Boo...

Hey, bet I scared you!

So honestly this time I swear I'm less of an anti-social nincompoop and more just an exceptionally thick-headed one. When I got to China I ran into the same problem as Nora did, not being able to access Blogspot.com, so I figured my blog-reading days were over... I even remember having read Nora's post about how to read the posts, but I couldn't remember how she did it.

Anyway, lucky thing Harbin came into the trouble they did--I'll let Nora retell it if she dares, but basically Nora's program has ended up in Beijing for a week or so, so yesterday we went and had roast duck (celebrating a late Thanksgiving) with some people from Stanford and then wandered quite aimlessly for the rest of the night. It was really good to see her, in short. Yay.

China has been a good time; I've done most of the tourist stuff in Beijing like Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, etc. as well as getting out to Shanghai and Chengdu.

I'm reading through the posts as I write this. Sheesh, guys, stop living so much! Especially you, Lauren. I guess reading them all at once back to the start of school I might not have time affecting my perceptions as much as more regular readers. Still, don't have heart attacks, please. :-)

Nora and I talked about our impressions of China last night, she talked about the eternally dieting girls and other sometimes aggravating things... I think I had one of my biggest "culture shocks" (speaking facetiously) just this morning when I had to wake up at 7:00 to make a rendezvous with a family who teaches some of us to cook. A visit to the Summer Palace, beginning promptly at 8:30. Most of the Chinese students at Beida get breakfast in the morning, which at the cafeterias starts at 6:30 and goes untill 9:00, barely enough for me to make most days (I've taken to waking at 8:00 and then napping at 11:00 or so--definitely still narcoleptic). "Early to bed, early to rise" was born here.

When my classmate was making the arrangements for the visit, she originally asked if we could start at 10:00, which is fairly early for most of the Stanford students. The daughter of the family responded "So late! Why do you want to sleep in so much?" She tried 30 minutes earlier, earning herself a "So lazy! Too late!" Eventually she was forced to set the time for 8:30, even though most of us who went don't normally wake up until long after that time, especially on Saturday!

Well, I'm living in Crothers Memorial, as is Hammad, though not in the same room, I think (we'll see what happens). Congratulations/condolences to the rest of you coming back from away. Danny, maybe we can set up some official Non-Boring/Non-Frightening Time away from our respective residences (probably to make trips to FloMo, Roble, or elsewhere together)!

Obviously there's a lot more, but I'll spare you and call back when something interesting comes up. I am definitely ready to get back to Colorado, and then onto Stanford. Hee.