Last Weekend

Here's a little comic drawn by Derek Kirk Kim which expresses how I sometimes feel here. It's easier to sit in my dorm room and eat oatmeal at times rather than going out and trying to find a decent place to eat. Haha.

Last weekend was a mainly uneventful three day weekend. However, on Thursday night I did go to a class party. Since the vast majority of my classmates are Korean, it took place in several Korean restaurants/pubs in an area in Beijing known as Wudaokou, which has a huge Korean population. It's not too far from where I live. 

I'm still not used to being addressed as 'Big Sister' by the Koreans....because I am older than everyone (as you can see in the pictures below), they respectfully call me that, but I have to say it makes me feel like a creaky old lady.

I got most of these pictures from a Japanese classmate, which is why the quality is a bit up and down. One thing I can say is, man some Koreans can really put back a lot of Soju (Korean alcohol). The evening was fun but got expensive because everything was split amongst everyone evenly, so even if you didn't drink, you paid for the alcohol too. 

We first went to a Korean BBQ restaurant which was delicious! Here's some of the food cooking. You used a lettuce leaf to wrap up the cooked meat and veggies, eating it all in a little package. 
The younger people are supposed to pour drinks for the older people. No one pours for themselves. So needless to say the first thing that was figured out when we sat down was who was oldest....me! 
Making toasts and getting pissed:
That's me in the corner with Kaitlin, an American student from Wisconsin. The three people on the other side of the table are Korean. The girls names in Chinese are Zhimin and Xiuzhen. I can't seem to ever say the guy's name correctly in Korean or English.
This is a picture of me (looking freakishly pale), Kaitlin, and Baoxian (a Korean girl) in the front row. Behind us from left to right are Minghe (Korean), Alex (another American), Daxian (Korean) and Izumi (Japanese).
Here's a shot of nearly the entire class...a few people couldn't make it that night.

After eating, we walked to another Korean place. On the way we came across Hump Cafe and had to take a picture. The Chinese name means 'Camel Hump Coffee.'

On the way to the next place, Alex mentioned how his former Chinese teacher told him that she still remembered the first English sentence she ever learned, which was "I like to eat apples and cock." Of course, that was supposed to mean she likes eating apples and chicken. Not a very useful lesson!

At the next place we went to the Koreans ordered more food even though I felt totally stuffed. It was all really delicious though. We played various drinking games that were a bit complicated to play in Chinese. One involved hitting the table and clapping in a specific rhythm. People would call out someone's name and a number, for example, "Marie four!" I would have to say my name four times fast along with the rhythm and then call out someone else's name and a number. It was impossibly difficult to remember everyone's Chinese names and to respond to my own Chinese name. I lost each time we tried, as did the other Americans with the group. So, instead we just assigned everyone seat numbers which was a lot easier than having to call out, "欧曼妮 四！李大贤三！" and so on!
I sat with these girls for a little while. They are really nice, but they prefer to converse in Korean. I can totally understand, but it made sitting with them a bit isolating. Haha. Thankfully, one of the Korean guys noticed and offered to switch places so I could be closer to the people speaking Chinese together.



Finally, we ended the night in a karaoke place. It was ok, but since I don't know a lot of Korean songs it was a little slow at times. I was also strangely exhausted and feeling a bit homesick that evening, so I was happy to head home at the end of the night.

The rest of the weekend was pretty slow. On Halloween I went with Zoe and Ruyun (my roommate) to try to go watch a new film called 'Painted Skin' 画皮 with other Chinese students, but when we got there it was too packed for us to fit in. Instead we went for a walk and bought the DVD. I watched it with Ruyun and found it to be a bit cheesy, but it was still ok for a bit of entertainment. Definitely nothing scary about it at all though.

On another evening I went back to the Across the Bridge Noodles place with Zoe. Here's a picture of the outside and you can sort of see the bridge you walk across to get to the tables.

Here's a picture of the menu....just to give an idea of what the dish is like....they put it all into a boiling broth, like a hotpot.
And here's the final product, all ready to eat. Mmmm.
This week has been busy with school stuff, but nothing exciting otherwise. I have midterms this next week, so I have spent all the previous few days trying to study. I am rather nervous about the tests as I know they will be very challenging for me. 

There's a film fest going on starting tomorrow (Sunday) at the Beijing Film Academy. I bought tickets, but I don't know how many screenings I will end up attending. I'm disappointed with the timing, since it conflicts with all the exam stuff. Boo.

After exams I am joining a language exchange thing that should happen once or twice a week. I might also try to volunteer somewhere. I want to try to start doing more activities than i've been doing lately. I started using the weird gym across the hall from my dorm room and I think that has been good for my mood. 

Blackout

Halloween arrived a few days late. There was a blackout yesterday at around 3:30pm. These pictures were taken just outside my room.

This is the view to the right of my room. The light shining on the two doors is the room to the foreign student's "library," which is really the bookstore. Very convenient for me.


This view is to the left of my room. The light down the hall is from the washroom. There was a handyman dressed in a blue jumpsuit, sitting on the sink counter with folded arms, swinging his legs, and chatting idly with a female fuwuyuan (a service staff). I prefer not to see men in the woman's washroom, but I told myself they were sweethearts, and had no where else to hangout. As you may know (or not), there are classroom in our dorms and the first door to the left, shining a narrow band of light on the opposite wall, is a classroom. Curious?


Here is the star of the blog, little Marie, in class.