Recently

Fridays are always pretty busy for ACC students. In the morning, we have a two hour exam, followed by our Language Practicum, which is generally kind of a drag. Last week we went to the Chinese Kindergarden, which was interesting. Today we went to visit Chinese families. Not our Chinese host families - this was a one-time deal. Xiao Gao, a second-semester boy, Kangrei, and I took the bus to our family's apartment. This was my first time taking the bus, and I was very glad to have Xiao Gao along, since he is something of an expert. Moreover, it's always nice to have a boy along in China so that he can do all the talking (sorry, Lills, but if you're sending feminist magazines overseas you might include the latest issue of Bitch). The bus was terribly slow owing to traffic, but we eventually arrived.

The family we visited consisted of a sometime-ACC teacher and her mother. Their apartment was small, of course, but extremely nice, well-lit and well-decorated. Like my Chinese host family, they had a futon in the living room which was set up as a couch during the daytime - a very practical arrangement. They had prepared a very nice lunch, including pork cake (sounds awfully unappetizing in English, but was actually delicious), soup with corn, rice, and prunes, and potato salad. I am baffled by the Chinese love for potato salad - my Chinese host family served it, too.

After lunch we sat in the living room and chatted over cups of Nescafe. Xiao Gao did most of the talking, which was fine by me. I interviewed the mother for my independent research project, so that was good. I have to interview three people by Tuesday, which is not really that many but it's awfully daunting to approach Chinese people on the street or in shops and ask them questions. Still, we must do what we must do.

Yesterday I giggled all day over two ancient private jokes with my sister Caroline. The first was owing to the slightly bulbous forehead of one of my classmates. Here's a riddle: "The bigger it gets, the less you see." Caroline's instant response: "Your huge forehead overhang." That's been cracking me up for years, but I suspect you had to be there. Second, at the gym, a line from a story Caroline wrote at maybe age seven popped into my head: "'I love her ... a little.' I cried inside. My dog Sparky ran to me and licked me." I cannot explain why, but that too had me in stitches. I'm snickering right now in the somewhat bu san bu si [sketchy] dorm computer lab.

To the post office now, to send letters to my maternal grandparents and Aunt Gee Gee, none of whom have email, and to the bank, because I am down to my last few mao.

Incidentally, this blog cannot be accessed from the gym or from any of the computers in the dorm's internet lab. I would not be at all surprised if the only computers in China that can get it are those of my former roommate and The Boy Who Does Not Want A Girlfriend At This Time. That would be just my luck.

I leave you with a recently learned very useful idiomatic expression: "Po chu da ma": to break out in a stream of furious invective. You've no idea how useful such things can be.