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So I need to preface this little collection of random snippets, perhaps by stating that they were inspired during my time studying abroad in Beijing, perhaps by noting that there isn't a single theme or starting point. Not all of them are blatantly sino-centric but all in some way resulted from my time abroad. I kept thinking of little things I wanted to note, but not really having a place to put them (access to blogs being blocked) I decided fictionpress might serve though not the most appropriate place for such disjoined, unpolished works.

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I'm much more the observer, though I like to be involved in what's going on around me (so as long as it's not too stressful). In the cabs I like to sit back and listen or look out the windows and take things in. I know my speech would improve more if I practiced, but I let the stress of having to address someone in their native tongue deter me sometimes. I've been here for almost a week and I still haven't talked to hardly any Chinese people outside of class; I've told the fuwuyuans that my electricity was out and tried to order food, but I haven't had any conversations with drunk Chinese men like Caitie and Kelly or ordered food for delivery. Hopefully, with ten people in homestays and regular classes starting I'll get more practice, that or I'll just end up talking to even more foreigners using wudaokou's lingua franca, good old English. Run into anyone, be they European, Korean, or Chinese university student, and they ask in English where you're from. And of course once you've been addressed in English its far easier to continue in the same vein, especially when their Chinese is as bad as yours.