Second Semester Registration

I returned to Beijing last night after a two week vacation in the States. Classes start tomorrow, and I hadn't registered yet. I was expecting a huge headache when I went today to do so, but I was happily surprised to find that the process was streamlined and - dare I say? - efficient. It was at least efficient for Beijing, and that is plenty for me.

I am registered for another 20 hours per week this semester, and I am now in the intermediate level. I think what that is ultimately going to mean is that I'm going to drown in confusion and long hours of trying to understand on my own what happened in class. I have 10 hours of required courses, and three additional courses that I chose.

I decided to take another reading course because I struggled with reading comprehension last semester, and also because I would like to be literate in this language one day. I am also taking a grammar class, which is different from the type of grammar class I've grown accustomed to in the past few years. The closest equivalent that I can think of is studying grammar like I did in English class in the States. It's presupposing knowledge and delving deeper. I'm hoping that will help me understand some nuances in the language that I'm missing. Finally, I decided to take a cultural geography course because I thought it would be nice to take a course with actual content in Chinese instead of constant instruction in just the language.

I am jetlagged right now. I've been fighting sleep for the past five or six hours in an attempt to beat this and get reacclimated to the time. I think I am about to give in and sleep now, though. 9.30pm is a decent time to go to bed, right?

Goodbye, Personal Space. Hello, Asia.

I'm in the process of travelling back to Beijing from my break in the States. I just got off of the longest leg of the trip, and I am very happy about it. The flight from Detroit to Tokyo, where I am currently, took over 13 hours. I was seated in between a Korean guy my own age and a Japanese man who appeared to be in his early thirties. As the Korean guy on my left, who had a window seat, fell asleep, he gradually slumped toward me and onto my shoulder. I let him stay for a minute, and then realized that he wasn't getting up. I shrugged him off of me, and he moved. Eventually, I fell asleep for a while, though uncomfortably, because his elbow was far over his armrest. I don't understand it. He had a wall to lean on.

When I woke up, he was asleep on my shoulder again. I honestly don't know if he was doing this on purpose or not. When I was on the rail in Tokyo people fell asleep on me, and on a bus in Utsunomiya people did the same. I don't know if I should be shoving people or just getting over it.

[Regarding my lack of vacation posts: I have some work to do, but the photos are being posted, and the entries will come. Check backwards on my blog because I will be backdating them.]