Still obsessed with Moby Dick

Today was the first day of classes, which went well - actually too well. I am afraid (in that way where it would be awesome) that I made so much progress over my break that fourth year is going to be a breeze and I will have nothing to do all summer but sit in my air-conditioned room watching the X-Files during the day and go out dancing at night. Fortunately I have just utterly destroyed any chance of that by mentioning it, and I will have the grueling two months I signed up for.

There's something worrying me. It's not the sort of thing I want getting around, which is why I'm only going to share it with you, Internet. I think my Chinese has reached a point where talking to other foreigners is going to make it worse. Every time I spend time with my classmates it is as though I can feel the progress I made in Sichuan dripping away. But I have to interact with my classmates! Otherwise I will be lonely! I could talk to Chinese people, I guess, but I'm too shy - my Chinese isn't that good. Once again I find myself relating to Quequeeg - I'm civilized enough to wear boots, but savage enough to put them on under the bed.

I've got to start reading something else.

Had lunch at the Korean restaurant with Cedric, who is new, so I had the pleasure of introducing a newbie to the joy of banfan. (He didn't finish it, but maybe he's just a light eater.) Then I went with about thirty other people to renew my membership at the gym, which is where I am now - free internet access! And at some point, presumably exercise or something.

I have been back for about two days and already we have had more cockroaches in our room than we had the entire last semester. I found one on my bed. It was very tiny, but that is so obviously not okay, and now I have to search all the bedclothes before I go to sleep at night. Mostly they are not tiny - mostly they are the big kind - I got one over an inch long - and it makes me want to cry. I went to the store and bought roach motels, and we're throwing out all food-garbage in the hall, and we've covered the drain of the bathtub with an ashtray, but it seems to be having little effect.

Also, I bought a toilet brush the other day, which means I am officially a Grownup.

If anyone's been trying to email me, I apologize for not responding - my email has been down for awhile. I assume it's because they're doing something to the system, and that they emailed me to warn me about it, but I wouldn't know, because I cannot check my email. And I emailed the person in charge of email, but he never emailed me back, presumably because I had to use my Yahoo account, and who can blame him.

Also, if you find Y20 on the floor of the gym, you get to keep it, right? I forget how that one goes. It's hot out, and Y20 will buy a lot of corn ice cream.