us build our vocabulary (which is laughable at this point, but that's expected) and our use of grammatical structure. This total immersion in the language is hard, but it is going to help, I hope. I read some words on a sign in my dorm today. That's a start. My goal is to be able, by the end of my stay, to tell the maid that my desk lamp doesn't work. And I hope to not have her stare at me, but to get it fixed.

I've done my homework already, and I did some studying and reading on a personal basis today, as well. I think I may start doing homework in the park on campus. That way, I might meet some actual Chinese friends, as opposed to the internationals that I've met so far. Not that internationals aren't fun, but I'm in China, after all. Oughtn't I have Chinese friends? I agree. I must remind myself of two things: this is only the first week of school and I'm only here for nine and one half more months. That means don't rush, but get busy! A healthy tension in my mind arise from this, and I know that I must be a good steward of my time, but I must not force friendships. I listened to a podcast the other day, and the thing that stuck out in my mind went something like this, "You will accomplish more in the next two months developing a sincere interest in two people than you will ever accomplish in the next two years trying to get two people interested in you."

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And now for the funny story of the day! I had lunch after class today with a friend I've made. Her name is Chanell, and she is ethnically Asian, but from Sweden and the UK. Don't ask. Anyway, we went and had lunch, and we were discussing the upcoming National Holiday. Chanell said that she's thinking about going to Singapore or Hong Kong. I said, "I've been to Hong Kong once. I got laid-over there."

She stared at me like I'd just said something ridiculous and too personal. She said, "What?"

I said, "I got laid-over there."

She started laughing and said, "You had a stop-over there?"

"Yeah."

"You know what I thought you said?" She was really giggling at this point, "You got laid over there."

I joined her in the laughing. "Yes, it was a stop-over, then, if that's what we're going to call it." And I proceeded with whatever I had to say about Hong Kong.


Note to self, et. al: When dealing with people who are not from the US, be careful in referring to lay-overs in the past tense. It may sound more salacious that you ever intended.

T


p.s. I went to the second largest mall in the world today. It was quite big.