It's day 6 of my Chinese adventure and so far I've noticed about half of my pre-conceptions were correct. The food here is much better than I anticipated and I already know I will miss it upon my departure in June. However, I have also come to realize I'm not quite as good at using chopsticks as I thought... Its surprisingly difficult to eat slippery dumplings and noodles with two sticks. Thank god I'm picking up on strategies of my Chinese friends/people who have been here longer than I. My roommate, Maria, and I have discovered a true Chinese treasure called Coco's. It's a bubble tea place that makes the most amazing drinks. I had a Mango Au Lait and hot Pineapple Black tea with pineapple chunks that changed my life and beat Starbuck's (Singbake as it'd called here, pronounced sing-bah-keugh) 2:1. Additionally, the Starbuck's here put sooo much sugar in their drinks. You can probably get diabetes from having just a sip.
My second pre-conception that I will not understand what anyone is saying to me was 100% accurate. Everyone I talked to before leaving said I would be fine... you guys are all dirty liars. Practically no one
IMG_0854here speaks English. Luckily most places have English menus (otherwise I can't eat there) and I've made friends with people who are in Advanced/Intermediate Chinese; I'm in Beginner II... Taking the placement exam was a train wreck: I knew the answer to 1 question out of the whole 5 page test and for my oral exam, the Laoshi (teacher) straight up asked me, "What DO you know how to say in Chinese?!" Luckily she also asked me what level I wanted to be in and was gracious enough to accept that I had taken one semester and didn't put me in the first class. I'm also taking Changing Nature of Business in China, China's Macroeconomic Impact, and Chinese Film and Society. I'm pretty excited for the classes, they sound interesting and start Monday. Hopefully they aren't too hard/too much work so that we have time to explore the city and have some fun inbetween.
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