Let's try this week, though, shall we? I know my 2 eager readers--my mom and my dog--are dying to hear the latest installment.
Tests have been spontaneously combusting right in front of my eyes. Or I wish they were, so that I could have an excuse not to take them and consequently see the scores I've been receiving. I belabor the point, but the heritage class. is. hard. I would bet Area 51 exits that they grade harder on the talking portion, and the grammar, while on the surface seemingly a pool of tranquility, lays (lies?) the hugest loch ness monster you will ever get to meet and have tea with. Point is, I have to, for lack of a better word, pwn* chinese, zerg hydralisk versus terran marine style.The social life: it's weird. I'm going to put it out straight right here, no lies. There are cliques in China. China! Duke! Exclaimations! Although that's to be expected. On the surface, there are 3 notable, significant, and consequentially inconsequential groups: the koreans who talk korean to each other and hang out with each other; the Duke students who like to go out, whether that means a movie in the room or a club; and finally, the chinese spartans who study in their rooms all the time. Then there's the rest of us, who are normal and well adjusted (of course). It's been pretty hard to mix the differing people together like a salad with celery and tomatos and crutons (especially the darn-ed crutons), but honestly, I'm totally happy conversing with the same 4 people over and over. My suitemate's dad came over and paid for our little embarquement at Outback steakhouse, which in totality set him back 1000 RMB, a pretty meaty sum (if you know what I mean, ha, ha). It was amazing--so much steak, and I bet it had to be imported, because they don't make steak like that in China. And then we smoked a hookah with the dad(I didn't participate in these illicit-sounding behaviors, though; I just silently, implicitly, complied).
My aunt brought me 'hella' money for my birthday (it was just 4 days ago! The head teacher surprised me with a huge cake after the first class, and I got another cake later, and some nice decorations on my door, some of which I still don't know from who :D) and for some reason, 4 days later mind you, I have 1700 left. Ouch. I bought 700 kuai worth of clothes at this underground market yesterday and today (and after that I flew a kite!) but rather then feeling like pulling teeth, it felt like eating a chocolate cake that I found on the ground, with a bow tie attached that said my name. Get this--for 100 American (people? no, no dollars), I got a sweet thick (as in put-a-plastic-bag-around-my-hand-to-slip-it-on) bracelet, a fake lacoste shirt, a pair of black volcom pants, 3 sick hoodies that are too big for me--one has a see-through plastic hood!, a pair of pure white basketball shorts, 2 pairs of really nice, skinny jeans that I think I would marry if I was into that, a pair of yellow converse for 4 american (it looks like I'm wearing banana peels, actually) basketball shirts with celtics players on the front that scream bandwagon, two 'bape' brand look-alikes (think Bongo) shirts, one yellow and one blue, both with english that is incomprehensible when read in a sentence-like structure, and finally, finally, the piece da resistance--a BAPE HAT for 20 kuai! I think I'm in love. Sorry. I like shopping in China. I still need to get one more--oh, who am I kidding, 3 more--lacoste shirts, another pair of outrageous colored-shoes, 2 more hats (America: 40 bucks. China: 3 bucks.), 2 more pairs of basketball shorts, and a teddy bear. Just because. I also saw a buddha monk walking down the street one day, and he approached a hot dog stand on the corner; walked up to it, and said, "Make me one with everything."
Get it? Get it? haha...haha..ha? That didn't actually happen. Although I did see a panda shooting a gun in the air after eating a sandwich and leaving, as well as a tomato blushing. What fun, eh**.
I can't think of anything else, so here we dive right into the random thoughts of the day. There is no milk in China. NO MILK! I'm trying to go to the gym everyday to get my chicken meat increased, but there's no way I can do that unless I get some enhancements. And because I'm afraid of using Creatine, I'm screwed in China. I bought a pithy jar of protein powder for 255 kuai (38 bucks) and have used almost 1/2 of it. THE JAR WASN'T EVEN FULL TO BEGIN WITH. grr. The program's almost over--I started of thinking of the goodbyes I would have to endure in 5 weeks. It made me sad. This is why you don't make friends, so that the goodbye is happy, rather than sad. Just kidding! Kinda. Too, too fast. The sky was completely blue today. It was amazing--I could see the buildings in the distance, and when I looked up at leaves that were silhouetted against the sun, it reminded me of California. I still feel like I'm in the Matrix though, because it's just weird to see Beijing in this condition. Hopefully the government can pull some strings to keep it this way. I'm getting my hair straightened again. It's been a running joke (actually, it's the only thing I talk to the teachers about) that I want to get really cool Taiwanese pop star hair, and after having my hair straightened once already, to little effect, I'm going in again. I like long hair (not) but it needs to be straight for me to achieve the desired effect. So tomorrow, after classes, 3 hours of hair altering! Excited. I'm on this computer right now, belonging to a girl from John's Hopkins (in fact the only one from that slightly-above-average college) who simply does not take care of her computer. Whenever the slightest malfunction happens, she either 1. restarts and forcefully slams down the cover 2. clicks rapid-fire, to the point of breakdown where I feel bad about the computer even though it's not mine. 3. complains. It's painful to watch (especially the latter point). Also, it's the third replacement she's gotten this year so far. Figures, eh? Good thing she has other more endearing qualities, heh, heh (I don't know what the chuckles were for). Whenever I get into a cab, I'm afraid it's going to lead me halfway around the city before actually driving me to the required destination, but it hasn't happened yet. Call me McCarthy. I visited HBA this week and their campus is like a picnic under a blooming cherry tree on a partly-cloudy-sunny-sunny day. I mean trees everywhere, foreign students on campus like ants on a jolly rancher, and dorms that are singles. Which I actually don't think are a good thing. But there are so many good restaurants around the place! I'm jealous about how close they are to everything. The Adidas store in SanLiTuEr is amazing. Think a thousand shoe display, interactive games, sweet mannequins--even Chinese ones--, unfriendly service agents speaking English, and actual words written on the glass by really famous athletes. Except for tennis, which doesn't count. I flew a kite! For the first time! It wasn't too windy out! I haven't gone on Facebook for the longest time. And it feels good. This sounds really shallow, but I can't wait to go on it and read all the posts I got. Hopefully. Church was fun too--I didn't learn as much as I would have hoped, but apparently there are going to be interesting sermons in the coming weeks so we'll see how it goes. Finally, the life revelation that I've come to this week:Ready for it?
Are you sure?
It's actually pretty good....so get your hopes up.
:Think back to the best things in your life, and you'll realize that none of them were planned for at all. At all. The best moments (spontaneous), the best friends (chance), the best feelings (unimaginable).
This applies for one week stretches too, as well as Duke Study in China programs.
I like drawing simple, cute, rabbits. and pigs.
-Peter Lu, or commonly referred to as "hey, dude, why are you wearing that?"
* - pwn - a term to, as the french call, apprehend how to simply breakdance breakdown (in a good way) a test, preferably Chinese ones.
** - the opinions expressed in the aforementioned paragraph do not necessarily reflect the views of the author, although it might if the price is right.
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