Chinese class has begun...

Wow! There's been a lot that has happened within the last two days. So much to write about, and even more to write about in about 12 hours after I receive my homestay family! So, I'll start from the beginning. Wednesday morning, that's yall's Tuesday night, we started language pledge. From the time I wake up til 4 pm I am no longer allowed to speak english, only Chinese. I have conflicting feelings towards the pledge as I appreciate how much it is going to help my Chinese, but it's so hard trying to communicate all that I want to in a day in Chinese. After we took our language pledge I went with all of the year round participants to the western hospital (most of the doctors are formerly from the west, so they're better doctors haha) and got my physical done. I needed the physical so that I can get my year- long multiple- entry visa. It was interesting to see how the Chinese do physicals differently. Instead of making an appointment and having a single doctor, you are shuffled around to 6-7 different rooms which each take care of a different portion of your physical. Once we finished with that we went back to the IES center and went to class. So class has started. No more vacation. I have to learn about 40 new Chinese words a night for a quiz every morning, a daunting task for those of you who can not relate. We also have four hours of Chinese class every day. Chinese class is actually rather enjoyable because I feel like I'm learning so much and improving my Chinese daily. What's funny is that the teachers teach primarily in Chinese. This makes class more fun as the teachers teach mostly through examples of the particular grammar structures we are learning, in Chinese. This style of teaching is often conducive to blank stares, discouraged smiles, and frustrated grimaces. I also had my fist Chinese Government and Politics class on Thursday. It's whole new ball game now. It's a 300 level course, something I have yet to take in college, and the syllabus looks a bit intimidating. We have between 60-70 pages of reading for every class and apparently class will be mostly discussion. All in all I'm really enjoying class here. If you don't want to read about my school, here's where things get interesting. Yesterday a bunch of us went out for lunch after class. After trying to communicate in Chinese (including hand motions and many unknown noises) with the upper- level Chinese students, we arrived at the place we were going to eat. At one point during lunch a friend of mine Lisa, from Honolulu, Hawaii who also loves "Dad", started asking a friend named Obechikwu (Yes he is African American) some questions about why he gets drunk as he was explaining why he liked it so much. He talked about how he loves to feel like he is out of control because he always tries to control what is going on in his life. Following that I joined in on the conversation and Obechikwu, Lisa, Trevor (a friend of mine from Southern California), and I began talking about what we believe. It was very interesting hearing their beliefs and I really enjoyed the conversation. Essentially what came out of the conversation was that my two friends both believe and are active in pursuing their faith (such as talking and reading the Booke), but they have certain habits they don't want to let go of. I would really appreciate if you guys could "talk" to "Dad" about them. Talk to him about removing lukewarmness and opening their eyes to his love. Last night I experienced my first night out in Beijing. First I went to an acrobatics show and then out to dance! On the way we to the acrobatics show we got caught in traffic, a very common occurance in Beijing, and one I thought I would be used to from Atlanta. False, the trafic here is an entirely new species from that I have ever see in the U.S. We were gridlocked for a solid two hours and moved at an average of 5 miles an hour about every minute. After crawling all the way to the other side of the city for two and a half hours we got to the show. We were late and only saw the last 15 minutes, but I think it was worth it. We saw three quick acts. One act consisted of muscle heads using each other as jungle gyms doing static holds such as hand stands, planks, etc. (with like one point of contact to the other man they were working with). The second act was a bunch of Chinese women riding bicycles. From handstands to piling 15 people on the same bicycle these women had definitely mastered the art of bike riding. The final act we saw was a bunch of men doing flips and other jumps through tiny hoops, somtimes as high as eight feet above the ground. The acrobatics show was awesome. Someone made the comment that they were all probably the regect gymansts from China's gymnastics team. hahaha I thought that was a plausible explanation for their ability. When we got back from the show we went out to dance. Following seeing all rules of the road defied by our taxi driver and then getting stuck in more grid lock traffic we got to where we wanted to be. In our efforts of trying to find the club we saw many very needy people begging for money. After giving to all of the people we saw we saw one man in incredible need. Lisa started talking to him in Chinese as her Chinese is very good, and about an hour later she finished talk to him and could explain what was going on to me. This man was crippled, and in a great amount of need. Lisa had asked him what he needed immeadiately. While he said he didn't really need anything, he went on to tell her his story. He was sick as a child and became crippled. When he got older his mom and dad both died. He then tried to start his own businesses on the street but the police shut him down most likely because he wasn't registered with the government. After years of pain and poverty he decided he want to kill himself. After many failed attempts some people who believe helped him. He became a believer because he said after trying to commit suicide so many times, God must not have wanted him to die. So, this is where Lisa comes in. The man needs a way to a "place" on sunday. So she's going to help him get there and has asked me to help. If you could "talk" for this man it would be much appreciated. While he has a home and some money to eat, he wants to die again within the next month. So if you could fight for this man it would be much appreciated. I hope everyone is fantastic back home and I love you all. I find out about my homestay today!!! So I'll update about that next time.

The pictures at the buddhist looking temple are from the Llama temple. The picture in front of the little fire pit looking things is where I burned 3 incense and "talked" to "dad's" son instead of buddha. The picture up in the air is of Seoul, South Korea, gorgeous place, I'm going to have to visit one day. The picture in front of the massive brick gate looking thing is the front gate to my University. The picture of the little girl was just precious so I had to show you and the picture at the table is of my lunch at a mongolian place with my orientation group. That food was so good!!

First days...

Hey guys! I'm all settled into my dorm for the next week before I hopefully get put into a home stay. There is one more home stay application than families to host. So one guy won't get to live with a family. Hopefully that isn't me. haha My flights here went well. There were no delays or complications and other than being really freaking tired I enjoyed them. Watching three movies and sleeping over 14 hours isn't so bad. haha When I got here there were two IES people waiting for me. One of them is going to be my teacher and she didn't speak any english to us... It was just a little bit intimidating. haha Yesterday we started orientation. We had three speakers over the course of the day, a tour of campus in the pouring rain, oral language placement tests, advisement, and a mixer/ pizza party at the end of the day to help get to know everyone. The highlights of the day would be buying an umbrella for 15 kuai, equivalent to about 2 dollars, and buying a cell phone and sim card for 258 kaui, between 40-50 dollars. Two things that I am not a fan of so far are the mattresses in the dorms being rock hard and not being able to flush toilet paper down the toilet. I have a greater appreciation for Fred and Wilma Flintstone following my last two nights sleeping on bed rock. haha The toilet paper we use in the restroom must be thrown in a small trash basket next to the toilet.... Something I'm definitely not a fan of. Last night I went out with some of the other students to get beer, except I don't drink. haha So I was literally the only student at the place we went to who didn't have a beer. hahaha For those of you who enjoy beer, China may be a pretty good place for you though. The beers here are at lest two times larger than a normal one back in the states. They're also approximately 50 cents. hahaha Hopefully someone will notice that eventually and ask me why I don't drink! Could be a great conversation starter! The walk to and from our dorms to the place everyone got drinks was very interesting as well. I was warned and showed what brothels look like here. Apparently barber shops open at 2 am with colorful lights and skimpy dressed women in them are not reputable establishments.... hahaha We also saw a man peeing in the bushes along side of the side walk. Supposedly that's relatively normal. I also had my first Chinese meal yesterday. We went to a restaurant with our orientation group. It was family style so all of the food was in bowls in the middle of the table on a glass rotating thing so that everyone could take stuff out of the bowls and put it on our plates. Sorry if the way I wrote this was a bit confusing. I'll get better at describing my experiences as time goes on. Well, I miss everyone from back home and I hope you're all doing great!!!