Testing, Testing

Eyebrows. What do you think about them? Do you think about them? Probably not. I normally don't. Everyone has them, they are just a normal part of our features. We really only notice their absence, not their presence. But I was in class today, looking at someone's profile, and just noticing their face (not in the stalkerish way! As in, I was looking at their features) and I noticed just how weird we really look. Have you ever done that? Just looked at someone's face, and dissected their features? It's creepy. It's like looking at someone, totally detached from feeling. Take the eyebrows for instance. They are huge, abnormal clumps of hair that are grouped on our face, for the whole world to see. If, on a girl, there was that much hair, under her nose, for example, she would either shave it off, or never go outside (well, I would, anyway. Couldn't say for sure that everyone would.) But no, because all of this hair is above our eyes, in a straightish line, IT'S OKAY. Weird. Truly, our eyebrows are weird.

Ears are another one of those features that don't make sense. Sure, we need them for hearing, but they are these huge fleshy clumps that stick OUT from our head. They are these huge ugly things that everyone has, and that we all except. Hell, some people even get turned on by them. But if you look at them, not thinking about their function, just looking at how they are placed on someone's head, maybe you will understand what I mean.

I know what you must be saying to yourself right now. Hell, maybe you are screaming it to your computer, hoping against hope that I will someone here it all the way over here in China. "Sophie, are you crazy? You have eyebrows, you have ears. They are perfectly normal!!!" I know, I know! And I'm quite happy with my eyebrows and ears, as well. They are pretty standard. But it was just something that I was noticing, walking around campus and around the city. They are really strange features. But we think they are normal. I don't know, maybe I am not explaining it properly. What do you think?

But I digress. I will stop talking about crazy abstract things like eyebrows and ears, and start talking about the really interesting cultural problems that I run into 7000 miles away from home. That is, after all, why you give up 10 minutes of your day to read my blog, is it not? And believe me, I am truly honored that you do.

My day started with a test. How is that for a Friday morning? Every Friday, at 8 AM, we have a two hour test, on the chapters in our book that we had done the previous week. It is such a nice way to wake up, believe me. (In case you missed it, I have just maxed out on my sarcasm.) We didn't have a verbal test this week, which is definitely a step up. Just a written one. Oh well. Better than a kick in the head. (I say this a lot, but technically, I have never been kicked the head, so I wouldn't really know. But I will assume it is better. And NO, I do not want someone to volunteer to show me, THANK YOU.)

After testing, we still had two hours of class. You can imagine how thrilled I was when I heard that. I will admit, when I was done with the test, I was more than ready to head back to the dorms, and go to sleep. Can you blame a girl? I woke up at 6:30! By 10:00, it is already nap time. As it turned out, all that we were doing in class was just talking about the video that we had watched. You remember, the where were each guy had three girls in tow. Ah, there is the lightbulb turning on. The first hour was pretty normal. Just your basic watch a section of the movie, and answer questions. The real cultural debate followed an hour later.

For the last hour of class, we sat in our small groups, and talked. At first we talked about love, then we talked about marriage, and kids, and adulterers. I know, a weird topic of conversation for class, but what are you going to do? We spent the better part of an hour making wild generalizations about America and China based on the opinions and experiences of us 5 people in the room: 4 American teenagers, and 1 Chinese teacher. Some of our generalizations? Chinese women are expected to be married by the time they are 30, otherwise they are considered old maids. American women are a lot more independent. We think that it is weird to have 3 people in one relationship. The third person in a relationship are proud to be so in China. Just to name a few. Good times were had by all, I would say. I mean, we were allowed to sit there and just enjoy ourselves and Chinese for an hour. How could that be anything except a good time?

Lunch on Tuesdays and Fridays are always amazing, because we don't have to pay for them. We have Chinese tables twice a week, where we eat lunch with our teachers. Today, it was a small group, because we ate lunch with our Social Studies project groups. After lunch, I had to go reapply for a visa. Did I forget to mention? My visa won't let me stay in China for long enough. I know. I was pissed when I found out. So I had to go to their office today, and repay the fee, and reapply. That was not such a good time.

DVD stores. Part of the reason that I came back to China may or may not be related to my drive to update my DVD collection. And that is as far into that story as I am going to go. Needless to say, I came back from an hour trip to the store with 4 more tools of entertainment, and one of them didn't work, which then resulted in a little bit of creativity on my part. And it really is not nearly as interesting of a story as I am making it out to be.

So what do my Friday afternoons look like, you might ask. Well, I'll let you in on a little secret. They are exceedingly boring. It is kind of like the shock after a hurricane. Everyone just retreats back to their room to lick their wounds from the week. It's my time to bring my head back to reality, and unwind. Meaning, I spent the majority of my afternoon on facebook. And let me tell you, I have never hated the time difference more. Because, seriously, who is online at 2 or 3 in the morning? No one. And that is my problem.

The one nice thing about having my own room though, is that I have my own space. When in a big city (especially one like Beijing) there are people everywhere, all around you all the time, and while that definitely has its benefits, it's nice just to be on your own sometimes, and relax, in your own space, without people being around you all the time. That is exactly what I did, all afternoon. It was beautiful.

A bunch of people went out to sing karaoke tonight. In a large group of 外国人 (foreigners). I went along for dinner. We ended up grabbing a room in a Japanese restaurant, 6 stories up. While eating my noodles, I looked out over a busy Chinese market, and laughing along with 10 of my peers. Awesome, right? How often do you get to look over a scene like that? If you are from Davis, and go to school in Burlington (like I do) then the answer is seldom to never. So believe me when I say that I loved it.

And I can now feel all my wit and charm leaving me. Meaning that it is time for me to go bed. So, my lovelies, I will bid you goodnight! Until next time. As always, questions and comments are appreciated :)