Tongwu lovin'

Quick rundown of my recent shenanigans:

Well, I'm off again. Today at 7:00 I head out with my classmates to go to Changchun for our long weekend vacation. I know, it seems like I just got back from my last vacation. At least, that's what it feels like to me. I'll return early Monday morning just in time for class. Lucky me :). 

This week has been both busy and fun for me. We just finished all of our midterms, and I'm happy to say that I survived and am still breathing after trudging through my Chinese, history, and film exams. When I wasn't cramming, I managed to, you know, be social. There was a mahjong tutorial in the library that I attended, and I can now proudly say that I have graduated from the online version and can now play with actual tiles. There was also some late night talks with my roommate, some movie watching and Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathons (don't you dare judge me), and some hutong wandering with my history class and with two friends on a separate occasion. So far the most interesting event has proven to be the lunch date I had with three Ugyhurs this past Saturday. Katrina met them in the typical friend-making style here in China: both parties ride a bus, they start chatting chatting, there are lots of smiles, and eventually some phone number swapping ensues. Then, a couple of days later it's waala! A text inviting you and some friends out for food. Katrina had me tag along, and together we and Sebastian met up with her three new friends, Aile, Aike, and Asanjia outside the Peking zoo. All three were guys and were the same age as us, although like most typical Ughurs, they looked at least ten years older. They took us to the Xinjiang Ugyhur embassy, which was surrounded by some of the best and most authentic Xinjiang restaurants in all of Beijing. We got a small room and sat, ate, and chatted for four hours. It was an awesome experience. Aile, Aike, and Asanjia were all originally from a small farming village in Xinjiang and, like us, Mandarin was a foreign language to them. We had such a great time enjoying each other's company and exchanging cultures that they insisted on paying the bill for us. In return, we've promised to treat them to pizza this next week. 

Now, I have yet to really tell you about my roommate, Sharon (her real name is Zhu Shaoling). I first met Sharon last semester during our Halloween party. It was a very brief encounter and the two of us along with a larger group of friends went to a bar for some fun. I talked with her a bit and thought she seemed nice, but mostly I was just struck by the fact that she was actually going out. 

College life is very different for Chinese students than for American students. In general, Americans live by the creed "Work hard, play hard." We blast through our work and crank out the productivity during the week, but once Friday hits, we blow it all and party hardy. Once our mental slate has been sufficiently wiped clean, come Monday we start all over with a fresh perspective. Chinese students would never do this. In fact, once I actually had to give a small lecture on the actual meaning of "work hard, play hard" to some Chinese students since they had no idea what the meaning was. Their college life is very work-centered. Most college students, especially if they are in a prominent university, devote their time completely to their studies and rarely leave the dorms, libraries, and campuses. This is why I was so surprised to see Sharon leaving with us on a weeknight, ready for drinking and frivolities. She was quite the social butterfly, dancing from here to there laughing and chatting the whole time. So, when I decided to live in the dorm this semester and got to request my roommate, I knew there could only be one. Sharon. 

Thanks to a smile of good fortune and some strategic hinting, bribing, and pleading on my part, Sharon did actually become my roommate. She is quite the little adventurer and loves to go out and try new things. I already wrote about how she went and skied, bowled, and listened to jazz for the first time with me. She has a list of dance clubs she likes to frequent and likes to go out for some night fun when she has the time. She's also recounted her dream of becoming a hobo and hitchhiking across the world. I suggested that, on the sake of practicality and hygiene, she settle for something along the lines of backpacking instead. I also discovered that she's also quite the little brainiac. Sharon is my age, but she's already a senior since she skipped two grades. Her major is American studies and she plans to go on to grad school and hopefully work as a foreign correspondent. Given her knack for languages and personal charm, I don't think it'll be hard for her to do. She can speak Chinese and English and is also learning French and Japanese. If I had to describe her to someone, I'd tell them to just look at her bookshelf. Next to the stacks of English grammar books, travel guides, French literature, and Chinese textbooks is a mini Absolute Vodka bottle. Priceless. 

I love talking to Sharon. She has a unique outlook on quite a few subjects and is very well informed. And by informed, I don't mean informed in the sense the CCP wishes to inform its current youth. One night she had a nice vent on how she was very disappointed with Chinese media and was jealous of the media system back in the US. Not exactly a politically correct point of view. One of our favorite pastimes is to teach each other slang. I now have a very sizable stock of Chinese street words, which range from the mildly colorful to the cute to the blatantly inappropriate. I won't state them here since the Chinese censorship firewall is quite good at blocking anything profane, so I'll just share what I've taught Sharon so far:

1. Space cadet, air head, feather head, head in the clouds
2. Fairy, queen, fruit cake, lesbo, queer, fruity, flamer (we had a discussion on homosexual culture in China, in case you can't tell)
3. book worm
4. page-turner
5. stubborn as a mule
6. sexile, eye candy
7. green horn, newbie 
8. five second ule
9. and many, many more...

Here's a funny moments in the room: 

"Here, Lyndsey, try this candy. It's really good and fruity!'" 

"Oh, ok. What kind of candy is it?"

"Hmm...I think you might call it *switches to English* a 'gummie'?"

"Oh, ok thanks Sharon!"

*5 minutes later*

"Eh?! Lyndsey, where did your 'gummies' go?"

"I ate them, like you told me to."

"...you what?"

"I ate them."

"You swallowed them?!"

"...uh, yea."

"Oh no! You're not supposed to swallow 'gummies'! You're just supposed to chew them!"

"...Sharon, by 'gummies' did you actually mean 'gum'?"

"They're not the same?"

"..."

Well, I've got to be off! I'll be back soon!