汉语学习：Chinese Classes

So we finally started classes last week, and I realized just how much my brain missed school. I tested into level 1.5 Chinese just like I hoped. I was very happy about that but starting off, classes have been a little bit difficult for me to keep up in. The teachers speak in mostly Chinese and I usually get the gist of what they are saying, but having so many words thrown at me that I barely comprehend is disorienting. It seems a lot of the students know more than me and are much more comfortable speaking. I hate it! I'm not used to being the dumb one in class. Usually I'm the one answering questions and speaking up, but I am completely out of my element. Unfortunately I can't really lie low and hope nobody notices my ineptness since the classes are very interactive. On the positive side, everybody seems to understand the difficulty and we are all okay with laughing at each other and ourselves.

Classes are intense (four hours of language consecutively each day and then extracurriculars). It's kind of nice just having one subject to focus most of your energy on, though homework can become redundant. Luckily I really enjoy practicing Chinese characters. Also the classes are full of diverse kinds of people. Mine has people from Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Iran, Korea, Brazil, Australia, and more. Ages of people range from 17 to I'm guessing around mid 40's. I'm lucky because most of the people in my class also speak English, so we can communicate inside and out of class. People can ask the the teacher questions that I understand and can also learn from, which has probably been most helpful. The teachers are also great. All of them are very friendly and helpful even though sometimes confusing o_O.

Through the week classes have gotten easier to process. My brain is finally adjusting to having actual stimulus after two months of winter break. I find my mind gets dull with extended respite, but I'm too fond of leisure to do much about it :/. So classes are a good thing. They make me get up and out and go do something. I've also been doing a little work here on the campus. I have taken on a 30 year old PHD student, May, as an English student. It's an interesting situation considering she is probably much smarter than me and I have no formal teaching training. Apparently just being a native English speaker is qualification enough. She is very sweet and interesting. I'm being payed for being American in another way as well. I have been asked by a professor to record some dialogues for an intro English class. It's a pretty sweet deal! Overall it's been a good first week. And next weekend the Central College group is going to Shanghai! So excited!

Other notes

-Hangzhou is a very fun city. The other night we went to this really fancy karaoke bar called KTB and sang horribly, played tambourines, and just had fun. That is a very popular thing to do here in China and I can see why :D.

-I miss a lot of food from home. Especially breakfast cereal and dairy products. There is no Mac and Cheese to speak of and pizza is very expensive. Mc Donalds and Dairy Queen aren't even the same!

-A lot of comments I get from Chinese people either involve "piaoliang" (漂亮pretty) or "hen da!" (很大very big!). Both complimentary and off-putting.

-we pretty much depend on picture menus at restaurants so we can just point at stuff

-When you order chicken, it often means you will get chicken bits (such as feet and neck pieces)

-There is Dongporou flavored ramen and potato chips as well as many other strange flavors

-I'm currently watching a Japanese anime called Full Metal Alchemist and really enjoying it, which is odd. (Not sure how thats related, but eh)

-A lot of people dress very fashionably here (lots of black and grey stuff, making me stick out even more :p)

I don't know what else