adventures

So many adventures today. Lauren and I braved the city today and we indulged in a guilty pleasure: we were just feeling so helpless and alone that we went to lunch at TGI Fridays, where everyone knew some English and the menu was familiar. Then we continued our American streak by going to Wal-Mart to buy stuff. Nearly everything costs a lot less here, for example: a comforter cost me USD $7, towels $2, a Chinese dictionary $5, and my meal at Friday's was about $8 total. I got a pay-as-you-go type of cell phone through China Mobile at it's pretty affordable, just to call other people here. Everything is quite cheap here by American standards so far.

Anyways, I am nervous about using the toilets here. In my room there's a Western-style toilet, but everywhere else, including the classroom buildings there are squat toilets (Google that term if you don't know what that is). I don't know how one goes about using a squat toilet, let alone in public whilst you are still wearing pants. I guess I will soon find out, as I have class from 1:30 until 10:15 in the same building. Uggh.

Anyways, I'm already getting better at showering in my room. It's a weird situation because there's not a separate stall for showering, but rather just a drain in the floor in one corner. On the wall above said drain is a showerhead-type hose thing. I essentially have to 'hose' myself off in stages. The floor gets soaked every time, of course, but I guess that's part of my new life here. And I definitely need to shower here, as it is quite dirty.

Everyone here stares at me and the other American students and it's kind of awkward. Oh well, I guess that's to be expected.

I'm kind of helpless here... but I confess, I'm picking up some Chinese phrases quickly out of necessity because nobody seems to speak English here. Not even a little in most case. It's becoming very real very quickly now. I know nothing and I have so much to learn...