Classes - Blogabond

Beijing, China

It was a challenging first couple of days of classes, but I'm getting the hang of simplified characters. A couple days ago, I went to a tea house called Lao She Tea house 老舍茶館 and drank tea while watching bombtastic shows. There was a shadow puppet show, acrobats, magic, singing, gong fu, and some other crazy shows that were all very entertaining. I'm typing more now since Phil said he wanted to read more, so this is for you Phil! I'm usually too lazy but today is sort of an exception, I guess.

Besides being a bit homesick for the first couple of days, I've learned to enjoy the time I am abroad 'cause I'm only here for a month or so. I wasn't used to the weather being so hot and humid in additions to everything being so dirty here, but food and goods are cheap so that's a plus. Also, I watched this video in class and it made me feel lucky to be here in Beijing during the Olympics, so I'm coping well.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QFQ1JDw-d70

I got sick a couple of days ago and I'm slowly getting better. Being sick in college sucks, and being abroad is no different. I might've caught a cold from eating food family-style (which is how Chinese usually eat.) Basically there's a bunch of plates of food and everyone just has their own bowl of rice and share the other foods, so yay germs galore.

Yesterday, I went to Tian an men and Forbidden city. We took the subway and it was very very hot, humid, sunny, and crowded. There were MASSES of Asian people and I wondered, why are there so many Asian people here? Why would they come to their tourist trap sites when they already live here..? One of life's unanswered questions..

I also think my English is deteriorating, so excuse the bad grammar and such! Also, please excuse the multiple tourist pictures of me. My parents were wondering why I hardly had any of myself and wanted me to post some so they can see it. HI 媽媽，爸爸！

p.s. i really hate how the image quality is decreased when it's uploaded

Moscow, Russia

Classes start
Today was the first day of class. I signed up for RUS 2220 (intermediate level Russian language) Russian phonetics, and Modern Russian Life. The language class is from 9:30-12 with two breaks, phonetics is covered in that class, and Modern Russian Life meets only on mondays, so I had an easy day today. After class Brandon, Greg and I went to Субвай (subway) and again I was thoroughly impressed by the quality of the food. Я лублю Россиу!! (I love Russia!) After lunch I came back to the dorm for a few hour nap (I needed it to recoup from yesterday). After my nap Brandon and I went to Ашан (Ashan, the big mall with a supermarket, and lots of stores) for dinner at Бургер Кинг (burger king) I got a Грилл Чикен Реп (transliterated; grilled Chicken wrap) and again, as I'll probably say for the rest of the trip. I was impressed by the food. After dinner we went and did some shopping in the grocery store in the mall. Let me just tell you that as soon as I get back I will kiss the first water fountain I see. Having to buy water and not being able to drink the water that comes out of the fountain is HORRIBLE!!!!! I bought a 9 liter jug of water for like 30 rubles (just over a dollar) =] The walk home was hard, but I got some good excersize. And just as I thought my day was over I had to Battle a mosquito who found his way into my second Story window. До завтра! (Until tomorrow!)

Classes, Tian an men, tea

Beijing, China

Classes Start

Moscow, Russia

Heading South?