I got placed into the beginner/remedial classes for Mandarin. I kind of hoped so; I want to learn it well, not just quickly. I know how little training I've had, and even though this will be a bit below my level to begin with, I think it will catch up soon enough. Did that sound conceited? I didn't mean it that way if so. Also, I've bought my books for this semester. The 4-book set cost all of 220 RMB. That's $29.19 USD. That's less than one college book back at the U of CA. Here's to not paying $300 for books a semester!

Yesterday I got to see some friends I spent time with over the summer. It was cool to hang out and have a meal together. I've missed seeing them all the time. I even got to play with Butterbean and his older brother. Tita D was there, too. I'm so glad she was able to come! On the way the guys and I took the Beijing subway system, which may be called the Metro, I'm not sure. Anyway, it's pretty easy to use, what, with signs and announcements. The problem was that we got off at the wrong stop on our second train, so we found a helpful Chinese man, and he walked us down to where we needed to be. It was really good of him, we showed him the map and the name of the restaurant we were aiming at (actually, the name of the restaurant in front of the one we were aiming at) and he walked us almost the whole way there. People have been really helpful in that way since I've been here.

Today is my first day of school! I know kind of where my class is, and I have my books. Unfortunately I don't know which books pertain to the classes I have today. I'll be in class today from 1-4:35. I thought it would be a morning system, too, but it's not. It's classes different times on different days, like back home.

T