I've become a man of few words on here lately. I guess monotony and the day to day grind will do that.

I feel that my confidence in speaking Chinese has bounded forward this week. This afternoon the maid came, (she was a new one) and I talked to her a little bit. I told her that I wasn't in class because I'd had class in the morning. I also told her that my roommate wasn't in his room. Then I went down to my local coffee spot and told the fuyuan that I wanted "teng ri kafei" which translates to "this very exact same day's coffee." Later I went up and asked if 12 kuai was the right price. She said "dui" which means "right" and I handed her the money. Hot dog!

The Beijing Marathon is this Sunday. Butterbean's dad is running it. My roomie is running the 8K, though his preparation has been scarily minimal. I hope he doesn't break something, because I'm not paid enough to be a nurse.

Today/Yesterday (depends on where you are) is/was my Dad's birthday. Zhu ni shengri kuai le! Happy birthday to you!

I made a friend at a dvd shop just up the street. It's a bootleg joint, of course, but this is China. And it's so close and so cheap. Anyway, I don't really know my new friend's name, but I have his phone number, and maybe we'll hang out. I taught him to to say, "You are welcome to come back!" to customers as they are leaving. When my roomie went back there yesterday, my friend was there, and he threw up his hands over his head and said, "You are welcome back!" Precious is all that is. He wasn't there when I went, but that's ok. A guy who sells movies is my best friend regardless. So much more so if he speaks Chinese and I speak English and we're each learning the other.

All that laid out, I've bought the first season of the British version of The Office. I've been watching it before I go to sleep at night. Let me just say it is stinking hilarious. I know that I disturb my neighbors at least once a night by laughing out loud at it. Note my lack of concern over the matter. It's not sitcom funny, though, it's lame-joke-that-no-one-laughs-at-but-the-teller funny. It takes a bit of getting used to.

That's all for this episode.

T