8:39 P.M.
Latest I've woken up, and I woke due only to the knock on the door by the maid. I did go to sleep later last night, though; 9:30.
I can start going to sleep earlier and waking earlier once I have some fruit in my apartment. I keep waking and thinking I'm back at home, so I start thinking of cereal and bread and then... Damn it, I have none of those things here. I spent a good hour and a half yesterday talking to my mother on iChat with the camera, so I didn't have much time for anything else. Today I'll probably go out and conduct more raids on the ATM and probably do some shopping
Oh, and I lost my trusty water bottle. I hope some hobo out there is making good use of it and is trading it in for whatever he can get. I'll update when I can.
10:43 P.M.
I got the TV working. It was a faulty socket that was causing the trouble. That, and the on button on the TV is non-functional.
The fella from the film found me, and told me that the phone number they had provided was wrong. Figures. Anyhow, he wants to know if I can go today at noon to the recording studio, and I say yes. Should I be suspicious? Perhaps, but I don't feel anything wrong here, and I met another student who's going to "act" in this short film as well. Whatever. If I don't update after this, I was kidnapped.
I'm kidding! Geez.
I also realized this morning that eating meat dishes morning, noon, and night probably isn't healthy, and might cause me gout. It is now imperative that I find alternate sources of nutrition. After the whole acting thing, I suppose. I'll let you guys know how that goes.
Ah, and I tried pumping the ATM for cash again. I was only able to extract 500 from it. : / Well, since I am going out today, I'll hit up any ATMs that I see that work with my card. Hell, if I spy 4 ATMs, I'm set.
6:45 A.M.
It has been quite an eventful day, and there's much to relate.
First off, it seems that I've been placed in a commercial for the Beijing Olympics. If it will ever air, and when, and where, I don't know. But I got paid 200 yuan (26.32) for my troubles. What was more important was the friendships forged.
One of the people that came from my school gave me lots of advice from a one year veteran. Among the many things I learned were:
Don't trust taxis. They'll try to rob you, both literally and metaphorically. When you're not looking, they'll pump the meter and will take the longest distance there.
Stuff inside of my school more expensive because they try to sucker foreigners. So food is about 1.5 times more expensive. So, when I can, I should try to eat out.
There's a bank on campus. It's just hidden.
There's a really, really cheap way to talk to the US on campus. It's also hidden.
Having a girlfriend who speaks only Chinese is imperative (damn it).
That's all I recall at the moment. But it was highly educational.
The trip to the film studio was scary as hell, though. The city is massive. We drove for an hour and never managed to see the edge of the city. The way they drive here is crazy. Miami drivers are tame as hell. Here, they'll start merging even if there is no space for merging. The lanes for the bikes are used as secondary roads. The roads that are normally reserved for police on our highways? Hell, everyone uses them here.
And then the places we went...
The city is very green, in terms of shrubbery. The buildings are massive. And then we hit the slums.
Cue nervous sweating from all the foreigners in the van.
It's really sad, the state people live in. I'll go into more detail about today tomorrow, when the mosquitos are not eating me alive.
I'm going to buy some bananas and go investigate the bank, the calling place, and go to my dormitory before I die from blood loss.
Latest I've woken up, and I woke due only to the knock on the door by the maid. I did go to sleep later last night, though; 9:30.
I can start going to sleep earlier and waking earlier once I have some fruit in my apartment. I keep waking and thinking I'm back at home, so I start thinking of cereal and bread and then... Damn it, I have none of those things here. I spent a good hour and a half yesterday talking to my mother on iChat with the camera, so I didn't have much time for anything else. Today I'll probably go out and conduct more raids on the ATM and probably do some shopping
Oh, and I lost my trusty water bottle. I hope some hobo out there is making good use of it and is trading it in for whatever he can get. I'll update when I can.
10:43 P.M.
I got the TV working. It was a faulty socket that was causing the trouble. That, and the on button on the TV is non-functional.
The fella from the film found me, and told me that the phone number they had provided was wrong. Figures. Anyhow, he wants to know if I can go today at noon to the recording studio, and I say yes. Should I be suspicious? Perhaps, but I don't feel anything wrong here, and I met another student who's going to "act" in this short film as well. Whatever. If I don't update after this, I was kidnapped.
I'm kidding! Geez.
I also realized this morning that eating meat dishes morning, noon, and night probably isn't healthy, and might cause me gout. It is now imperative that I find alternate sources of nutrition. After the whole acting thing, I suppose. I'll let you guys know how that goes.
Ah, and I tried pumping the ATM for cash again. I was only able to extract 500 from it. : / Well, since I am going out today, I'll hit up any ATMs that I see that work with my card. Hell, if I spy 4 ATMs, I'm set.
6:45 A.M.
It has been quite an eventful day, and there's much to relate.
First off, it seems that I've been placed in a commercial for the Beijing Olympics. If it will ever air, and when, and where, I don't know. But I got paid 200 yuan (26.32) for my troubles. What was more important was the friendships forged.
One of the people that came from my school gave me lots of advice from a one year veteran. Among the many things I learned were:
Don't trust taxis. They'll try to rob you, both literally and metaphorically. When you're not looking, they'll pump the meter and will take the longest distance there.
Stuff inside of my school more expensive because they try to sucker foreigners. So food is about 1.5 times more expensive. So, when I can, I should try to eat out.
There's a bank on campus. It's just hidden.
There's a really, really cheap way to talk to the US on campus. It's also hidden.
Having a girlfriend who speaks only Chinese is imperative (damn it).
That's all I recall at the moment. But it was highly educational.
The trip to the film studio was scary as hell, though. The city is massive. We drove for an hour and never managed to see the edge of the city. The way they drive here is crazy. Miami drivers are tame as hell. Here, they'll start merging even if there is no space for merging. The lanes for the bikes are used as secondary roads. The roads that are normally reserved for police on our highways? Hell, everyone uses them here.
And then the places we went...
The city is very green, in terms of shrubbery. The buildings are massive. And then we hit the slums.
Cue nervous sweating from all the foreigners in the van.
It's really sad, the state people live in. I'll go into more detail about today tomorrow, when the mosquitos are not eating me alive.
I'm going to buy some bananas and go investigate the bank, the calling place, and go to my dormitory before I die from blood loss.
