Day 9
9:30 A.M.
Well, I'm screwed. I told the landlord yesterday that I'd pay her tomorrow. This was, of course, to give me leeway in case the ATMs didn't cooperate. However, I was feeling rather confident today and told her I could indeed pay her today, I'd just have to go to the bank.
Well...
I could only extract 1000 yuan from the newer machine, and 300 from the abused one. Which means I'm 400 (52.82) short.
Oh dear.
What am I to do? I suppose I could wander aimlessly till the late afternoon with 1300 in my pocket and my key inside my room.
2:44 P.M.
Well, I made it back in after explaining that the bank hadn't received my money yet. Which is a bit of a lie, but I told them I'd get the money by nightfall. Let's hope 8 is late enough for those ATMs to recuperate.
I did study a bit outside today, and it is gorgeous weather for that. The mosquitos are less now (I only killed three) and it is warm, but not blazing, and it is breezy, but not outright windy.
I had to move, though, because some poor fellow was going around to the foreigners near the cafe. It soon became obvious that he was a student... and an addict. He tried to make conversation then would offer marijuana to the target. Before he could make his pitch to me, I left.
And here I am. I'll probably go out again to study some more.
5:13 P.M.
I finally managed to come up with the missing 400. Thank god. I paid my rent! No more worries!
Not really, actually. It seems since I came a week or two early, and I might have to stay an extra two days, the price went -up- a little. I still lack 1440 (190). *sigh*
Oh well. The day is excellent and I told the landlady I'd have the missing amount by Wednesday. I have 2 days to pump 1440 from the machines, and I think they need the rest.
And, of course, I must be careful with my money for now. While the rent may be paid very soon, I still have to eat. If I run out of money and the ATMs are resting, well, I'm screwed. A carton of milk and a hand of bananas do not breakfast, lunch, and dinner make.
And there's always the little things. There's an excellent program I want to watch on my computer, but due to technical difficulties, I can't watch past a certain emotional high point in the series, and I'm dying to know what's next. Blasted thing.
Which reminds me, I got to see a little bit of Chinese TV, and it did not disappoint. Blazing fast as always, although I can start to make out and understand individual characters now. I'll understand the situations the characters find themselves in... eventually.
What surprised me was the appearance of Seinfeld (I did I write that correctly?) with Chinese subtitles. It gave me great joy, the ability to understand what I was hearing and try to read it in Chinese at the same time. I kept channel surfing, and the channels available were... surprising. Not in content, mind you, just...language, really. There was a hispanic telenovela channel (without subtitles...), an Arabic channel (with Arabic subtitles...) and CNN! Without sound. But they were indeed there.
Well, I'm off to studying and wandering campus again. Bye!
9:30 A.M.
Well, I'm screwed. I told the landlord yesterday that I'd pay her tomorrow. This was, of course, to give me leeway in case the ATMs didn't cooperate. However, I was feeling rather confident today and told her I could indeed pay her today, I'd just have to go to the bank.
Well...
I could only extract 1000 yuan from the newer machine, and 300 from the abused one. Which means I'm 400 (52.82) short.
Oh dear.
What am I to do? I suppose I could wander aimlessly till the late afternoon with 1300 in my pocket and my key inside my room.
2:44 P.M.
Well, I made it back in after explaining that the bank hadn't received my money yet. Which is a bit of a lie, but I told them I'd get the money by nightfall. Let's hope 8 is late enough for those ATMs to recuperate.
I did study a bit outside today, and it is gorgeous weather for that. The mosquitos are less now (I only killed three) and it is warm, but not blazing, and it is breezy, but not outright windy.
I had to move, though, because some poor fellow was going around to the foreigners near the cafe. It soon became obvious that he was a student... and an addict. He tried to make conversation then would offer marijuana to the target. Before he could make his pitch to me, I left.
And here I am. I'll probably go out again to study some more.
5:13 P.M.
I finally managed to come up with the missing 400. Thank god. I paid my rent! No more worries!
Not really, actually. It seems since I came a week or two early, and I might have to stay an extra two days, the price went -up- a little. I still lack 1440 (190). *sigh*
Oh well. The day is excellent and I told the landlady I'd have the missing amount by Wednesday. I have 2 days to pump 1440 from the machines, and I think they need the rest.
And, of course, I must be careful with my money for now. While the rent may be paid very soon, I still have to eat. If I run out of money and the ATMs are resting, well, I'm screwed. A carton of milk and a hand of bananas do not breakfast, lunch, and dinner make.
And there's always the little things. There's an excellent program I want to watch on my computer, but due to technical difficulties, I can't watch past a certain emotional high point in the series, and I'm dying to know what's next. Blasted thing.
Which reminds me, I got to see a little bit of Chinese TV, and it did not disappoint. Blazing fast as always, although I can start to make out and understand individual characters now. I'll understand the situations the characters find themselves in... eventually.
What surprised me was the appearance of Seinfeld (I did I write that correctly?) with Chinese subtitles. It gave me great joy, the ability to understand what I was hearing and try to read it in Chinese at the same time. I kept channel surfing, and the channels available were... surprising. Not in content, mind you, just...language, really. There was a hispanic telenovela channel (without subtitles...), an Arabic channel (with Arabic subtitles...) and CNN! Without sound. But they were indeed there.
Well, I'm off to studying and wandering campus again. Bye!
