Kitchen Wench

On Friday I arrived in Beijing and moved into my dorm. I’ve almost completed my first week of classes and have already enjoyed yang rou chuanr, pirated DVDs, and purchased a Chinese cell phone. It’s nice to settle in to a rhythm… sort of. It’s only been one week, and while I’ve started planning the layout of my life here, we’re already going to be picking up and moving next weekend. I’m conflicted about spending 9 days in Shaanxi Province, as I would really like to wring some quality time out of Beijing, without killing myself sightseeing. (I’m also afraid I may have already visited some of the sites in Shaanxi as well.)

There’s something to actually living in a foreign country, rather than just seeing it from the window of a tourbus or through the lens of your camera. It’s empowering to master the fundamentals in another language, to figure out the bus and subway systems, and, ultimately, to feel at home in a place that isn’t really like home at all.

I also went swing dancing in Beijing, which was… Well, I had fun. But I was also very frustrated at times. It was not how I was expecting. But, damnit, I paid for a 4 lesson package and I’m going to slog through it. I don’t want to give up dance here if I don’t have to.

Life is much less eventful without the constant travel, so I don’t have much to report yet. (For instance, today I went to Wu Mei, the Chinese version of Wal-Mart.) However, this program won’t let me sit still for long, so I’m sure I’ll post again soon.