Oh how the time has flown by

It has been a couple weeks since I last posted in my blog, but that does not mean nothing has happened between then and now. Actually the last couple weeks have probably been the most comfortable.

The weekend I left for Chengde I knew that the power adapter for my laptop had broken because before we left I went to the nearest apple reseller store to check it out and we figured out it was broken. Actually I knew it was broken, but I went anyways because I needed to ask them where I could repair my computer. Since my laptop did not have power and my adapter was broken they said I could hang out at the store and use theirs until the store closed. Seeing as how I was trying to set up internet at home I was more than happy to charge my battery. We ended up chatting for about an hour about all sorts of things. It was a lot of fun. I really appreciate how welcoming some Chinese people are.

After we chatted for a while they told me where I could get a new adapter with my warranty. Once I got back from Chengde I went downtown to find the place to get my power adapter. By this point I had used up my battery again, but the people at the apple service center were more than willing to let me use their adapter and get online until they closed. Again, Chinese people are too welcoming sometimes! Hehe, but I totally appreciate it when they are.

To make a long story short. I ended up getting another power adapter from the people downtown. Once I got home I made an appointment with the internet guys on campus. I was a little concerned with their service because my friend had a lot of trouble with them before. Since they told me they only support windows and they did not know what a type of computer mine was I did not have much hope that I could actually get online. The ADSL installation man had tried once before, but he could not get online. So this time I went to the office and said, please just give me my name and password, but it turned out they had to have the guy come again anyways.

Eventually the internet guy came to my house and was able to get online after I set up the connection with him. He also asked me to show him how to set up an internet connection on a computer with OS X. Since he had never seen Apple's operating system. Once again I realized how hard it was to use an apple computer in Beijing. Anyways I still plan on giving the internet office some better instructions, so that the next person who has an apple computer and needs to set up internet does not have to worry about how to set up their connection.

That brings me to here with my computer, but a few other things have happened in the last couple that I guess I can mention.

In the middle of last week I went to Beijing Culture and Language University to have dinner with a friend. BCLU is right near Tsinghua University, so I just rode my skateboard over. After we ate dinner my friend showed me a cool place to skateboard. I was totally psyched to get a chance to skate for a while because I have not found a cool place to skate at Tsinghua yet. Despite the fact that I got to eat dinner with a friend and I got to skateboard the night also had a bad result. As I was waiting for my friend I was talking to a lady selling phone cards. I was talking to her for about 5 minutes when a young girl came up and asked about phone cards, so I stepped aside, but then she quickly started asking me if I knew what a language partner was. After she explained what she meant she asked if I wanted to be her language partner. Thinking she meant we might meet once a week and chat for an hour or so while having a coffee, I said sure. Little did I know that the next morning she would call me at 9:30 am and then send me a text message at 9:45 am and then call me again at 10:00 am and then send me another text message at 11:00 am. I had no idea she would be so troublesome.

The next day I was telling my friends about this girl who wanted to be my language partner and how she was being a pain. As would have it, my classmate was walking by and she overheard. She has been looking for a female language partner. I was glad to pass my new friend along, but that has still be a pain. I sent my language partner a long text message, but apparently she said she did not understand it. .... I am kind of skeptical. Anyways, the next day at school she called me five times during lunch. I could not believe. I mean if I did not pick up the first time, why would I pick up any of the next four calls in ten minutes? Anyways I am still working on resolving this situation in a way which will make everyone happy.

Last night was funner than dealing with this problem. My friend Taylor had a friend who threw a nice halloween party last night. My friends and some of our teachers went to that party for a while. It was cool to finally see a lot of foreigners. My friends got to dance and there were plenty of drinks, and people drew their pumpkin and put it on the wall, so everyone had something to do. The party got livelier as the night went on. As the night progress my IUP classmates came and went, but around midnight a large group of people that myself, nor my teachers knew, so we decided to leave. It was a good time anyways because as we were leaving the building security to quiet everyone down.

Today was a slow day for me. I did not wake up until around noon and I spent most of my afternoon washing clothes and organizing. I also went to the store to buy some more coffee. This is essential for me to stay awake in class. I think if I take anything back from China it will be a habit of drinking flavored Maxwell House coffee. I am not too excited about this.

This evening my friend invited me to have dinner at her apartment. The lady she is living with was going to make dinner for us, so I could not refused. I really like going to her place. It is a lot of fun because the lady my friend lives with likes to show us how to cook food. Last time I went she taught me how to wrap a sort of dumpling with gets fried. This evening I had a chance to use some of the phrases we learned in my colloquial speech class. I always enjoy using what I study. It makes feel as if there is actually a reason to read the dialogues and essays we are given each day. After dinner we all started chatting and the lady my friend lives with ended up telling me what kind of wife I needed. I will tell you that she had a really traditional view of what an ideal wife is. It was hard to keep a straight face while listening because my two classmates, who are girls, were on the other side of the table laughing at her comments the whole time. I ended up learning a new Chinese saying, so even though I may not have agreed with what she way saying, it was funny and worthwhile. The next time I will go over to my friends house to eat will be Wednesday. We get to make dumplings from scratch. I am excited about that.

Well that brings me just about back up to speed. I still still have to write one more entry about my very last day in Shanghai, but I guess that one can wait a little bit longer. I have some other important stuff to tend to first, like registering for classes.