Blow Me Down!

It's Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day. I had no idea! I found this joke online, and I laughed out loud. Mild, pirate-intrinsic language which I didn't know how to edit out. Anyway, here 'tis.

A bartender looks up from the bar and sees a pirate with a peg leg, a hook hand, and patch over one eye.

Startled, the bartender asks "What happened?! Just a month ago your body was relatively whole, now..."

The pirate responded:
"Aye, 3 weks agor a conn'n ball took me leg. Now juss this peg to use.
"Thin 2 weks ago I gave up my h'nd in a sword duel.
"Thin 13 days agre a cursed bird shat in me eye."

The bartender, perplexed, said, "But you have a patch over it; certainly a little guano would not cost you an eye."

With a chagrinned grin the pirate told him, "Well, it were my first day wit der hook..."

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That made my day. This morning's class was kind of less than good. I'm realizing how hard I need to be studying. Ouch. So today I made flash cards (yes, flash cards) of all the vocabulary we've covered thus far. I made 113 flash cards-- character on the front and pinyin (phonetics) and English meaning on the back-- today from lunchtime until 2 something. Then an American friend of mine and I studied them all afternoon and evening. We stopped tonight to eat some PB&J, then we studied a little more. Finally he left to go to the café across the street, and I did my written, turn-in homework for tomorrow.

Mandarin does not come naturally to speakers of other languages. It just doesn't. If I need to study a full three hours a day, then I will, but that stinks. I hardly ever study in the States. I'm one of those sob-stories who never studied in school. And I really don't study much in college, either. Maybe this will encourage me to have better study-habits. I spent most of my afternoon in the park near the center of campus, and that was cool. I almost met some people. I think it could happen. I talked to some random girl who wanted to know about my textbook.

T

Life is complex, indeed.

It rained today. It washed some of the smog out of the air. I can see the mountains from my room's window. I'd told my roommate that he was crazy for thinking that, but he was right. Mountains, check.

(in the middle, yo)

I'm finding a way, though I don't yet know if it's the right one. I think it could be, though. I had lunch today with four others: two Australians, one Filipino, and a Swedish Brit. It was far better than some outings I've been on lately, and I'm glad of it. Today I intend to study with a friend from Mississippi. Also, today I'm going to register for a weekend trip to the Great Wall of China(!!), about which I'm a little excited. It'll be touristy and all, but I couldn't care less.

I am a bit concerned about people back home. I've been reminded (perhaps too often) that my life is here now. But I know all too well that my life is only here for 9.5 more months. After that, to what might I return? Home. That is, the States, my state, the cities I live in, my friends and family. I can be concerned if I want, and I feel I have good reason.

T

You Ought To Be Here With Me

If you think it's lonesome where you are tonight,
Then you ought to be here with me
If you think there's heartache where you are tonight,
Then you ought to be here with me.

'Cause with you I'm whole
Without you I'm cold.

If teardrops are fallin' where you are tonight,
Then you ought to be here with me.
Loneliness callin' where you are tonight
And you ought to be here with me.

'Cause with you I'm whole
Without you I'm cold.

So, if you think about me where you are tonight,
Then you ought to be here with me.

Roger Miller wrote that. Even though I've never listened to his stuff, I understand that he's an important figure in country music. I just know him because he wrote the words and music for Big River, which is perhaps my favorite musical. It's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and it reaches some deep material (as did Twain with the book) even as it presents itself as a story of a drifter-boy and his adventures down the Mississippi River. It's really about his descent into the world of slavery, his realization of the cost of freedom, and the importance to right versus the status quo. It also deals with loneliness and waiting for a better day.

(If you don't know the show, you should. It's excellent, and I bought the soundtrack on Amazon a couple years ago.)

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I guess I said all that to say that I'm feeling lonely. It's probably because I had a good day, and someone wants to ruin it. I went to an international gathering this morning, and it was alright. I'm hoping that the other campus is better, but it was nice to be with others like me anyway.
Then I read a bunch of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (only 100 pages left!) and studied Chinese.
Tonight I went to a dinner party that happened before the housewarming that was postponed until tonight. It was nice just to chat with a bunch of fellow international students. The food was not bad, either, especially these fried glutinous balls with sesame seeds around the outside and a sweet bean paste inside. I referred to them as China's Krispy Kremes, and they're probably the closest one would get to a KK here.
On the way back to the school, my roommate and I spotted rambutan at a fruit stand. I didn't stutter. Those of you who are long-time readers understand the beauty of the rambutan. We bought about a kilo of them.

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There is very little sunshine through the smog here in Beijing.

T

I speak in squiggly lines.

This American expat in China has completed a week of actual school. It went decently, and I'm realizing that this language is not entirely beyond my reach. This morning I talked to the maid. No, I still can't tell her my lamp's broken, but I did tell her not to clean our room. She understood. That's something.

Last night some other Americans and I took a short taxi ride to a movie theater to see No Reservations, which was the only thing playing in English. In the taxi, the driver was asking us something about where we were going, so I told him, "我们喜欢看电影。“ That is, "We want to watch a movie." He understood, and said something about Chinese movies. I didn't tell him we were going to see an American movie in English, but it's ok. The movie was decent, and the Chinese subtitles at the bottom of the screen were only moderately distracting. I really think that it might not be a bad idea to watch movies now and again with the subtitles running, because I could pick out a character here and there.

Today I intend to be lazy, to read and relax. Tonight I'm going to a housewarming party. I hope that's fun. I won't be the only one not drinking, so that's a plus.

It's lunch time.

T

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.

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

Outsmarting the system

As previously stated, I think the Zhongguo Yinhang can go sit on a tack or what have you, because they have been utterly unhelpful. Save that one time they did almost what I needed. Given all of that, I discovered that once my ATM limit is raised, I can pull money out indefinitely as long as I make multiple transactions. Yes, I did outsmart the system. No applause needed.

Another system I have outsmarted is the one that keeps me from reading my own blog. I still can't read your comments (thanks, though) but I can go back in as if to edit the blog and review what I've already written. It sounds narcissistic, and it might be, but I like to scan memory lane's written summary now and again. I wanted to use the word peruse in that last sentence, but did you know that peruse means "thoroughly examine"? I didn't until I just looked it up. Knowledge is power, you know, but don't take my word for it.

This afternoon, after the party, which had surprisingly no discernible agenda, and after the ATMing, I came back to the dorm and put my laundry on to wash. Shortly thereafter I went to McDonald's with my roommate for some late lunch. Then we returned, I collected my laundry from the utility room down the hall, and I made him put our joint drying rack together. I didn't force it, but he said he would, and my laundry was wet, so what should I have done? Then I hung my laundry on the rack, on the shower curtain rod, in my window, on the towel racks, and over almost every other available area. I have a good bit of laundry. I'll be here for ten months, after all.

I fell asleep listening to a podcast earlier while waiting for my second batch of laundry to finish. I like doing that, though I regret missing the end of the podcasts. It's somehow soothing to fall asleep to someone teaching. Maybe it reminds me of home. (Yes, I realize what I just said. And I'm chuckling about it.) It was a short nap.

Tonight I'm hoping to watch some borrowed chick-flicks and eat instant noodles while curled up in my bed. I don't particularly love chick-flicks or instant noodles, but their combined power to let me be relaxed in my room is intoxicating. My roommate is going to watch rugby, and I've seen enough of that in my lifetime. My new American acquaintance/friend (is it too early to be a friend? We just met the other day, but we've spoken a few times), Florida Joe invited both my roommate and me to hang out in a bar tonight. We are graciously declining, especially since one of the things he touted about the bar was "American beer" and the idea of that made me throw up in my mouth a little. Hopefully, though, we might get to know each other better. He seems like a cool guy, even in spite of his penchant for the pijiu.

T