Mini-trips

Ok, so in the past couple of days, there's been an interesting experience in a massage parlor (The details of which I won't get into, since they're a little embarrassing for the guys. Nothing bad actually happened more than a little awkwardness and some miscommunication), a trip to the Forbidden City, a trip to the Temple of Heaven (Those pictures are still on my camera). Having been to both places before, I didn't really get much out of them the second time... I watched the people mostly. I really want to go to the Summer Palace, since it's supposed to be beautiful and I haven't been there before.
We also went to the park near our dorm and floated on the lake in a boat for a while... it's actually a really nice park. There was also a Bumper cars rink, which we watched for a bit then went one round on since the Chinese people seemed to think the point was to avoid hitting other people. It was fun.
Classes start on Monday, I'm looking forward to have something really mentally absorbing, although we've already had a lecture with our first professor, and his accent is so think that it's basically incomprehensible. But that's ok...

I also got placed into the second highest section of Chinese, and my schedule is pretty sweet. (No classes til the afternoon on Fridays!) We have about a hundred pages of reading for Monday/Tuesday, but that should be ok. I guess I'll start on that now.
(That's our dorm, which also is our classrooms)

EDIT: I had forgotten how much I missed squat toilets. Weird, I know, but they are so much easier than Western public toilets.

Also: There's a website about online censorship and blocking that *isn't* blocked in China. The irony amuses me intensely.

Also: For Nadja, who probably isn't reading this (I can't remember if I even told her about it), They played Walk it Out in one of the dance clubs we went to... Pretty much nobody in China knows how to do the walk it out except me, and I suck at it. I really wished you were there. They also played the song I'm addicted to, Just Dance by Lady Gaga.... it was awesome.