halloween foolishness

It’s back to the old routine here in Beijing. I am pretty stressed out this week. We have our twelve page essay due Monday, which I have just finished, and our lessons are getting steadily harder—and dumber.

For some reason, we have had to learn the characters for some of the following words I doubt I will ever use: “grassland,” “microphone,” “small ornamental purse,” and of course “cotton-padded jacket.”

Tonight, we are also being forced to watch a movie for two and a half hours. I don’t get it—they give us insane amounts of work and then keep us from studying this afternoon. I hate it when people tell me how I will be spending my time.

This weekend, things will be better hopefully. I am having a friend from Dartmouth visit me in Beijing, so we’ll get to hang out together. I hope to post again when I’m feeling more positive.