正字 (zhèngzì)

I find it interesting that when I'm in class, many teachers take note that I use traditional Chinese, such as 嗎 instead of 吗, 見 instead of 见. Them going "Oh I don't even know traditional! 你很叻!" makes me feel... special.  I'm sure more will come up, but for now I still think some simplified words are needlessly simplified and look retarded. I'm also sure many old people have always disliked simplified because they take away the meaning of the words. For something that is used so often, 谢谢 (xièxiè) deserves more simplification than silly 吗。

Still on the Quest

Two new roommates arrived today for Kazakhstan. They remind me of Nancy. The maid cleaned the room and it wasn't to their expectations. The search for a 2-person room so the max can be 2 people is still on.

KTV

 So rather than hang out with international students in an international dorm, I decided instead to hang out with Chinese people. Specifically, David's cousins, in-laws and friend of in-laws. KTV places here are HUGE. And crazy ass. Like hotels dedicated to the fun and very Asian activity that is karaoke. My voice feels hoarse. Whee! Next, work on befriending students that are in the same program. Damn. It sounds super hard...

Oh, and in the last... 8 hours I went from having 3 roommates to having 1, whom I have yet to meet and can only see the back of her head because she is already asleep. I still want the bigger room, though. But yay, the rooms are finally opening up! And lucky roommates for being even more persistent than me (I thought I was nagging the front desk).

My Room

I moved from a Russian room to an Indonesian room. It strikes me as odd that while coming to China to learn Chinese, groups of people feel the need to band together with their own kind rather than detaching and meeting people who aren't, well, their own kind. But 2 Indonesians are better than 3 Russians. Why? Because Indonesians are tinier, and there are two of them. I'm still waiting to get a 2-person room, though. We'll see how it goes...

北京大董烤鸭店

No pictures of duck. Pictures of other beautifully presented food. Nom.

北京大董烤鸭店

东城区金宝街金宝大厦5层

In 24 Hours I...

... sat next to relatively famous b-boys from South Korea.
... took a picture of two Last For One members.
... had really good Japanese airplane food.
... fell asleep halfway through dinner.
... tried and failed to make the most of UCI's VPN service.
... walked around a large block of land trying to look for the school's ICP.
... found the ICP after finally listening to my own intuition.
... walked back and forth between the dorm and registration area.
... spoke with at least 50 incompetent people.
... found myself back in high school... except with international students.
... got shoved into a 12'x6' space with 3 Russian girls.
... introduced myself to the Russian girls who shook my hand politely.
... thought that maybe handshaking isn't the best way to introduce oneself in China.
... resolved to live outside of the sardine case until either I or two of them moved out.
... called up David to see if he knew anyone who had a room or needed a roommate.
... decided to spend the second semester not at 师范大学.
... had dim sum at a really nice restaurant.
... bought random stuff for a nonexistent living space.
... came to the realization that my MBP might be incompatible with China.
... finally got the UCI VPN to work.
... started falling asleep halfway through dinner... again.

Packing?

When is it a good time to start packing? When you have 11 days left? 5? 3? How do you pack for weather you've never been exposed to. Sandstorms!? How on earth do you pack for sandstorm weather?