So, there are cheaper prices to be found outside these walls. However, the risks are higher. While there are set prices in here, out there, you have to fight for the the prices, and they'll often inflate them astronomically. A jacket that will go for 30-40 yuan will be offered to you for 200 yuan. That's from 5 USD to 26 USD. While, again, still relatively cheap, it's money lost. He said that eventually people get a sense of what something goes for, and are often successful at lowering the price. A good tip that he told me, and that a friend back in Miami told me as well, is to cut the price by 3 fold. Or, should the price be ridiculous, like 1000 yuan (131 USD), then to just lop off a zero.
He then told me that they often try to stick the foreign students in the cheaper and worse buildings, and that I should investigate the prices for the dorms before it is too late.
He made me a map of where to find banks and a place to call home, and gave me instructions oh how to do so. Fortunately, both were inside the campus. As we parted, he told me that we'll likely go to a club sometime (oh joy) and that I should get a girlfriend.
I think you guys possessed him.
Of course, right afterwards I rushed to get my computer so I could contact my mother and apologize to her and to pass on the message to my father. While doing this, I was dead tired, and mosquitos bit my arms no less than 17 times (I counted). Thus, I didn't get to write all of this yesterday. I did, however, get to buy the bananas, although they don't look so hot. I'll have to consume them quickly or lose them, although they were quite cheap (5 yuan/.66 USD).
Today, I'll investigate how much the nicer dorms cost, and how much this one costs. If the other ones are negligibly more expensive or, hell, even cheaper, I'll probably move. I'll also see if I can indeed withdraw money from this bank, and try to make a call home today. And I'll keep studying, as always. I'll let you know how that goes.
Ah, before I forget. This night I woke at midnight, and I don't know why. Well, this horrendous nightmare probably had something to do with it, but I quickly prayed that away, and I was preparing to settle me down to sleep when I heard something ringing.
That couldn't possibly be my phone, I thought. Except that it was. Unable to fathom who'd be calling at this hour, except for some misguided friend from Miami, or perhaps my family, I answered the phone.
It's the film dude. The one who I did not see all day during the filming day.
He wanted to know if I was able to film again, and if I could participate in his film project.
At that moment, for who knows what reason, I was filled with a sense of fear and dread, so I politely declined, said I had lots of school paperwork to do, and said my good byes. Let's hope that is the end of that.
4:16 P.M.
Probably the last entry for the day.
I explored again, and went to a restaurant area the Haitian mentioned to me yesterday. Honestly, from the outside, it looks like a single room shop. I walk in and go up some stairs next to a single-room shop, and it's like a small area was magically expanded. It's like getting into a Mini-Cooper and suddenly having the room of a limousine.
After poking around there for a bit and going into darker places where reconstruction is taking place, I went looking for building 17, which is said to be one of the nicer buildings. I guess it's so nice it's in another university entirely, since I did not find it, and I went all around campus. I did find high numbers, like 13 and 14, but those did not look very nice. It seems I'll have to stay put in my dorm. I did investigate the dormitory that I saw my first day here, which looked nice, but they're full. Shame.
As for everything else, I'm doing alright. Found a good way to study Chinese script. I can read it fine, it's recalling it for writing that's the issue, but I've solved that. I think.
I've raided two ATMs today for 3500 yuan. I'm up to 6500, and I lack 7000. Less, thanks to my grandmother's gift of 2900 yuan. I stumbled through the exchange process, and I now have my grandmother's gift in Chinese currency. I'll have to ask that lady how much the dormitory is and if I can stay 1 extra day in it. My last exam is January 30, and my flight leaves the first of February.
...
I'll figure something out. Or buy an extra day from the lady, who knows. I really, really do not want to take a cab again.
So, what's happenin' on your end, guys and gals?
He then told me that they often try to stick the foreign students in the cheaper and worse buildings, and that I should investigate the prices for the dorms before it is too late.
He made me a map of where to find banks and a place to call home, and gave me instructions oh how to do so. Fortunately, both were inside the campus. As we parted, he told me that we'll likely go to a club sometime (oh joy) and that I should get a girlfriend.
I think you guys possessed him.
Of course, right afterwards I rushed to get my computer so I could contact my mother and apologize to her and to pass on the message to my father. While doing this, I was dead tired, and mosquitos bit my arms no less than 17 times (I counted). Thus, I didn't get to write all of this yesterday. I did, however, get to buy the bananas, although they don't look so hot. I'll have to consume them quickly or lose them, although they were quite cheap (5 yuan/.66 USD).
Today, I'll investigate how much the nicer dorms cost, and how much this one costs. If the other ones are negligibly more expensive or, hell, even cheaper, I'll probably move. I'll also see if I can indeed withdraw money from this bank, and try to make a call home today. And I'll keep studying, as always. I'll let you know how that goes.
Ah, before I forget. This night I woke at midnight, and I don't know why. Well, this horrendous nightmare probably had something to do with it, but I quickly prayed that away, and I was preparing to settle me down to sleep when I heard something ringing.
That couldn't possibly be my phone, I thought. Except that it was. Unable to fathom who'd be calling at this hour, except for some misguided friend from Miami, or perhaps my family, I answered the phone.
It's the film dude. The one who I did not see all day during the filming day.
He wanted to know if I was able to film again, and if I could participate in his film project.
At that moment, for who knows what reason, I was filled with a sense of fear and dread, so I politely declined, said I had lots of school paperwork to do, and said my good byes. Let's hope that is the end of that.
4:16 P.M.
Probably the last entry for the day.
I explored again, and went to a restaurant area the Haitian mentioned to me yesterday. Honestly, from the outside, it looks like a single room shop. I walk in and go up some stairs next to a single-room shop, and it's like a small area was magically expanded. It's like getting into a Mini-Cooper and suddenly having the room of a limousine.
After poking around there for a bit and going into darker places where reconstruction is taking place, I went looking for building 17, which is said to be one of the nicer buildings. I guess it's so nice it's in another university entirely, since I did not find it, and I went all around campus. I did find high numbers, like 13 and 14, but those did not look very nice. It seems I'll have to stay put in my dorm. I did investigate the dormitory that I saw my first day here, which looked nice, but they're full. Shame.
As for everything else, I'm doing alright. Found a good way to study Chinese script. I can read it fine, it's recalling it for writing that's the issue, but I've solved that. I think.
I've raided two ATMs today for 3500 yuan. I'm up to 6500, and I lack 7000. Less, thanks to my grandmother's gift of 2900 yuan. I stumbled through the exchange process, and I now have my grandmother's gift in Chinese currency. I'll have to ask that lady how much the dormitory is and if I can stay 1 extra day in it. My last exam is January 30, and my flight leaves the first of February.
...
I'll figure something out. Or buy an extra day from the lady, who knows. I really, really do not want to take a cab again.
So, what's happenin' on your end, guys and gals?
