September 6, 2009

Finally back in Lin’an after a week up in Beijing. The new couple is very friendly and Morten has a slightly more British accent than the last time I talked to him. Last night, Morten and I went to a little restaurant outside of campus. They are completely re-doing the street and apparently replacing the piles of trash that used to rim the school with new businesses to cater to the students. The waitress was so nice, and wrote us a little note in Chinese next to our bill welcoming us to China. The bill was 21RMB, but she refused to take the extra one yuan and said 20 was enough. Then on the way back, an old blue truck was driving up the tiny road that half of is currently a large trench was honking at students to get out of the way. Morten, seemingly, picked the wrong side of the road and afterwards a really annoying, loud boy kept making fun of Morten for not understanding what the driver was saying. As per usual, I came up with a mean comeback about an hour after the event.

The living conditions in my apartment have taken a turn for the better (except for the current lack of internet access). I now have (drum roll) my own water cooler! So I don’t need to buy bottles of water all the time/boil water to drink! It also has a hot water setting! So I can get hot water for tea right out of the tap in the morning. Additionally, with absolutely no notice ahead of time, a carpet man came in to cover my bare, concrete floor, with this linoleum cover that looks like a hard wood floor. Well, the pattern looks like wood, my floor looks like shiny linoleum with a wood design. It’s pretty corny, but it does look nice to have something covering the floor beside the rug I bought. It also inspired me to slightly rearrange my apartment- now my music stand is up so maybe I will be more inspired to practice the ol’ fiddle.

I’m pretty bummed about the lack of internet though- it makes me feel really cut off and disconnected. I keep having bad dreams- that I try to pet my dog but then realize I can’t because she is on the other side of a skype conversation. Or someone close to me has died but I can’t make it to the funeral because I’m so far away… I think all this would be better if I had internet/a way to contact the US at any time. Then I could also start applying for jobs for this spring.

It’s horribly hot here, but last night it was cool enough I didn’t need to run the a/c and there was a nice breeze going through the apartment. Tomorrow I am going bicycle shopping with my Chinese teacher. I think that would make my time here more enjoyable as I could be more independent and mobile. I proofread her thesis for her master degree and she was so grateful she said she would tutor me in Chinese this term, even if I can’t make it to the regular classes. I’m planning on taking the HSK (like the TOEFL- it’s a test that will show my proficiency in Chinese) at the end of the term.