The first day of class went well! My tones (of all things--I would have never imagined seven months ago!) impressed some of the lao3shi1men2 (professors/teachers). My first dictation assignment was a success--95%. The only characters I missed were those in Hafo (Harvard), and who cares about that place? The academics seem tough enough but within reason. Speaking of Harvard vs. Yale, my danbanke (individual session) laoshi for the day indicated that we Yalies (and I particularly) have very good "Chinese-sounding" accents and tones. Apparently the Hafo xuesheng leave something to be desired in this area.
Had the mushroom and chicken dish with lots of red pepper again for dinner. I'll have the duck, I think, tomorrow. Food and drink for today came to 42 kuai. I can't eat in the super-cheap cafeteria-type cafeteria on the first floor of Di Er Canting yet, but I'm not sure I want to do so once I can. The program coordinator warned us against it twice--apparently it's not kind on the stomach. I think I'll stay relatively cheap by sticking to Zhongguo fan (as opposed the very expensive foreign food and Western brand snack food) and end up fine in any case. If I spend an average 45/day for food (which is higher, I think, than my average so far), that's only 315 kuai/week, or 1260 kuai/month, or 2835 yuan for the program. And that, after all, is only 473 dollars. Since I have around $1400 in Light money left, I believe, that seems a reasonable investment in food, leaving me more than enough travel money (for Nei4 Meng3gu3, ie Inner Mongolia, week 5) and incidental money (buying another month of internet, eg). Enough about the budget, though.
Lunch, by the way, was pocky.
Thunderstorm aftermath: it smelled wonderful outside this morning, and the air seems still a bit clearer for the rain. Or maybe I'm just getting used to the pollution.
Now back to studying.
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Max, Pocky for lunch is not acceptable ;-P that's just sugar. You have to eat chinese noodles or something with substance. Also, I wouldn't recommend Inner Mongolia as much as I would recommend Xi'an or something like that. Just saying—I'm not sure you'll do well having to drink curdled milk out of goat skins.
ReplyDeleteMy year, all the strongest students were Yalies, too!
And remember: if you save enough money on food, you can not only cover your travel expenses but also buy an expensive electronic dictionary! I'm not sure what your program director is talking about (Feng laoshi?), but I ate in the really cheap cafeteria almost every meal, which meant I could get by comfortably on 20-25 kuai/day. The food there really isn't bad at all—it's about the same quality as a cheap chinese restaurant in the U.S.
Not the program director--the program coordinator, a (just-graduated) Harvard student. I'll keep both your advice and hers in mind, but I haven't gotten sick yet and would like to avoid it if I can!
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't plan on eating pocky for lunch all the time. I was nervous about my first and upcoming danbanke and didn't want to eat a lot or spend time at restaurant.
By the way, I was /born/ to drink curdled milk out of goatskins.
P.S. I saw your complaint about the memorization passages in your last blog entry from way back. I agree--it seems ridiculous to have so many memorization assignments for which we are not at all held accountable grade-wise. I've already decided to do the memorization at lunch, get it out the way quickly during danbanke, and move on conversational practice as quickly as the teacher'll allow. The rest of my study time seems better spent on speech patterns and characters.