Picture time revisited.

All right, so when I first put these pictures up I was too tired to give them any context. I just finished my homework so now I have time!

Last Friday was my first test.

It's odd - though we're using the same book, and though we covered three times more material than we would at Chapel Hill, and though I actually feel like I really know the material well, that test seemed easier than most of my Chapel Hill tests. Upon reflection, this may be because I'm already studying Chinese every night for about four hours. Huh.

Anyway, the test finished up and I felt good. I'm finally starting to feel settled here - there's a restaurant about 30 yards away that has become my favorite (especially in this cold weather), my roommate and I have fun together, and I'm not totally overwhelmed if I don't go to bed by ten o'clock.

I'm not quite sure of the mission statement of this blog - have I already talked about this - and so I'm not sure what personal details to put in here. Is it just a travel journal? What do I want to remember?

The thing is, is that I'm not into monogamy when it comes to record keeping. It's kind of interesting to me to keep discussion of the different dimensions of my life in distinct places - work and travel related info here, relationship info there, interesting things found on the internet there, etc. Right now, anything truly personal to me is kept in the people I tell it to, or in letters.

That's all good and all, but this, despite the fact that I'm not able to appreciate this now, is an important time in my life. Despite the fact that I may not be able to, there may be a time where I want to hit myself for not taking enough pictures, for not stepping aside for a few minutes here and there to say the trivial things on my mind. I was fortunate to go through high school during a time where journaling on the internet was cool. Though nowadays I'm not even sure for what purpose I write in my journal, I have some of the most critical moments of my high school life recorded, with whatever perceptions I had then. Things like that don't seem important, especially if you aren't writing about anything too serious, until much later. Not six months later - not even a year later. It's not 'worth reading' until you read it and realize that you forgot you ever felt a way, or that something happened to you. There's no stranger sensation than realizing that you aren't who you perceive yourself to be.

It's like when you first heard the sound of your voice on a tape player.

Sometimes I like to think about how I am the same person I was when I was four. Literally, this is the same body. I mean, say what you will about how every seven years I get a new skin, or how I have new teeth, but, still, it's the same. Throughout my elementary and middle school education, there was one book that was read to me by three different teachers. I can't remember the title, but basically its message is that people are onions, and though the layer you can see is whatever age you are now, you've also got every other age you've ever been inside of you. For instance, the author said, though she's twelve, sometimes she acts four and cries on her mom's lap. I think about that a lot.

What changes between four-year-old me and nineteen-year-old me? I guess the reason why I think about this so much is because, once you're far away enough from a certain age of yourself, I at least think of myself in the third person. I guess because it gets to the point where you can't relate to yourself anymore. I have memories of being that age, and I definitely remember some emotionally charged moments, but in general, I'm not sure what my thought processes were, much less my values.

That's to be expected with you, and four-year-old you. But that keeps happening - I in a lot of ways don't relate to myself when I was fourteen anymore. But I guess I still feel like that was myself - I don't view fourteen-year-old Paige as a separate entity with some kind of cut off period.

And right now, I'm really happy with who I am. I guess I like that I look for ways to better myself, and so though I feel like there are a lot of changes going on with me a lot of the time, I at least like the overall framework I'm going with. You know what's funny, is I think one of my primary rules (the one I go to in times of doubt) came from the book, "How to Be a Gentleman." My mom, when my brothers were "coming of age" bought it for them because she felt they perhaps needed a lesson or two. A few years ago at the dinner table, it was suggested to me that no one would be offended if I read a few pages.

Anyway, it starts off with saying that the ultimate job of a Gentleman is to "make life easier for others." It's that kind of simplicity that I like going back to. Though of course you can't base an entire life of philosophy just off of this, it's nice to keep in mind when you're not sure what to do with yourself.

Speaking of table manners, here's me and my roomie!

Arianna, Rebecca, Mylinh!

A terrifying building! If there's such a thing of a phobia of large man-made things, I have it.

Now's a good time to remind y'all that if you have trouble seeing much of anything in terms of my pictures, you should just CLICK on the picture and it'll open a new window with it enlargened for your viewing pleasure!

Do you see that red thing? It looks as far away as a plane, right? But it has a big tail, but the tail wasn't like the tail that you'd find at the end of a plane. There were, like, four of these up in the sky and I had no idea what they were. I am not kidding, I am a sane person and I wondered if they were UFOs. So I asked people, "Is that a plane? Do you know?" "No," they said, "It's a kite."

But how in the world does that work? The kite was clearly VERY far away, and big! How was it up in the air? I still don't know, and my language skills inhibit me from actually finding out.

So last Friday we went to see some Acrobats and, let me tell you, it was outstanding. These videos/pictures don't quite do it justice. And I took the most pictures of the act that was the least impressive because I liked the uniforms. Perhaps it's the Brit in me, but I'm a sucker for kelly green.

Ooh la la.

Guang Nan (though I accidentally called him 'Nan Gua' upon first meeting him, and THAT would be wrong, THAT would be "pumpkin," so the name may have stuck, Mickey, a girl from Carolina whose name I don't recall!, and someone I've never met! Maybe I should point out that I didn't take this picture.

Tan Qing and I!

Rebecca, my suitemate, and I!


And now let the videos commence.

After the performance me and half the CETers went out to a bar. So, I'm not sure if there are bars that native Beijingers frequent, but this one, and the one we went to afterward, certainly wasn't one of them.

I mean, I don't want to be a party pooper, but I came to Beijing to be in Beijing. Were this club in America (aside from the massive amounts of smoke - blegh), it would be bangin'. But it's not in America! Though I'm still excited to go to a Karaoke club, this wasn't an experience I want to repeat.

In other news, I now have THREE friends aside from my roommate who live in my room. The first was provided to me so kindly by Reed's six-year-old self, delivered in a Chicago Museum of Art box that he still likes to sleep in today.

The second is a bird whom I still haven't named. His pestered little face regales the crap out of me.

Tan Qing gave me this little guy and I'm in love with him. Despite the fact that his face somewhat reminds me of a Mexican wrestler, or Darth Maul, I'm not sure which, he belongs in a place of worship. I'm not sure the characters, but the phrase written on his little green ... thing... is "yi sheng ping an,' or, "a peaceful life." I asked Tan Qing the significance of the face paint and she and I weren't really able to come to a conclusion there - I know that it's common in Peking Opera, but I'm not sure if there's any symbolism with colors, styles, etc. I'm pretty sure, though, that despite the fact that he "reminded me" of Mexican wrestlers and Darth Maul, it should be the other way around.

I have more to say, but for now, I read!