Summer Trip

I've booked a business class flight to Bangkok and Singapore using points. It's only 30000 for a business class ticket, versus 20000 for economy, so I logically chose to get the best value and fly business. It is better value simply because buying a business class ticket could cost up 10 times the price of an economy one. I've booked the trip for three weeks, with 17 days in Thailand and 4 in Singapore. However, there is a small chance that I may extend the trip (and change my flight) depending on when I actually finish school here (still not sure). But, I've been doing research on the area, and am thinking that based on the time I have and what I want to see, that a trip to Northern Thailand and Laos is in order. Laos is dirt cheap (apparently), and seems to be a bit off the beaten track, which appeals to me. Plus, I can take a boat down the Mekong there. In Singapore, I will probably take a day trip or spend a night in Indonesia's Riau islands. Plus, by doing this I can get a sticker visa, which I really want. Sticker visas look pretty. Unfortunately, by the end of this trip I will have to get a new passport. Canada does not allow pages to be added, and I only have six blank pages remaining. What a drag!

Strange Behavior

Yesterday I was at a Cafe which also serves Western food, and saw some strange behavior from the Chinese people sitting next to me. They were a couple, and ordered two paninis and two pasta dishes for themselves. They didn't eat the paninis at all, and did not finish their pasta. What a waste of food, and what a waste of money. Weirdly enough, Chinese people treat western food the same as Chinese food: sharing is done between dishes. So, if two people order two dishes, they will be both be shared.

Food

Food on campus costs between 1 and 8 yuan at the canteen per person, and about 25 yuan a person at a sit-down restaurant on campus. The food on campus is delicious, even at the canteens. The food at the canteens is safe as well. Since you can seen what you are getting, you can be pretty sure it won't be something bizarre. But, there is no excitement or learning from eating at the canteens. There's nothing better that ordering from a menu that you can't read and being pleasantly surprised with what you get. The downside to this is that the failures can often be spectacular. This is what happened tonight. I went with Martin to one of the restaurants, and he chose a chicken dish based on the picture. It was terrible. Every single piece was cartilage. After reading the name of the dish, we found that it contained the character for 'bone'. I will now know to avoid ordering dishes with this character in the future. To make matters worse, this dish was quite expensive, undoubtedly because they actually had a cut pieces of cartilage from the chicken without a single piece of flesh on them!

Classes

Classes started yesterday, and I'm dithering about switching to an easier level. I went to my assigned class (202) yesterday, and thought it to be reasonable, but the book seemed quite difficult, and people in class, quite good. Today I attended 202 again, and was confronted with a teacher I barely understood. To be fair, few people in the class understood him. But, this made me think about switching classes, so this afternoon, I attended 201. Looking at the books for 201, it seems to be quite similar to 202, but a bit easier, and with people whom are not obviously better than me. I also feel as if it is the logical continuation of the course I took two years ago in Tianjin. I didn't particularly like one of that class's teachers, but the other one was excellent. Therefore, I will probably switch to the easier one.

Illogical Addresses

This morning I took the subway to the Lama Temple station, where the Visa center is located. The transfer between Line 13 and the loop line was a nightmare, involving walking for ten minutes and going outside. I searched around the Lama Temple station for nearly an hour for the building, which is #2. I knew I had the street right, and on the right hand side, I saw #7 and then #1. I asked a guy where to go and he said the other way. After walking for fifteen minutes, I realized this was the wrong way, and took a taxi to help me find it. The visa building (#2) is actually after #1! How much sense is that?

We also picked up our books today. Out of nine levels, I was assigned to the fourth. I looked through the books, and think they may be too hard. We'll see. I was able to read most of the stuff in the first parts of the books, but there were quite a few characters I didn't recognize.

Cheap Food

I got breakfast this morning and it only cost 0.80 yuan! That is about 12 cents. For that amount, I got a vegetable bun and zhou (Chinese porridge). I went back to my room and chilled for a bit, before setting out to buy a bike. This took less time than expected, as I was told that they could be bought at the student supermarket. A new bike, with a lock and basket cost me 208 yuan. For lunch, I decided to go to the Muslim restaurant. I was a bit discouraged upon arriving there to discover that much of the food was beef. It was only after finishing that I remembered that Muslims don't eat pork. Nevertheless, I had a good meal there, but at 7.60 was more expensive than the canteen.

In the early afternoon, I decided to go out on my bike to look for a gym. Unfortunately it was freezing and my new bike broke! The wheel got out of alignment and would not turn without hitting the frame. I had to take it back to the store to get fixed. By this time, I did not feel like looking for a gym, and so returned to my room. I had a shower, as the hot water times are limited and could not have on in the morning. I went this evening to the Muslim restaurant and got hot pot. It ended up being better than the hot pot I had at Ding Ding Xian, and for two people was only 48 yuan, including two big bottles of beer.

China

Mother left today, ending my stay in luxury at the Shangri-la, which we both agree is the best hotel we've ever stayed in. I am now in my dorm room, and have mostly unpacked. Thank goodness I have Freegate, a program to bypass China's firewall, as blogger is blocked in China. This afternoon we had a meeting for all new students, which was done in Chinese. About half the people in the room had no idea what was going on, and I only understood the gist of what was being said. The second half of the meeting, with a policeman, had an interpreter. The policeman told us horror stories of foreigners being killed in drunken brawls and bad traffic. I went for an early dinner just after five at the canteen, which is much like the ones at Nankai, and is still dirt cheap. I couldn't finish all my food for only 4.70. I am enjoying a bit of solitude in my room. I'll probably watch one of the DVDs I bought in Tianjin.