1/30/08

-Laundry day! I figured after nearly three weeks it was about time, despite my total procrastination. I was hoping to put it off long enough that the problem would just go away, but apparently that doesn’t happen. Fortunately the washing machine is on our floor and the maids were right there to help me (read: do everything for me). I was at least able to hold the entire conversation in Chinese! There may not be too many linguistic intricacies in “I don’t know how to use this,” but I was happy with myself. Now I have time to kill while I play the waiting game.

-Wednesdays are my free day, meaning I only have my language class from 9-12 and then I’m free! It’s even nicer because, unlike home, there are very few ways I can waste my time. The only things I have to choose are sitting around twiddling my thumbs or accomplishing something.

-Today my accomplishment was to check out the “single’s bar” on the way to Wudaokao. No, I’m not trying to explore the dating scene of Beijing. Instead, I’m taking advantage of their need for English teachers! The guy who owns it, Pang, has set up a bunch of classes there for people to learn English or Chinese, and they are looking for native speakers of either to teach classes in the afternoons/evenings. A number of students from our program have already signed up, including my roommate, and they love it. They basically just hand you a book and put you in front of a class. And the staff is so appreciative! Apparently you get a free meal and all the drinks you want, in addition to the 100 kuai/hour. Because of the Spring Festival, I won’t get to start for about two weeks. I’ll let you know how it goes.

-You might ask, how could I possibly wait two weeks to start such a fun endeavor? Because Spring Festival will be AMAZING of course! Everyday I hear more sweet things about Harbin. Not only is it supposedly the “Paris of the East” but also home to the most beautiful people in the world, according to our language instructor.