May 28, 2002

Can you believe this is my second journal entry in just one week? Don't get too excited at the prospect of this kind of output as a start of some sort of pattern! I want to avoid any future disappointments should I go on another 2 week hiatus or something. :)

These past couple weeks have seen me enjoying more time away from the books and I really think I needed to do that despite the recent holiday break. My production of flash cards with Hanzi characters has altogether ceased for a couple reasons. First, we must be approaching, or perhaps have even exceeded a thousand words at this point. The time it takes me to keep up with producing them takes too big of a hunk away from completing exercises in our books, and basically trying to understand the grammar concepts we have been introduced. The second reason comes from my heartfelt concern for the ozone and the wasteful use of paper. OK, just kidding on that one! What would I do without paper plates to eat off of, right? Seriously though, who wants to make a card and try memorizing an obscure word or phrase that one would probably never use even after a lot of time living here? Words like "Oceania", "deputy", "opposite bank", "rostrum", "set one's mind at rest", "toy gun", or "exquisite" just wouldn't be a part of my everyday speech, even in English! To be fair, most of the words we do have will in fact be useful, but should I memorize many of these and potentially jeopardize my ability to remember the most important ones? I don't think so. There, my reasons are clearly defined for all to see, and I have succeeded at least in convincing myself of the rightness of my actions. Whoever's thinking of the word "excuses" can keep quiet!

Let's see, what fun things have I done of late? Two weekends ago I went to the Summer Palace with a small group of cool people I met at the University here. I am actually quite proud of myself as the prior night I stayed out late and woke up with a pretty sizable hangover. Riding my bike the half-hour or so to our destination had me sweating alcohol out of every pore in my body! I wonder if Jun (sp?), one of the people I went with, noticed a distinct aroma as she rode behind me much of the way there. :) Other people on the trip included Oilan, Shen, and CK.. Really cool people to hang out with, and I had an excellent time. About the only negative to the whole day was the sheer amount of walking, much of it spent looking for the right way out! Ha-ha! Once we did emerge from what is truly a beautiful place, my feet and legs were screaming at me. One note: Shen and CK took a taxi there, and an air-conditioned one back! I should also mention that the day was damn hot, so you can imagine my envy as the end approached and we separated with two riding in AC splendor and the rest of us making the hot and dusty trek back home. Oh well, no complaints cuz I had a great time! Shen, Jun, Oilan, and CK, thanks for the company!!

Later that same evening all of us that went on the trip as well as Oilan's roomate Su Yao, my classmate Neil, his buddy from Hong Kong, and a few other folks, had a nice dinner at a restaurant near campus. We enjoyed several dishes I never had before, and with the help of Su You, I learned the best way to eat them. Hey, it's not so easy to pick up when you have various sauces and components that need to be considered! One item was this little square of, of....oh I don't know what it was, but it kinda looked like something hospitals use for skin grafts. Doesn't sound very appetizing, sorry. Well anyway, you had this square thing and you are supposed to fill it with some stuff and then roll it. Preferably after rolling it (with the chopsticks) you pick it up with the same and start eating. Well, as proud as I am of my chopstick proficiency, I had a hell of a time doing it, and finally had to resort to using my fingers. Real classy this boy huh? Thanks to Sue Yao for helping me make sense of it all and making me look like a real amateur. :) Oh, at the end of dinner I had my first taste of a hard liquor here known as Baijiu (white spirit). It is pretty popular stuff, and let me tell you it is STRONG!! The idea to have it actually came after someone noticed the waitress using a bottle of a lower grade baijiu to clean off the table!! We made fun of the marketing possibilities with the stuff. "Not only can you drink it, you can use it as a disinfectant, as heating fluid, as radiator fluid, as paint thinner!!"....oh the list goes on and on. I had only a small bit of it and was surprised how good it is despite it's strength. Kept a good little fire in my chest for about 5 minutes after drinking it! :) Well, after a little head start with baijiu, it was off to a couple bars and then some dancing. To the buddies back home, no I haven't been hit by lightning! Great fun!

Another significant event occurred last week. My classmate (tongxue) Lawrence had to finish his studies early because of business requirements, and as a kind of going away thing threw a nice get-together for the rest of us in class. Now, before I go further, I want to say that Lawrence sat next to me in class and now has left me with noone to bother with stupid questions, and make fun of because of his crazy mumbling kind of English accent. Then again, Michelle has been sitting beside me of late and she sports an Australian accent. I don't know if I wanna do that though considering she's a girl and all. OK, now Back to Lawrence - Believe me, when it came to poking fun at accents, I came a distant second with him making fun of mine. Have you ever heard Eddie Murphy doing his white man impression? Imagine that same sort of exaggeration with a slight British accent. Crazy-funny man, and I'm gonna miss the guy. Anyway, we met at his place on a Wednesday night and enjoyed LOTS of great grilled chicken, beer, various hard liquors, and other food. A note to what may be my very concerned parents: No, I am not an alcoholic!! Just enjoying the times out and doing what I occasionally did back home. You just didn't have the evidence of it like you do here with these Web pages! Seriously though, no worries, everything in moderation, and hey, you know I'm not drinking and driving!! OK, back to the party. Simply put, I had a lot of fun, and it seemed this was the case with the others as well. One thing I want to mention here is how great it is to be a classmate with this group. Not only do I get to hang out and have a good time with people from different parts of the world, I also get to enjoy the company of some really interesting and wonderful people several days a week in class. I am really lucky I think. Anyway, by the end of the night I was pretty well hammered as were most of those still in attendance. Can you believe that even after a start of 3:00 PM, we still managed to go out on the town for a few and I didn't hit the sack until the wee hours of the morning? Proud to say that I made it to 3/4 of my class the next morning. Better than some of the others whose names will go unmentioned!! Ha-ha!! Hey Lawrence, if you read this, thanks again for the event! Oh, and don't forget to start saving for my trip to Bali! A higher GDP than the US after what was it, 4 years? All I can say is fun-in-the-sun!!! HAHAHA!!

For a link to some of the party pics, click here.

Well, I guess that's about it for now. Not sure when, but soon I'll treat you to my thoughts on Chinese television, and supply some pics of the University's student show thing-a-ma-deal. Stay tuned.