For most of this week (including last weekend) I've simply been too busy to blog. However, a lot of stuff worth noting has occurred since my last post. I'll break it down day-by-day to make things easier.
Saturday the 17th:
To be honest, you could hardly ask for a more boring day. It's not that I didn't do anything. Instead, it was boring because I spent way too much time doing the same thing. You see, today we had a test, which on Saturday was beginning to loom over my head ominously. From my experience last time, my guess was that this was going to be one big tough monster of a midterm exam. However, studying in the dorm on a weekend is pretty much impossible. I am, unfortunately, of that rare breed which prefers taking Sunday off instead of Saturday. My classmates tend to prefer the reverse. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, it does tend to inhibit my productivity on Saturdays.
To avoid this dilemma, I woke up relatively bright and early so that I could make it to Chung Chi College's Library (I think it's called the Elizabeth Luce Moore Library) right when it opened at 9:00am. Once I was there, I found a comfortable chair and started practicing characters. We've had some 200-300 vocabulary words so far this summer but, fortunately, many were words with which we were already familiar. Still, the vast majority were unbeknownst to us South Carolinians before beginning Chinese Boot Camp. I practiced writing all my vocabulary words several times, going through about 5-6 different albums on my iPod, and by 1:00pm my stomach began to protest. I grabbed lunch and hung out with Hiroki a bit, but he was finishing as I was beginning so it was just a quick visit. By 2:00pm I was back in the library. I studied nothing but grammar until 5:00pm when the library closed. Guess what I did when I got back to the dorm? That's right, I studied. I'm such a little nerd, but I think there are a lot of often-overlooked benefits to being such.
Sunday the 18th
So, as always, I was looking forward to this Sunday and, as always, I had good reason. Since the weather was relatively nice, I thought that morning would be a good time to finally figure out the Sunday bus schedule. With that in mind, I brought a granola bar and a Coke Zero and commenced my waiting. I had arrived at the bus stop at 9:00am, but the bus didn't show up until 9:45am. True, I could think of a lot of ways I'd rather spend 45 minutes, but now I know which bus to catch to the Train Station on Sunday mornings so I can make a 3-minute walk instead of a 40-minute one to church.
No one came with me this week, but that's all right. The English translation was especially good this time around, which made me really happy. He even translated the welcome and announcements! The sermon was about loving your neighbor as well as your enemies, and overall there was a good crowd. At first I didn't see any of my friends downstairs after church, so I just made some new ones. Shan and Kristen are both working on Master's Degrees. During the summer, there are practically no undergraduate students on campus, but I'm OK with that. Still, I'm a little worried that I already think campus is crowded, but I hear the population now is quite sparse. Anyway, we wanted to eat at the Chung Chi Staff Canteen (where the good food is) but, even though the renovation was supposed to be done by then, the reopening had been delayed another day. Resigned to our fate, we again ate at the Chung Chi Student Canteen (where the cheap food is).
I'm always both amused and flattered when people compliment me on my use of chopsticks, or on my choice of food. As for the chopsticks, I've never found them difficult to use. Many people here look surprised or eye me suspiciously when I say that I just always picked them up at Chinese and Japanese restaurants and eventually got used to them. And, yes, I can pick up a single grain of rice (or a dime) with them. I'm just that talented. Regarding food, I do often order the Chinese Fast Food simply because the options are always different and it allows me to taste a lot of different stuff. At lunch on Sunday, Shan asked me if I was OK with my food because, in her words, it was "very Chinese." She seemed pleasantly surprised when I told her that I liked to try new things, and most of the food I've had so far has been passingly palatable. I actually liked the food she was asking me about. Maybe it is strange because I always see the other international students chowing down on sandwiches and fried rice like there's no other food available.
During lunch, I hung out with Shan and Kristen, as well as Kitty, a Taiwanese/Hong Konger/American girl named Veronica and her friend Chris--also an American. The language used was Mandarin and, although I understood about 90% of it I, admittedly, didn't talk very much. Occasionally, someone would ask me "Ting le dong ma?" which is "Do you understand?" I always happily answered "Dong!" which never fails to pleasantly surprise the people in my company. Those of you who live with me in America should see me in Hong Kong. You would all be amazed to see a Becca who actually shuts up. Don't misunderstand, I love practicing my Mandarin, but when multiple conversations are flying at lightening speed, I prefer to listen instead of trying to interrupt.
While we were eating, Dr. He came by and reminded us not to get too full on lunch. It was his birthday and so naturally he had a cake. Earlier, right after church got out, he had invited all of us to a Bible Study at 2:00pm, at which time we would also have a small birthday party. I won't deny that I was a little nervous about the Bible Study--I still am. It meets every Sunday at 2:00pm, and the entire thing is in Mandarin. Dr. He invited me only after knowing me long enough to have an idea of my capabilities (and maybe lack thereof) in Mandarin. We both agree that, while I may not understand everything, there's no down side to me learning about God and Chinese at the same time. At this particular session, we sang some Chinese contemporary worship songs, ate birthday cake, sang "happy birthday" to Dr. He in Chinese and English, and eventually split up into two classes. Mine was the smaller class and, for Chris's sake we mostly spoke in English. I got to know some of my new-found friends better, and made a few new ones. The Bible Study teacher is actually also a teacher at the Chinese Language Center, so we run into each other often. She and I agree that this coming Sunday we're going all-out with the Chinese, minimal English allowed.
She happened to mention something of interest both to me and perhaps to my family and friends. When I introduced myself as "Rebecca," it was easy to see the spark of recognition on her face. She immediately asked me if Zhu Laoshi and Han Laoshi were my teachers. When I answered in the affirmative, she said that a lot of the CLC teachers had been talking about me. From what I understand, the general consensus among the teachers is that I'm very diligent and hard-working, and that I'm determined to learn as much as I can about Chinese language and culture. They also like that I love to talk. I'm actually kind of embarrassed to write that because I feel like I'm bragging on myself, but I like to share the things that make me happy--and one thing that makes anyone and everyone happy is a compliment.
Anyway, I made it back to the dorm around 4:00pm and determined not to study again until Monday. Decision well-made.
Monday the 19th
Monday morning, I received an interesting email from PCCW. Don't worry, it wasn't the bad kind of interesting--it was the written-all-in-Cantonese kind of interesting. Later that day, I received 2 texts (sorry, SMS) of a similar nature. Befuddled, I determined to go to the store in Shatin at my earliest convenience, a.k.a. Wednesday.
Other than that, Monday was not much more than a blur of even more studying. It's a good thing that I took Sunday off because I think I needed the rest before 2 more days of hard-core studying.
Tuesday the 20th
As you can probably guess, I spent a large portion of my time on Tuesday studying. Unfortunately, that was not the most interesting part of my day. No, the most interesting part began when I got an SMS from Diana saying that we need to buy the plane tickets from Guilin to Shanghai pronto because prices were about to shoot up and the seats were already filling up. Luckily, I'd been keeping this in mind and had set aside more than enough money to pay for the trip. Still, I knew I needed Diana's help with buying the plane tickets because we're flying with a Chinese airline and you can guess what language their website is in. I don't trust my skills that much yet. Plus, dear old China decided to throw us a curve-ball: you can't use a Hang Seng Bank Account to pay. Well...that sucks. You also can't use American Express to pay. This lovely gesture excluded almost everyone involved. Thankfully, Diana was able to work something out with our extremely awesome travel agent, Aggie, where anyone who has problems can simply transfer the money into the tour company's account so that Aggie herself can book our flights.
This is what's really cool. We're taking the train from Shenzhen to Guilin and a plane from Guilin to Shanghai. We're spending 5 days in Guilin with our own English-speaking tour guide and air-conditioned tour bus. We're staying in a decent hotel with 2 people to a room and more than half of our meals are covered by our tour fees. It now looks like the total cost for all of that will be approximately US$500. I actually feel quite pleased with this, as it looks like we're making off like bandits. Now, unfortunately, that estimate does not include the details of the Shanghai trip, which is immediately after. Yammy Lai estimated that cost at US$1000. So, what do you think, family members? Too steep or not?
Anway, while it's all well and good that Diana and Aggie got this worked out, I would have liked it a lot better if they had done it before 11:00pm and if it hadn't taken so long. The night before a test is perhaps not the best time for such things. I'm glad I already studied.
Wednesday the 21st
Finally, today was the day of reckoning. I woke up 15 minutes before my alarm to the not-so-unusual sight of Charlie in my room. Apparently, he had come to get Nicole so they could do some last-minute studying. Already awake, I just decided to go ahead and get ready. I caught an earlier bus and made it to the classroom earlier. I did a little last-minute reviewing while I ate my breakfast, and eventually it was time to take the test. We first did a rather long listening component and then did a slightly shorter written component. I don't know whether it was all the studying or not, but I think this test went much more smoothly than the last one. I don't know any scores yet, but I have a good feeling about this one.
After the test, I took the bus to the John Fulton Centre, which is where CUHK's branch of Hang Seng is located. I was able to transfer money to the travel agency in Mainland China without a hitch, for which I was very grateful. I also managed to snag a bus as soon as I walked out. As soon as I set foot on the bus, the first person I saw was none other than Kitty! I'm not sure whether or not I've mentioned her before, but ever since I met her about 3 weeks ago we've seen each other rather often. I took a seat next to her on the bus and we chatted in Mandarin until we reached the Train Station. While on the bus, we both realized the other was going to lunch at the Chung Chi Student Canteen so we decided to go together and meet up with a friend of Kitty's whom she had known since high school. I met Zhongyi, who was very friendly, and again the language of choice was Mandarin since both Kitty and Zhongyi are from Northern China. It was hard to make out some of the conversation because the canteen was so loud, but once we left, I was relieved to discover that I could understand things just fine without all the noise.
We all went our separate ways, which for me meant hanging out in the CLC Student Lounge until time for class. While there, I decided to work on my personal essay for Han Laoshi, but I didn't get very far before I once again got swept up in conversation. I've been hanging out there after lunch for quite a while and I usually see the same people while I'm there. There's usually a group of about 8 friends, and a group of women in the early 30s--one of whom is American and two of which are Japanese. Today the American woman came up to talk to me and introduced herself as "Patricia from California." She's tutoring the 2 Japanese women (whose names I didn't catch) in Mandarin so we all four chatted and joked around for a while. I'm often glad to be an American because I've been exposed to so many different cultures within my own country. As for this meeting, I'm thankful to have traveled to Japan in high school--albeit for only a little more than a week. Maybe that's why Japanese (people, culture, and language) holds a special place in my heart. I concede that it was a difficult decision to make between studying Chinese or Japanese when I began college.
When I met these 2 ladies, they both shook my hand and bowed. I bowed as well, and they both looked very happy that I knew what to do. While shaking their hands, I said (and maybe Masa-san will enjoy this): "Konnichiwa! Genki desuka?" Although they both looked ecstatic and were smiling tremendously, they didn't laugh at me, which I take as a good sign. When they proceeded to attempt more Japanese with me, I admitted (in Mandarin) that I knew only some very basic phrases. Still, the ice had been broken and we generally had a good time until I had to leave for class.
After class, I had to go to Shatin to find out what my messages from PCCW said. Apparently, they were nothing more than promotional offers and the like, but one of the salesmen was kind enough to change a setting on my account so that I will now receive all their messages in English. It also seems that, when I do get a bill, I can pay it at any 7-Eleven store. There's one of those at the University Train Station.
I also did a little grocery shopping. I'm going to do some very basic "Italian" cooking this weekend with homemade marinara sauce, chicken, spinach & ricotta ravioli, mushrooms, and spices. I also bought broccoli to steam as a side dish. I generally cook only on the weekends, and then I cook about 3-4 meals worth at a time so that I can eat on it for a few days. I would like to cook more often, but that tiny inconvenient cooking space is high in demand so it's just not feasible. Anyway, I'll let you know how that goes.
I also picked up some lychee fruit, which is especially yummy. If you can find it in the US, I definitely recommend trying it. It may be incredibly ugly, but it's sweet and delicious.
When I got back, it was time for dinner. I decided to just quickly eat something before catching the bus back to Shaw College where, alas, even the crappy canteen isn't open. While I was looking for a place to sit, who should I see but Kitty...again! She was with 2 other friends from the Bible Study group who didn't even give me a chance to say "Ni hao" before insisting that I sit with them. There is now a running joke that it's a good thing I'm not a guy because, if I were, Kitty and I would clearly be destined to be together since we keep coincidentally running into each other. We had fun hanging out using, you guessed it, Mandarin. They were all telling me about fun things to do in Hong Kong, especially emphasizing the Peak. One person jumped the gun and said "If you can't find anyone to go with you, just let me know and I'll go with you!" After that, everyone jumped on the bandwagon. I don't know if they're serious or not, but I'm all for the idea.
Other than that, only one other thing of interest has occurred this week. Unfortunately, we've now had one person quit IBCE. I hope our numbers don't decrease any more.
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