Finding the Groove

It feels like things are really starting to fall into place.

I just got back from grabbing dinner with my tutor. She's a senior Chinese major from Anhui province, and she's been a great teacher and a fine friend since we started meeting a month and a half ago. We usually meet for an hour, four times a week, and just chat. It's really good practice for my listening ability, which is lagging behind a bit.

Tonight, we decided to spend our tutoring time over a meal. We went to the student cafeteria on the east side of campus (where most of the Chinese students live) and had a great time. We spoke Chinese the entire time, and sitting down to eat with a bunch of Chinese students, I really felt like I was where I needed to be. It's a 'belonging' kind of feeling that I haven't felt in China before now.

Moreover, I'm slowly getting in with the Chinese students, toward the aim of hanging out with them more than my American friends. It's just too damn easy to hang out in front of the IES building and chat with the rest of the ex-pats. Luckily, a Chinese English major who I had talked to before expressed interest in grabbing lunch with me next week. He's part of a pretty solid group of Chinese guys with whom I think I would get along just fine, so I'm looking to getting in with them a bit.

This weekend is, like most weekends here, going to be busy. Tomorrow I'm going with an 'old' Chinese friend of mine (who usually lives out in the provinces but is in Beijing for a couple weeks) to see the new film called "The Founding of a Republic." I'm very excited about this. Not only do I get to see a State-backed movie about Chinese history (that a little counter-factually blends Mao's charisma with modern CCP economic strategy), but I also get an introduction by a local Chinese person to who all the hundreds of cameo actors are. Seriously; this movie is filled with every mildly famous Chinese actor in Hong Kong and the People's Republic. I've heard that Jackie Chan has a brief role. Even more incredibly, I hear a lot of these actors showed up free of charge.

On Saturday, about 30 of us are finally going to the Great Wall! We walk around one of the more touristy, popular wall segments on Saturday afternoon, and then after spending a night at a guest-house nearby, we get up a 4:00am for a morning hike along one of the largely un-renovated but extremely scenic parts of the wall. Very, very excited about that.

So, yeah. It's been a great week, and things are only looking up. Heh, speaking of which, Shushu just walked in and handed me a sesame pastry. It's been a good day.