Spent the afternoon with Maria, Camila, and Allie. We tagged along the Colombians and had Peking duck (北京烤鸭) for lunch today. I have to say it was expensive, but really good. And since the fancy-pants resto was in Chaoyang District (朝阳区), we took a cab going there, which cost us about 10元. Including lunch, in all, it was about 60元. THE most expensive meal by far, since everything in Beijing is cheap. We usually get full meals at about 7 to 8元. We shouldn't have gone. Now that I've re-tasted authentic 北京烤鸭, I want more. =)
Oh, and I met with the small group from BICF tonight. I love it. In all, we're like, around 15 people. Pretty diverse bunch. Let's see, there's a Korean PK (pastor's kid), two German girls from small villages in the Black Forest, a Korean-American dude, an Aussie girl who grew up in HK, an American girl who studied at Wheaton College, and who'll be going to med school soon, a girl from Kazakhstan, and about 6 Chinese-Fils. It was fun, meeting them and getting to know them. It's awesome how I was able to easily find a small group so soon, and so convenient, it being in the same dorm as I'm in, just 2 floors down. There's so much to look forward to, even laser tag!!! I can't wait.
We actually have a proficiency test tomorrow morning. I don't think I can study for it anymore, not that I want to. Lol. Even our teacher was like, "没关系，不用怕。" (Don't worry, no need to be afraid.) And we have classes this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, to make way for the super long National Holiday week. Yes, that's how they do it here in China, week-long holidays. You just gotta love it. =)
Running at night here at the university's track and field is awesome. It's become one of my favorite, most-looked-forward-to thing in the evenings. Especially since the temperature's gone down to like, 12 degrees Celsius the past few days; from 30 degrees just the last Sunday, it's crazy how cold it is now. Anyway, I just love to run, and when winding down, walking around, looking up at the big black expanse of the sky, lit only by the moon. Funny enough, it doesn't make me homesick or yearn for everyone back home--it does the opposite, making me wonder how I could ever leave Beijing when the time comes. I guess I'm really starting to enjoy and embrace 北京 as a second home. 我特别喜欢北京比别的地方. There's just so much to see and do here. And I like how I've been able to slowly fall into habit in how I do things here. And how friends are everywhere. When we just got here, I didn't leave anything out at all. Everything was safely tucked into my luggage, locked. It just seemed like if I start making a home for my things and clothes, it would be like I'm settling in for good. Like, I'm making the dorm room my home. And I didn't want that. I still don't. But the truth is, for the next four months, this is what it is. And I'm really growing to love it. I'd love it better if everyone I loved were here too; I still miss my family, I do, and I guess that's the little part of me holding back from fully embracing Beijing. But again, there's Skype. It's kinda like I never left home. Maybe I can have the best of both worlds for now.
I think it's incredible how the past few days have been all about meeting new people, and getting to know people I've already met. Yesterday, some friends, new and old, decided to head on to Beihai Park (北海公园). It's this tourist spot near the Forbidden City. It was an adventure for the girls: me, Katzu, Margaux, Angelle, Kazue, Shani, Carina, and Pat. Except for Kazue, who's Japanese (日本人), everyone else is Chinese-Filipino. And what an adventure it was! We took the subway (地铁), made about three transfers (it's insane how many subway lines Beijing has!), made our way through a huge throng of tourists and locals in front of the Forbidden City (故宫) and Tienanmen Square (天安门), rode a superduper crowded bus (公共汽车), and walked under the sun in high noon. Took a whole lot of pictures though, as only girls would do. Our lunch consisted of corn on a cob, mineral water, and Chips Ahoy. We then rented out 2 paddle boats, and rested a bit, although it was still a little hot. Needless to say, we were exhausted by the time we w
ere through with Beihai. But since we were starving from all that walking around, and tired of the tourist-priced tasteless food there, we decided to go to Wangfujing (王府井) and get some real, genuine, cheap Beijing food. Yum! Window-shopped a bit, treated ourselves to some ice cream (冰淇淋) and frozen yogurt (酸奶), and finally got back to BLCU at around 9pm. I was so pooped out, I was sure I'd fall right on my face onto the bed and sleep til who-knows-when. It was a whole new experience, especially the bus ride! It was our first time to ride a bus here in Beijing, and it was craaaaazy! They totally squished everyone in, and even when it seemed like there wasn't any more room for even a mouse, they made everyone squeeze against each other. It was disgusting, although I hear that's pretty much the case too back in Manila. Think all the body odor and sweat from others pushing against our clean, freshly bathed selv
es. Ugh. And like one guy had his butt to my back, and since the bus was so packed, well, you can just imagine my horror. And the subway was bad too, at times. There were funnies though, like everytime we got on and we'd count if we were complete. And when we thought we had to get off and started to get off, only to realize we were wrong, and rush back into the train, laughing and squealing 
all the way. Bouncing around in the trains and buses. Shani and Car being constantly camera-ready with their reflex-like poses. A lot of great laughs apparently, what with an 8-strong group of girly girls. And oh, let's not forget all the Chris-Tiu-is-coming-to-Beijing and he's-too-good-to-be-true talks; sorry, it's a girl thing. Lol.
So many bloopers. We got lost and pretty confused a lot of times. And judging by the look on people's faces, I think they could tell that we were not locals. And our mangled attempts at speaking Chinese. Embarrassing, considering the fact that we look very Chinese, and ARE Chinese. =)
I really don't think though, that I could have chosen a better bunch of girls to spend the day with.
Katrina's been going on about finding her CC, and now I feel bad coz it's been 2 weeks already, and I haven't found mine yet! Sigh. There's just so many people we see and meet every day, it's pretty hard to recall their faces back into memory. I can't even remember Katzu's CC's face, which is sad. LOL. ;)
Today was a good day. It didn't start out so well though. I woke up to an urgent nudging, which I later discovered was Katzu's way of waking me up. I looked at my cell phone, and gasp! It was 6:50am already! I totally rushed through taking a bath and eating yogurt for breakfast, all the while thinking, "Oh no, whatta way to start the day." The sky was dark and grey, adding to the gloom and doom of my waking up late possibly setting the tone for the rest of the day--everyone knows I hate being late. I'd rather be absent than late, which was usually the case back in uni. Anyway, we left the dorm room at around 7:40am, which is normal, and amazingly, when we got to class by 7:50am, only a few people were in the building. I was like, "Oh, this is good."
I got to talk more with my American classmate Jake. It's seriously amazing how everyone here seems so out of place in China, but then to know how much they wanna learn Chinese, and even more, how much they love Beijing itself is awesome. Had fun with the class. My teacher is really nice, and she teaches pretty well too, so everyone just loves her. She made some of the class get up and introduce themselves in Chinese, and then gave everyone else a chance to throw whatever we wanna know about the person standing in front. I think it serves a double purpose, giving us a chance to get to know each other, and at the same time making us learn to speak and listen to Chinese conversations. It was pretty cool. Today's victims were Jake (American), Damien (French), Maxime (Swedish), and Sam (British), all guys, by the way. It was loads of fun. Boys will be boys. Oh, and what was shocking for me to know was that a few in my class are just 18 years old. If you see them, you would have never guessed. Some of them I thought to be at least 25 years old. But they're all great. I love my class. I'm still trying to match the Chinese names with their English ones though, which is harder than it seems.
Some friends from Manila invited a bunch of us Chinese-Filipinos to have lunch together, plus videoke, but we already made plans with some friends, so yeah. It's good though, to have so much friends everywhere and anywhere.
Katz and I had lunch with her Colombian classmate Camila and my Colombian classmate Maria, who are also childhood friends. We also had along two other of my classmates, Allie (British) and Heiko (German). They're awesome to be with. Ate at the Conference Centre, and had a whole lot of delicious Chinese food. Afterwards, we went back to the dorm for a bit, but met up with the girls (Camila, Maria, and Allie) at Wudaokou (五道口) Station to ride taxis to Carrefour (家乐福) at Zhongguancun (中关村), not too far from the school. Shopped a bit, and got to find where the malls are, oh joy!
Supposedly, Katz and I were going to Camila and Maria's place with Allie for the night, to hang out, then head on to one of my classmate's birthday thing. But since we have a trip to Beihai Park planned early tomorrow morning, we begged off for now. Next time.
Exhausted, we stayed in tonight. Armed with a movie, popcorn, and noodles, we had a quiet night. I never thought I'd say this, but I have grown to love seeing the dorm after a tiring day. For now, it needs to be my home sweet home.
Look at me, studying and doing my homework even during dinner, and in restaurants, too!
But not as big a geek as some library geeks, right, Katz? Hahaha. ;)
Perhaps what I love most about BLCU is the diversity of culture you find here. Name a country, any country, and I'm pretty sure we have it. In my class alone, we're all either: Canadian, American, Mexican, British, Danish, Swedish, Colombian, Italian, or French. And while I like the melting-pot feel of the campus here, I guess there's still nothing like the Chinese, or, to be more specific, Chinese-Filipinos.
For the past week we've been here, we didn't really run into any of them. At first, I was like, oookay, it's not like I came here to meet my own kind anyway. But after a week, I started to sound like a baby, "Where in the world are those Chinese-Fils??" I couldn't believe that there weren't much around, coz even in Manila, all I've heard was how many of us go to Beijing to study. It got to the point that we constantly kept our ears peeled for anyone speaking a bit of Tagalog.
Needless to say, I was pretty glad to hear that some guys were organizing an initial dinner for Chinese-Fils. I was a bit hesitant to go at first though, but I figured, what have I got to lose? And I'm so glad I went. We met a whole bunch of people, some we've seen around but didn't know they were like us, some we've never seen, and others from different nearby universities, like Tsinghua Univ and Peking Univ. And it was so cool to see so many familiar faces from uni back home--I counted at least 10 people I went to uni with, and in the same college too. In all, I think we were about 70 or so.
The organizer arranged for some 黑车 to bring us to the restaurant. Oh, we had dinner at this hotpot place near school, and it was fab. Too bad I was sleepy, and we had to leave with the first batch; the others were heading to this party place somewhere. Next time.
Most of the time, I don't feel like I belong, even with Chinese-Fils. You know me, always holding close to my Canadian roots. So I never thought I'd say this, but how I missed being around Chinese-Fils! It felt like home to hear the chatter of Chinese+English+Tagalog words. For once, it felt right to be Chinese-Fil-Canadian.
It's something to get used to, being so far from home. But I have to say, I'm kinda getting the hang of it.
I still miss my family, and my friends--even anything that has to do with Manila! It's saddest at night, before I go to bed, and weekends, where it's so quiet without them. But it helps that we have Skype, and talk to each other every day--I especially love it when the whole clan is there to talk to me. =)
So far, we've been getting settled in Beijing, falling into routine. One thing we have learned to love is going to the supermarket to buy groceries. The first time Katz and I went to the supermarket, we spent like, 2 hours there. Of course, the place was huge, but we just had to stop and look at every single aisle. And the thing I love about here is that their supermarkets have so much fruits and yogurt! Katz refers to me as "that health freak;" I can't say she's wrong. Our fridge is full of my fruits and yogurt. =)
And I've actually had real conversations IN CHINESE with locals here!!! Oh, my daddy would be so proud. Haha! One time, Achi Candy left us alone, so we had to fend for ourselves. So we headed to this fast food place in the mall, and the only thing I could read was 牛肉面 (beef noodles)，which Katz ordered. I don't really like beef, so I just pointed and said, "那个，那个，十三元的面, no, no, yeah, that one!" It turned out to be 两面, or cold noodles, which was pretty good, but A LOT. I got tired eating it, and I couldn't finish it. :| And we discovered frozen yogurt here! TCBY! It'll be my temporary replacement for Yoh-gurt Froz's Classic Fro-yo while I'm here. =)
Okay, so we've enrolled in school, had our rooms connected to the Internet, gotten China sim cards, undergone evaluation to determine what level we should be in, attended the orientation, and explored the campus a bit. And thanks to Achi Candy who, growing up, really was like my own big sister, we've eased into life here in Beijing, or at least, in BLCU, or 北京语言大学.
And, we attended our first worship service in Beijing at BICF (Beijing International Christian Fellowship) at the 21st Century Theater. It was awesome. People from probably every country in the world is represented there. And it's huge. I really liked it there. I think I'll probably go to that church. I want to get involved in their ministries--they have so much--and Katz and I both wanna help in the children's ministry. But we have yet to attend Achi Candy's church, which is the Zhongguancun branch of BICF, so we'll see. By the way, to attend BICF, you have to be a foreigner, and you have to present your passport at the door as proof you're not a mainland Chinese.
But wait, there's mooooore (haha, like one of those TV shopping voice-overs)! Achi Candy's uncle had extra tickets to the Olympic Green, and since she'd already been, she gave them to us. So yesterday afternoon, Katz and I rode the subway alone for the first time, and in my opinion, we managed pretty well. Except for the rude people and old Chinese. Oh, and do not underestimate the senior citizens here; they move really fast for old people when it comes to squeezing into the trains. Anyway, when we got there, there were so much people! Everywhere! Even McDonald's had a line so long, it spilled out onto the sidewalk. And the Beijing 2008 Olympic Superstore was, well, super. Haha, it was pretty big, and had just about every souvenir for the Olympics and Paralympics. I wanted to buy, but the lines were too long, so I didn't. We walked around the Green, and took some pictures with the Bird's Nest. We didn't get too close to the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube coz it was hot, and we were too tired to go any further. But at least we can now say we've been. =)
Classes officially start tomorrow. I'm pretty nervous. I'm afraid I won't understand the teachers, the lessons, and that I won't be able to catch up. Sigh. :| But I am determined to learn. I don't think I've ever been as determined to learn as I am now. I want to speak fluent Chinese. I guess this is the price I have to pay. Oh, what it does to my poor nerves.
For now, I can tolerate Beijing. For now. 
Yesterday was one of the toughest days I've ever had. I spent the whole day with Mom, getting ready for my trip. Dad left for Singapore yesterday around noon, and since there were no drivers available, Mom and I drove him. As expected, they took the time to give me some last-minute reminders, and just when Dad said, "Bye, Pau. I love you. See you, I dunno, in a couple of weeks, months, next year," and gave me a kiss. I tried to smile, but when he closed the door, I started to cry. I guess I realized just then that I would see my dad one day less, and that I'll probably only get to see him again next year.
The rest of the day wasn't so good either. I went to visit my baby cousin Luke, and I started crying when we were about to leave, and only stopped when we got home. Then my aunt, uncle, and cousins came, and since I was surprised, I cried even more. I thought I wouldn't be able to see them before I left, and it turned out they came straight from basketball practice after school. I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised, since they ARE my closest aunt, uncle, and cousins. But it only made things sadder for me. I kept crying when Dad Skyped me--I was like, "Why are you guys letting me leave??"--and even more when my cousins came to say goodbye; they had school the next day. It was horrible.
My little cousins are the cutest, though. They all gave me small things to take with me, "in case you get bored, Achi Pau." Aww. JP gave me his small Rubik's cube (not that I know how to solve those anyway), and Matt gave me a deck of cards and a squishy ball. Matt actually offered to let me borrow his Gameboy, and he kept bugging his mom to buy me something that he paid for with his own money. They're so sweet. I missed them even then.
Jaynee and Chrys went to see me, too. And Norts called me later that night. Thanks, you guys.
Mom and I finished packing, and when we were about to turn in, we prayed, and started crying. Mom apparently had been holding it in the whole day. She was like, "Why did I ever agree to this??" but trying to be funny. It figures. I've always been super close with my mom. And to be away from her for 4 months, it's gonna be tough.
Went to the airport early the next day, and I was determined not to cry too much; my eyes were still red and super swollen from crying the night before. Hugged my sister, and got out of the car right away. Hugged Josh, and then my mom. We started crying again. I think we hugged more than 3 times.
After getting through immigration, and while waiting for boarding, Mom, Diko, and 4-chim called me. I wanted to bawl like the crybaby I am, but at the very least cried a bit. Texted everyone til the last minute on the plane, and it just felt weird to be leaving. I really hate good-byes.
Sigh. Leaving family and everything familiar really is not for the faint of heart.
Something I just realized the other day: there is no way I will ever end up single, not if The Moms can help it. By The Moms, I mean my mom and my aunts all put together. Especially with one of my aunts. She's a social butterfly; she meets a lot of people, mostly because of work, interacting with all sorts of people. She gets excited though, when she encounters guys, who are young, driven, nice, and it helps if they have Chinese blood. Just the other day, she was talking about this supplier she found for the store, and then she was like, "Oh, he's nice, and young. Bagay sayo, Pau." Of course, I'm like, "Hehe." What else can I say, right? Then, a day after, my mom and I went to meet her and the supplier, and on our way home, she was all, "O diba, what did I say? He's gwapo and nice, Chinese pa! Oh, oh, and he's 29 years old! See, I asked his age to make sure already," all with a big grin on her face. Sigh. I don't have to say how many times she's done that to me the past year. I'm pretty sure if she could 'kai-shao' (introduce) me to every eligible young guy in Manila, she would. I'm not really complaining, alright--I love the moms like they were my second mothers. But it can get pretty embarassing, although thankfully, none of those guys ever really catch on to her raised eyebrows and secret smiles.
The Moms also tend to get what I call mom-crushes. You know, when moms meet guys who are young enough to be their sons, but they're so enchanted by them that they try to pass on that little crush onto their offspring? Yeah. My mom is like that. She's got one that she super loves; she's even given him a nickname: iyen-tao-e, which is Chinese for handsome. Sigh. Mommy.
..................................
I've finally put off procrastinating packing my bags, and I actually put some stuff in my luggage already. It's really hard, figuring out what to bring, what not to bring, and keeping in mind: only 20kilos. How can Philippine Airlines expect me to pack all that I need for 4 1/2 months in one 20-kilo bag?? I'm not some guy who can live on 2 shirts, 1 pair of jeans, a pair of shorts, some change of underwear, and a backpack (impossible, you'd think, but no, I've seen it done before, all hail the male species)!
- 黄惠真
(my Chinese name, read as Huang Hui Zhen, meaning pure truth; I know, it's a lot to live up to!)