Bli-hizzity Bli-zog

So, here in China my blog doesn't work. "That's ok." I thought, "I will start a new one." Unfortunately, that one doesn't work either. So, I will send the posts to my adorable little sister and she will post them here. Now my blog does work!

We are officially at Xiamen University now. We are all moved into our ever so humble housing. After complications with the university we have ended up off-campus in rooms that are, perhaps, less than desirable. However, after many trips to the local super market and lots of bleach and scrubbing, these places are becoming more and more livable. They have AC and that is really the most important thing in the end.

On the last day of our conference we took a sightseeing tour to see the Hakka toulous. They are very old, very round houses that were built at least 700 years ago. They are meant to house 5 or 6 families at a time. They are also in the middle of the jungle. We had a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to get there. We got to see a lot of rural mainland China. On Xiamen motorbikes are prohibited to try to reduce pollution. On the mainland, they are everywhere! Often they will have 3 or 4 people riding on them. It is quite the sight. At the tulous we walked around some old villages and we even saw a presentation of what a traditional Chinese wedding is like. They picked Daniel out of the crowd to play the groom. I told him that he had just gotten the best souvenir ever, but he didn't bring her home.

When we came back we got moved into our apartments and spent the next few days getting settled in and showing the other students around the area as they arrived. When the other big group got in from Shanghi, we all went out for Korean. It was so nice to have something familiar. Talia was the last student to get in. She is my roommate. She is most recently from Detroit, but she has lived all over, including Australia and Germany. Needless to say, she is pretty cool.

We start class on Monday. We will have a 3 hour class from Dr. Walters on M/W and on Tuesday will have lectures on Chinese government from local professors. I am excited, but I am also a little nervous. It is at once exciting and overwhelming to have your first class of graduate school in China. I have certainly learned a lot already and school hasn't even begun!