Life in Tsinghua VOL. 1

Man, I ain't done this much homework in ages!

Yes, as the school now seriously started, it is quite a task to keep up with the fast learning pace. Every other day we (would) need to learn 30 or so symbols, words and in addition some common phrases. The symbols have to be written on paper flashcards; we also (would) have to read fluently, learn one new out-of-the-book sentence every week and rememberize one proverb few times a week. In addition, there are some interviews to be made to practice the common phrases. Moreover, writing on paper the lessons from the book (no, not pinyin) and plain exercises also from the books are few of the chores. This means it is a lot of work for the whole semester, especially when the peer students seem to be cramming up (at least in my class). I would like better if I could learn basics of a language and then move on to another one. This way my livelihood would not be constricted to a specific-language culture. Anyway, anyone who knows me knows I, nevertheless, will do a lot of work just to keep up and not just "hang around", even if it might be unhealty (mentally) sometimes. Well, at least tomorrow I am going to watch a kungfu-show to some place called Red Theater in central BJ, so I also take some breaks from the studying :). And I have yet to cork my Suntory Whisky ;).

We got to choose some elective classes also. For 400 kuai I signed up for both Kungfu and Tai Chi classes - they are held once a week for one hour each. The classes start next week, so we'll see what they bring along to this otherwise eventless environment. Yeah, that is another thing. The information about events does really not seem to be conveying very well here. I know there are lot of associations and such, but no info regarding them is available. So I just go jogging and do some exercise in the dorm, mainly.

Funny observation was yesterday on my night jog at 23:30. Chinese students were still hanging out - playing basketball in the darkness, eating out, biking, doing their shit - as if it was daytime. No westerners in sight. Maybe it is their habit of staying awake quite late.

Wo xiang chi Fenlan cai means I want some Finnish food, which is correct. Although the food here is quite good, I miss a decent bread with proper cheese and a piece of lettuce still dripping water... Yeah, but the basic meal here costs somewhere around 50-70 eurocents.

My bike is quite nice: before yesterday one of its pedals was making driving the bike like 50 % less efficient (I was unable to go fast), the tyres were beginning to be empty, driving "wheel" wass starting to be loose in every dimension, even around its own axis, so it had to be taken for the repairs. While escorting Silja there (her bike's chains did not stay put) by the force of pulling, my other pedal detached and fell to the ground. So it was pretty good time to fix the bike. And they did. Now it works like a charm, although the pedal is again starting to show some symptoms. This is not all: my righthand-side break broke while I squeezed it, so now I've only one break, which works occasionally.

See you Finnish people in a bit!

Cheers,
Junnu