5

so...today was my last 'free day' before classes start. In the morning we had a 'placement test' so they could place us in smaller classes within our levels. Back at Vassar we learned the pinyin (which is the sounds and how you write words in english letters, not characters) and lesson 1 in the book (introducing yourself, teacher, and minimal basic vocabulary)...I studied the night before and have been reviewing a bit, but it wasn't a big deal because it was just a placement test...I later learned that I was put into the higher level (there are two) of the first year students. I think this just means we may move at a little faster pace then the other class. Classes are everyday from 8-12 (4 classes with 10 minute breaks), we then have a two hour lunch break and following have one of three things; calligraphy/painting, Kung Fu, or learning a chinese song...(Mr. Shay would be impressed). You will be dissapointed to know that I didn't sign up for Kung Fu, so no, I won't come back with slick moves like Jackie Chan or be able to speed through the air like in 'crouching tiger hidden dragon'. After the cultural learning session, from 5-6 we meet with our language tutors. Every student was assigned a 'language tutor' whom they will meet with daily one-on-one and just have conversation about anything using chinese. The tutors are students at the university who are majoring in Chinese literature. Mine is named Lu Dan and she's 22. Today we met with them for a bit and chatted so as to get to know eachother and figure out where we are going to meet. She has been studying english for about 8 years, but can't speak it very well. She said that she can understand and read english pretty well, but can't speak it (because they spend a lot of time rigourously studying english, but not a lot of time actually speaking it, so she has a hard time expressing herself. The language divide made things sortof difficult, well, not sortof, but pretty difficult and a bit awkward. I guess as I learn more chinese and we get to know eachother better it will be easier.
Also, today at the meeting we had to sign a language contract...yes a contract saying we speak chinese and only chinese all the time (in and out of class), it also said that this will directly affect our grade..hmmm I might be mute for a few weeks. They do this to encourage speaking chinese and to constantly integrate into our daily lives.
O ya, the cafeteria food is sortof grosss...I guess I'll get used to it though. We have a meal card with 50 yuan on it i think, but I figure we'll mostly be going out to eat because the allowance we're given is definately enough for us to go out to eat for at least one or probably two meals a day. They serve the typical chinese food that we've been eating (which I've grown to enjoy and get used to), but its not very good and doesn't necesarily look apetizing.
Tonight we went out to dinner to a dumpling place and just ordered a whole bunch of dumplings (pork, mutton, beef and vegetable, prawn, pickled cabbage...) and it was a good, fun, and cheep meal.
Qingdao is a lot cooler than Beijing and Shanghai. I'm not sure if it was just today, but there seems to always be a breeze and it doesn't feel as hot and sticky as the other cities were. At night, it actually gets pretty chilly (like long pants and a sweatshirt). Today we went on a bus tour of the city and were able to see the beaches. They are really pretty, but there is so much fog/pollution in the air that its not as picturesque as it used to be. our tour guide said that 10 years ago (maybe even 5) you could see clearly-the coast line, skyline, boats, bridges, lighthouse...but now you can barely see 20 feet out. (I don't know if today was a particularly foggy day, but I was so surprised at all of the air pollution and it makes me wonder what it will be like in another 5 years, and, if I actually want to swim in the water...is it safe or will I come out growing a third arm or something (from the pollution and waste...)