Harbin Pictures

On Fridays I only have two classes, and they don't start until 2:30pm, so I actually have some time to post. I have been working constantly this past week. Through homework, attending class, and simply keeping my language pledge of only speaking Chinese, I'm completely exhausted.

Last Friday and Saturday we took placement tests, and I think I was placed too high. They decided I should be in the highest level class with students who have had up to five years of Chinese and have lived in China. The workload is one thing, but what's worse is I can't even understand the professor when she gives us an assignment, and I can't ask a classmate in English because of our language pledge. Also, the vocabulary lists in our textbooks don't have English translations. There are only definitions of the words in Chinese. I guess there's not much I can do except wait for my Chinese to improve through being here. They say after the first two weeks, we won't have too many problems, but this is only the fifth day of the language pledge. I feel like I understand what my roommate says to me more and more everyday, which is really cool.

Aside from classes, things are going really well. My roommate He Wei has moved in. He's a big help with little things like getting a meal card, setting up the internet in our room, and fixing the toilet, which constantly overflows unless you turn off the water supply to the bathroom. When you turn on the water to take a shower, you have to flush the toilet every 15 seconds to keep it from overflowing, but they say they're going to fix it today. It seems like things in Dorm No. 6 are starting to settle in for the semester.

Above are some pictures of everyday life in Harbin. From top to bottom (I hope they show up in this order): me and my suitemate Dane in front of Dorm No. 6; Corner Coffee (jiejiao kafei); downtown Harbin; a street vendor selling corn.

I'm keeping a running list of future blog post topics, so bear with me.