April 22, 2002

Long time no write huh??? Well, I feel badly for being so behind with keeping up on the journal, but I think the reasons for my lack of input are quite understandable. You see, this school thing I'm doing consumes so much of my time, that it is hard to do much more than eat, sleep, study, and go out once a week for drinks with my classmates! Unfortunately, the journal has taken a big hit. :( As a matter of fact, I really have no business writing this here and now as I have a mid-term beginning this Wednesday that covers all the material we have been presented since class started. Just so you're aware, that's a helluva lot!! I mean a HELLUVA LOT!! The midterm is spread out over three days and concentrates on listening comprehension, Hanzi characters, grammar, tone recognition, and making a speech in front of the class. OK, must let you know that the last time I gave a speech alone in front of a class, I fainted. Not gonna happen this time, cuz I think my classmates know I suck and there will be pretty low expectations. He-he. Seriously though, I think I have sunk towards the bottom of the class despite my best efforts. This stuff is really tough people!! Maybe I should blame it on going out once a week and being in no condition to study effectively the following day? I dunno, but the simple truth is that it's not as easy to absorb new stuff like this when you get a little(!) older, you have killed unknown numbers of brain cells, and your head is full of years of computer and network information! By the way, I am kidded about my heavy American accent while speaking the language in class, and am sometimes a source of some pretty good amusement when I am asked to speak-up. I really am improving though and can honestly say that as each week passes, I am pronouncing things more properly, and I am learning more and more of this difficult language.....really, I love it! Just wish the homework and vocabulary load was a bit lighter. By my count we have been presented over 600 words for memorization. Can you say impossible??? Ha-ha-ha!! I have been making flash cards as we go along and although I am a little behind (2 chapters) my card count is around 550. Ugh. Oh well, not much choice in the matter and I really have to just go with the flow, which has been my basic strategy once school started becoming really hairy.

Let's see, what else is new? Hmm..., oh I am now assisting my classmate Mike with teaching an English conversation class at Beijing University. Just started last weekend and it's pretty cool. Only 8 of the 15-odd students made it on that day, but we had an interesting discussion concerning a New York Times article Mike had printed out about gays in China. For the record: Mike and I are both straight and did NOT, and could not speak from our own experiences on the topic. He-he. Anyway, the students seemed very interested in the topic and added quite a bit of interesting input. They vary in age, but all have a common goal of improving their English speaking. Heck, some of them come from as far as two hours away by bus!! Yipes!! I will try to post some pictures from class on this page in the near future. Couldn't take any last time cuz the room was too darn small, and oh that reminds me of something....just as class started, an administrator for the university building we were located in came into the room and angrily informed us that we were not supposed to be there, and had no permission. Basically, she wanted us outta there ASAP. Well, we couldn't leave right away cuz all of the students had not yet arrived, and after a while she returned with some more angry words that neither Mike nor I could understand. Mike just kinda rolled his eyes as he tried contacting the boss on the phone to let her know what was happening. You had to see his expression to appreciate it! Anyhow, after a while we relocated to another building and finished up the class without issue.

Had a run-in with the law a few weeks ago, but it's not quite as bad as you may think. Actually, I am still a little peeved about the whole thing because it could have easily been avoided had my landlord listened to me during the lease signing. You see, if you are a foreigner you just can't move around the city or the country all willy-nilly-like You have to register with the Public Security Bureau (police) within 24 hours of making a new residence (Article 30- Entry and Exit of Alien) . When I told the landlord that I thought I had to do something like this, he insisted that I did not, and that he had a buddy on the force who said it was no problem. Well, a week or so later my classmate Hether was randomly stopped by the police and brought to the station for questioning. They wanted to know where she was living and informed her that by not registering she had broken the law! She had to sign a confession as a result. After hearing this, I was a bit freaked and called my friend Jessie to let her know what I heard, and that the landlord has put me in a bad spot. She called him, but he still insisted that I didn't have to register. It was something like 2 weeks later that I got a call from Jessie telling me that the landlord was going to stop by so he can bring me the the PSB. I almost didn't want to at that point because I didn't want any record of any kind while living in this country! Another "go with the flow" thing and I ended up going with the landlord to the station. They seated us in a small room across from 2 plainclothes officers seated at a couple desks. Lots of Mandarin flying back and forth and I didn't know what was happening. Meanwhile the entire time I was there the sounds of live music were coming from somewhere in the building. It was more than a little annoying because the same small part of a song was being repeated over and over again. Insane!! Finally, after a while the older policeman asked me where I was from and then mentioned that the music was the police band practicing. Believe me, they really needed it! Ha-ha! Ok, I digress......the younger policeman gave me a sheet of paper and told me to write in English that I broke the law and sign it. I slipped in there something to the affect that I was made to believe that such a registration was unnecessary and I was unaware of the fact that I broke the law just to be safe. I handed it over and then the waiting resumed. These two officers basically had to hand-copy each of the several documents and have me sign something like four or five of them!! Whatever happened to the digital age with copiers and printers??? After signing my last paper, I told the officer that I felt badly and that I didn't want to have a record here. He told me that it is really nothing and that I should consider it akin to getting a parking ticket. What??? A parking ticket??? Since when do you have to sign papers apologizing and acknowledging you broke the law for a parking ticket??? Sheesh!! Ok, he then told me that it's not like anything will be on file that they will use against me. Yeah, well I wondered what the heck that dossier-like bundle with all my signed papers was for!! I can say this, and that is that when the whole thing was said and done, a mere one and a half hours later(!), I found myself chatting very friendly-like with these two officers who, up until that time, had been pretty stern and quiet. I came away from the whole thing understanding that this is the way things are done in China, and you have to be respectful of it all, otherwise you might get in a heap of trouble. Laws are laws and that's the bottom line. Can't do anything about it. Oh, and to finish this whole part up, on our way back to my apartment, the landlord's friend hit a guy on a bicycle with his car! Really freaked me-out, and I REALLY thought the guy would be dead or seriously injured. Imagine me in the back of the car with my eyes squeezed shut at the moment of impact thinking I am just about to be heading back to the police station for even more papers to sign!! Almost forgot....thankfully, the man was unhurt.

More to come after the mid-term....too much goin' on!!