Center of Attention

Today was pretty interesting. I went to the cafeteria for lunch like I usually do. I got my food and looked for some friendly-looking students. I saw two guys sitting at a table and they looked like they could possibly be English-speakers, and at the very least, friendly. I began speaking with them, testing to see how well they could speak my native tongue. I found out pretty quickly that their the English was ok and that we could converse. After we finished eating, they invited me back to their dorm (this is fairly common, by the way) and so I quickly finished my meal and headed out with them. We we got to their dorm, we climbed five flights of stairs to get to their room. It had three bunk beds, a little porch, and a desk... for six students.

They offered me a stool to sit on. I sat down and continued our small talk. As we chatted, more and more guys kept coming into the room to listen. It was hilarious. They were obviously not used to talking with a white guy, and especially not having one sit in their dorm room. I was sitting on a stool with eleven Chinese students all crowded around me watching my every move. That is one of the huge differences between here and back home: they are (for the most part) very interested in foreigners.

They asked about where I lived and I drew a crude map of North Carolina in relation to the rest of America. A very popular question came up unsurprisingly, "You like NBA?" That led to a lengthy discussion about their/my favorite teams/players. We also talked about school, my very few Chinese friends, sports, and anything we could think of to talk about (in English, of course).

They were very friendly. I really enjoyed my time sitting there with the crowd of Chinese guys crowded in that small room laughing at every funny (and sometimes not that funny) thing I said. (I could really get used to this kind of crowd; you dont have to be that funny; you dont have to be that interesting; you just have to be foreign)

After that, I went to class with my laoshi (teacher) that has been in the hospital for the last week. That was fun and it was my first class with him. Now I'm finally on to the 10 hours of class a week.

Class ended and I walked over to the neighboring university where Danielle was so that I could get the dian dong che (motor scooter thing). Once that was acquired, I drove back to my campus to play some pickup basketball. Some of the guys from the dorm room were there and we played for a while. That was really fun and I really enjoyed my day.

So now I'm back home watching Spiderman 1 as I type this blog. Tomorrow will be filled with many more surprises I'm sure. I am planning on going to class from 1-4 and then heading straight into town to help my new friend Luke lead the singing at the International youth group. He is such a cool guy and I really enjoy playing with him. Anyway, that was my day today and my plans for tomorrow. Catcha later