Crazy Week...
This past week has been pretty intense, in many more ways than one. On Monday, after my 6 classes, I went out with a few friends for a big foreigners dinner and met a few new foreigners and touched bases with some I haven't seen in a while.
There was a lot of excitement on Wednesday when a police officer came to our school for a 'passport check'. It was interesting because he never looked at our passports, but instead asked us questions about our safety. Questions like "What do your parents do for work?" and "Do you have friends in Beijing?". Our interview was relatively tranquil, compared to other interviews where "foreign land people" were asked about their religious beliefs and the war in Iraq. The interview seems to have lead to a lowering in our curfew from 10:30 to 10:00PM.
There was a big disagreement near the end of the week which hasn't been resolved yet so I won't comment further.
Friday evening I went to visit some new friends and feast on an excellent home-made Mexican meal. There were enchiladas, horchata, pina colada, fresh salsa, and home made tortillas, all of which was incredible. The evening was a lot of fun, and we ended up staying way past our curfew so we spent the night at our friend's place.
Saturday was my birthday day, and I woke up on a few cushions on a Chinese floor. After I got my room cleaned up I had a bag of lamian for lunch outside in a park. In the evening I met up with a group of friends for Korean food (I'm tired of Chinese food, so Korean is always a nice change) at a little place behind the university and close to my dorm. After dinner we headed back to my place for some cake (thanks to Shakira), snacks, and gin and tonic (thanks to Kim and Tami). We all had a great time, and even got to play a round of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey Burger!" One of the VPs of the school, whom I had never met before, stopped by with a small bottle of wine and a bunch of bottles of Pepsi for everyone! There were a few funny stories from people as they tried to make their way home, but I'll leave that for another time. Jodee, Stephanie, and I ended staying up until 3:30 playing long games of 'Uno' (we were mean and Stephanie had to pick up 28 cards!).
This morning I went to Military Square Park with a few students to fly kites, a common Spring activity in China. Kim and I weren't too successful, and ended up flying my student's kite into an apartment rooftop where we lost it.