The Past Few Days (Oops!)

Tuesday nothing really happened, and I had some homework, so I was going to just wait until Wednesday night to blog (that would be last night). Except, when I went to get on the internet that night and this morning, it wasn't working. So now, I have three days to catch you all up on! Aiya!

Tuesday
     ...was rather uneventful, like I said. Classes went well, and two more students from France joined our class!
     Side note: I really like my class. There's about 13  people including myself, all of whom are very friendly, mature, etc. It almost reminds me of my highschool class (except perhaps an older and even more mature version), which was also quite small.
     I went to the same restaurant (the one I stopped at with the Japanese girls) for lunch with Rachel and Laura (Laura is another girl from my program, and one of my roommates), and the food was just as delicious as the day before! The leftovers were good too. I had a chicken and eggplant dish with a huge mound of rice on the side. I feel the same way about the use of eggplants as I do the use of cucumbers: they are under-used and under-appreciated. Also, we're not imaginative enough in our use of them.
     I ate leftovers for dinner. I ALSO was very proud of myself! I ordered a smoothie all by myself, in Chinese :-) Sunday night I had attempted the same, and then realized I didn't know how to say "grape smoothie". Fortunately there menu has both English and Chinese, I was able to point at what I wanted, and after giving me a curious look, another customer was able to help me order. But THIS time I got a mango smoothie all by myself! The girl behind the counter recognized me I think, and helped me with a little bit of pronunciation, but she understood what I wanted.
     One thing I do like about living here is that even if you butcher what you're trying to say, the people here generally appreciate the fact that you're trying, and are usually very willing to help you say it correctly. I do have to watch out for people who speak a little English, because they are typically inclined to let me get away with speaking English. After using English, I've had to catch some people before they've left to ask, "Ok, now how do I say that?" The response is usually the word or phrase in Chinese, and then a huge smile :-)

Wednesday
     ...was not as crazy as I thought it would be! Classes as usual, except that we watched a movie in one of them. I don't know what it was called, but I hear that it just came out this year. Lunch was uneventful, except that I had a peanut butter sandwich, something that I've just started to crave. Is it just me, or is it a little strange that in a country (and city) that processes tons of peanuts and uses them in several favorite dishes, it's very difficult to find peanut butter? Maybe I'm not looking in the right places, but every place I've looked so far has not had a single jar of it for sale. Oh well, I guess I'll just eat a lot of it when I get back home!
     In the afternoon Rachel, Pla and I went over to BeiDa for our daily tutoring. Usually the tutor comes to us, but on certain days it looks like we'll go to the tutor because it's more convenient for everyone. This was our first time traveling there by ourselves, and we didn't get lost! We spent the time that was not taken up with tutoring by sitting in the student lounge doing homework, petting the cat that thinks it lives there, and getting to know some of the other students there. Some are in an immersion program and are not allowed to speak any English, which makes the student lounge a great environment for practicing Chinese!

Thursday (so far...)
     ...has been another good day of classes. I'm learning a lot more than I thought I would, catching on a lot faster than I would in the first few weeks. Having class four hours a day has been key in my learning. I'm learning so much because my brain isn't divided between 5 different subjects, and I think I'm really becoming a fan of immersing oneself in whatever topic one cares to study - especially language!
To illustrate my progress:
 - I am now able to pick out several items on a menu and know what they are, possibly even know how to pronounce them
 - My roommate tells me that last night I was sleeping, and I said quite clearly, "不知道!" which means "I don't know"
 - When talking about eggplant and some other things in English, I sometimes have to pause to make sure it's not going to come out in Chinese. This is partly due to my wide use of "Chinglish" - combining the two languages helps only to an extent before it gets confusing, especially to my roommates who don't know what "茄子" (eggplant) is yet.

That's all for now! My tummy's telling me I need to go find food. For those of you who are just starting the day, it's a good one ;-) at least, it has been for me!