I hit a milestone for my time in China: I asked for tea in the shop today! There is a small store on the first floor of the building where we have Chinese class, and I wanted to buy an iced tea, so I went down during our break expecting to be able to take one from a cooler then pay like I have been, but the fridge was behind the counter. I pointed and said "cha" and the lady handed me the tea. SUCCESS!!! Achievement unlocked. I am so stupidly proud of myself for doing this, but it's the first time I've done that, and it feels really good.
We did vocab work in Chinese today and learned 9 more characters. We had 2 hours of review before our quiz, and she left the characters on the board while we had to write them, so the dictation went very well. We had the Japanese lunches again, and I had a nice break in my dorm room before public health class. We had a quantitative researcher lecture on maternal and child health and infectious diseases in China with a focus on the Millennium Development Goals (4, 5, and 7). Because the focus was so quantitative, it was kind of a dry lecture, but the policy of increasing hospital births has made a huge difference in maternal mortality and neonatal mortality. Public health is a longer class, but since we have different lecturers each day, we don't have homework, so it is worth it.
After class, I went back to the dorm to do my Chinese homework, check e-mail, and then head out for dinner. I met up with friends at 6:00, and we went to the cafeteria. I ate rice and a dish with chicken and green peppers and ginger. It was good, but I also tried a couple of dishes that I didn't end up eating (one was deceptively cold and the other was deceptively pork; the food was very inexpensive, so I wasn't busting my budget). I like eating in the cafeteria because it's the food that the students eat, so it's real Chinese food. Comparing it to my college dining hall, I realize it's probably not the best sample of the local fare, but I'm experiencing what life is really like here at PKU.
After dinner, we were heading over to the on campus superstore, Wu Mei, when we got caught in a flash rainstorm. As we waited under the cover of a bank, we realized (I was with Robert, Matt, Feifei, and Brain, btw) there was another store that was three stalls down on the street. We went there instead of Wu Mei, and I think it was better. It had a wider selection of foods that were good for dorm storage and breakfast in addition to other necessary items (toilet paper) and tchochkes (alarm clocks, reading lights, etc.). I got some breakfast rolls, green tea, crackers, peanut mochi, and dried mango, and I'm very happy to have these things. They will last a while.
Attached to the grocery is a store that sells pens, padfolios, notebooks, linens, and PKU merch. I found a calligraphy pen in the bins, and I got it to practice my characters with. I wrote "I am a foreign student. My name is Bai He." on a piece of paper I had, and I love the way this pen makes my characters look. I'm excited to use it in class tomorrow :)
The last few days have been kind of rainy here. Today was the worst, with major water falling from the sky as I had to walk to my morning class, but it still remains hot (though not oppressively so). I was glad to have my umbrella, but it would be way too hot for galoshes. There are tons of puddles on campus and the water that pools looks really gross and muddy and dirty, so it's a game to try to avoid stepping in them. Galoshes would be useful, and it is certainly not sandal weather.
I think all of us are really adjusting to life here and settling into a calm existence. It's nice to have a pattern to my days while still having time to plan excursions to the zoo and Olympic village. I really like everything I'm doing, and can't wait to experience whatever comes next!
Today is awesome because I finally spoke Chinese to a Chinese person and was understood!
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