So where was I?

Oh yes, so Monday was the first day of school. Here's the thing though, I was tested into level one since the test was crazy hard, but when I went to that class I was so bored. It was learning tones, and guess what we learned to write!? 你 (you) and 好 (good) and get ready for this... 你好 (hello)!!! hahaha man I was like, "we gotta get out of here" to Kate, my friend from Ukraine, and Jade, a girl from the US. So for the next period we went to level two. This one was much better because I was having some trouble so I knew it was better for me. And before long I was getting used to the teacher's voice. She was only speaking Chinese, and I thought it was so cool that I could understand her. So I knew I needed to ask to be let into the level two. I went and asked the teaching affairs office and the lady was trying to make me think I wasn't good enough for it because my "test" score wasn't high enough. Well lady, I ain't paying for 你好!!! So in the end I got into the 202 class, which was great. Only too bad for me, at the end of the week they made me switch to 201 because there were too many students in 202. It's the same teacher and same course, just different times. I was a little mad because first I need to change my room twice and then I need to change my whole schedule. In the end it's fine though, I'm warming up to my new classmates and the schedule isn't that bad. I can sleep in on Friday morning. So class is good but I know I will have to study a lot because it's faster than in the US. I really feel good though. I don't like Thursdays though because I have class from 8am-11:30am and then again from 1:30pm-3:05pm. That's so long man, but we get breaks every 45 minutes which I enjoy. Then we can regroup and focus for 45 more minutes. This is really a good idea in my opinion, but I still get restless at my little desk. It's actually really cool to be in a class with foreigners. In my class I have people from Russia, Korea, Vietnam, America, France, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Germany, and others from other places, but my Chinese isn't good enough to know what their country was in Chinese. It's interesting because classmates will chat in native language for explaining somethings, so all of the sudden the Russian speakers are talking and the teacher says, “听不懂，听不懂！” (literally "listen don't understand, listen don't understand"). What a place. And during the break people go out and get food because we have from 9:35am-9:55am break and people visit other classrooms and it's great. I just can't believe it though, when I'm sitting there and I just look around and think, "we're all foreign". I mean, I live in a building with hundreds of foreigners, but to just think about it from time to time it's interesting. My classes are on the tenth floor of the classroom building, so we all pile into the elevator and the elevator makes weird sounds because it's old and sometimes the light shuts off. Normally though I use the stairs after class because waiting for the elevator takes too long. So that's just a brief note about my classes in general, and here is a photo I took on the first day, enjoy:

Okay so what else can I tell you about. I need to remember what activities I did on what days but I am having a really hard time to do so. During the week I met with Vince again and we ate hotpot. It was very good since I was having a hard time to find some foods that I like, so I ate a lot that night. I enjoy spending time with Vince because he talks about interesting things that really make you think about life and simple things instead of being distracted by modern things. I will meet him again maybe next week. Also over the past two weeks I have met with Amy again and ate together in the dinning hall, and also with Michelle I met in the dinning hall and I spent time with Kate, my friend from Ukraine, as well as some American girls, Jade, Stephanie, and Briana. They are all so nice. And Stephanie and Briana introduced us to their friend Sam, also another American girl who works here in Beijing. She is sooo nice!! But that's what I say about many people, but she really is a sweet girl. And I have been having great times having with the Americans because after a long day of Chinese you just want to talk to the people who can understand your jokes and you can have a good laugh and eat American food. Believe me, we have had many laughs thus far, laughing until we are crying in most cases. It's my favorite. <3 haha.

Something that really gave me a laugh was last Friday night when I decided to take Jade and Kate to 后海 even though I wasn't quite sure how to get there after getting out of the Subway station. It was so spur of the moment, so we got out of the subway and I asked a Chinese girl for the directions and we found it. We walked around and since there are many bars around there were guys trying to get us to go into this bar or that one (it's their job to drag in customers). Kate was mad about them since they were annoying and pushy, but I just said, "不要" (don't want) and kept walking away. Later though, after eating some fried chicken, we went in one to just sit and I wanted water and Kate wanted a 可口可乐 (Coca Cola). Okay side note, I think this is so cool. The meaning of Coca Cola in Chinese literally means like "tastes good and makes you happy". hahah I think it's crazy though because the way you say it is "ke kou ke le" which sounds like Coca Cola. I was blown away by this even though I hate Coke. Anyway, we sat for a bit and then went out and walked around and I saw a funny old man on the ground playing an instrument and singing. Here is an image of what I saw:

Pretty awesome, right??! haha he was a funny guy. So then more funny things happened. We went back to the subway to go back to the school and we were just on one of the lines minding our own business. We were standing chatting and then we noticed a guy was filming us with his cell phone camera, trying to discrete but we knew what he was doing. So then there were some seats available so we sat down and he turned the camera towards us there so we knew it was true and he was really making a video!! hahah. Then Jade was turning her face away and I said, "what are you doing?" and she said, "I don't want to be on Youku!!" (Youku = Chinese Youtube). That's when we lost it laughing like mad. I was crying too!! And the old Chinese were looking at me all angry like. Thennnnn I said to Jade, "I AMMMM on Youku!!!!!!!" because when I did a dance at UMF it was filmed by our Chinese friend Jiaxin who uploaded it to Youku. So then we laughed even more about it. I felt so tired from laughing by the time we got back to the dorm. It was just awesome, until the morning when I was sick from what I think was the chicken I ate (boooooo I love this one and now I'm afraid of it!!!). So I didn't go on the trip to the Temple of Heaven because I stayed in bed all day. Well actually at night I met Sam for the first time because we went out to get food and met her.

I was in bed again on Sunday because I was still sick. I would share the details but maybe you don't want to know about them. I did homework with Kate though and then later I decided to go see Wu Yiyu, our Chinese friend who came to UMF last year. She invited me to dinner at her uncle's apartment. So her cousin and his girl picked me up at the school and took me there. I was so happy to see her. We were on like the 19th floor there. It was a nice little apartment, and her family was all so nice and smiling. We ate dinner, and I ate something that I LOVED. Well there was a plate of meat and I asked what it was since it looks like beef but I'm not sure. Wu Yiyu didn't want to tell me, but I said if she won't tell me I won't eat it. She said, "In China we raise dogs for eating". I said, "I want to eat it!!" and she said, "really????". I was excited to try it, and she took a video of me eating and also a photo. Here is the photo:

IT WAS SO GOOD. SPICY DOG, WHO WOULDA THUNK IT!? Yeah I would eat it again. :)) Sorry, Rocco! <3 So we ate the meal and I spoke some Chinese a bit and they were all happy. Then I came home later trying to buy the flight ticket home. Man, them banks are crazy! They blocked my transaction and I had to call them with Stephanie's Skype credits and sort it all out. But after many hours of this I have my ticket and things are good. I will fly back from Vietnam with Huy on August 27th and will be home on August 28th, just in time for school.

Let's see what else happened. I went to the school hospital on Monday with Amy because I was still sick in the morning. They gave me medicine to clear my system of whatever was in there, and I was back to new in no time. And it was so cheap to go to that doctor, like $2.50USD.

It's still weird to think that I am in Beijing, China right now. I feel so used to the place in a way, like it's normal to be here. It's a really weird feeling, though I did have one day where I felt like I hated everything here because I was so frustrated. And I do miss my UMF life a little bit, and of course my friends and my honey, but I'm enjoying myself here. Everyday is an adventure and I don't know how I will feel when it's all over, so I am enjoying everyday, going places and seeing people and getting better with my Chinese. Well, I met a girl and also a guy from Vietnam, my classmates, so I hope they can help me learn some Vietnamese before I go there. It was funny in class today because the guy was telling me when I meet Huy's parents to say to them, "Hi mom, Hi dad (in Vietnamese of course)" and then girl was like, "noooo!!!" and telling me the respectful one to say which I already knew about this. Anyway, sorry I wasn't good at explaining that just now because it's rather complicated but I found it was funny and I hope they will teach me things to really say. :)

I don't know what else to say right now, so I will just end this post and go study. And I will update this more often for sure, I promise!!!