Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Tales of a foreigner.

Ok, we've refrained from checking email and comments in anticipation of having a slew of them when we got back. I am sad to say that only Darrell and my mom can follow directions. And since my mom doesn't read the blog directing her to email, she must be psychic. I had a whopping 5 emails in my inbox after 3 days. Really and truly, you can do better. For now, I'll pretend that you were all busy over the holiday weekend and really were thinking about K and I and our travels. But if the trend continues, I make no guarantee that we'll keep sharing our tales.

We've moved into the palace, (aka anything but the Shang Teng hotel), and must say that it is acceptable. We have clean towels and hot water delivered daily, as well as a tv with more than 8 channels and a sink with connected pipes. (We knew the TV at the shithole had 8 channels because there were exactly 8 buttons on the TV). We got to watch a 2 day delayed Pacer game on Sunday, not that it matters much since we saw they lost last night.

We've been to the market a few times and have stocked up on powder scented tissues. Who knew that tissues came in scents? At least they are better than the mint ones we almost were stuck with. K decided that she didn't need the minty fresh nose to go along with the minty fresh legs.

Nothing much else exciting has happened. We sit in class for about 3 hours, but most of the "work" is in the 180 or so pages we're to read every night. Unfortunately we didn't have the foresight to know that the students not from our school only get pass/fail, while the rest of us suckers get actual grades. It's a little difficult to focus when 2/3 of the program wants to go out and we feel the need to read. But those of you who know me know that it's not hard to get me to avoid the reading. Remind me of this when I'm carrying a 5 credit D after the summer.

That's it for now. We have class every day this week, including Saturday, and some sightseeing trip Sunday. They like to keep us busy around here. And for the record, it will take quite a few drinks to get me to break the China pact. Things that happen in foreign countries are more sacred than average daily occurences. But that's not to say that I won't accept free drinks if you're still trying to get me to spill.