First day of class today-we learned to count to 999, and a little bit of money stuff (though pretty much in one ear, out the other). I’ve been walking the streets today counting to 10 in Chinese compulsively like a crazy person-if I learn nothing else from this trip, at least I’ll know my numbers. Also, my Chinese name is Hua Fu, and I think it’s very fitting (it means waffle, apparently).
Lunch was at a nice Chinese fast food place, and we had to order using our numbers (thank God for combo menus!). I recently (within the past year or so) discovered that I don’t dislike most vegetables nearly as much as I thought I did, which is great for being here because they’re in everything. And I eat it all-cabbage, onions, tomatoes, peppers, BROCCOLI, even asparagus (though cooked leafy greens aren’t my favorite).
Our afternoon discussion was with an environmental economics professor from a nearby university, and it was about the state of the environment in China. And that state is miserable. Aside from the smog, Beijing doesn’t seem too much dirtier than any big city, and from what I can see they do a pretty good job of cleaning up most of the big streets. Apparently though trash is a major problem on some of the less traveled roads, and the locals don’t even really notice. The city was majorly cleaned up for the Olympics-I can’t even imagine what it must have been like before then. The smog here is horrible though. Only on the clearest of days can you expect to see any blue skies, and I haven’t seen the sun once yet here (though it’s hot as hell!). It comes from all the coal that’s burned, and the energy plants don’t have any regulatory constraints to worry about. Apparently it’s easier to pay the fine than to fix the problem (a problem Auburn has for sure). Fortunately, it doesn’t tend to disperse too much into other neighboring countries.
Last but not least, we went to the shopping center Wudaoco to try out our new numbers and “bargaining skills” (ha!). I didn’t really do any shopping though-I’m saving all my big purchases for Shanghai, when I can buy a suitcase just to stuff full of cheap crap and not feel bad about lugging it all around. We spent too long there though-2 hours to browse through the same assortment of tshirts, shoes that won’t fit me, and fake Calvin Klein jeans is too much for me to handle. Dinner afterwards was great though-stir fry delight. Capped off the night with some (fake) DDR with my Korean friend Yeong, and I hit the sack early. Good first day of school.
Ask the concierge, or some other good source, where’s good for tailoring. Get a few opinions, then look them up online, etc. Get a custom made suit (1 or 2 day turnaround) and some shirts. You won’t regret it, if you do your research, and you can get it for as cheap as 60 bucks for a good suit.