Love in the cracks.

It's been a month and a half since I've come to Beijing, and things are pretty good here. I've definitely settled into a routine: classes in the mornings, and studying and sleeping in the afternoons. Throw in hanging out with friends and going shopping a few times a week. Lunch is always with friends, usually with the Chinese-Fils, who I hang out with most. Let's see, there are tourist trips, snowboarding days, grocery-shopping dates, late dimsum lunches, jiaozi 饺子 (dumplings) nights, massage 按摩 nights, bowling nights, karaoke nights, and McDonald's sundae nights, not to mention all those trips to bargain haunts and random meals and studying at cafeterias and restos everywhere around and off campus. And not to forget hanging out during the hourly breaks in the mornings at the 2nd floor of the Run Run Shaw Building (Yifu Teaching Building), where we have earned notoriety as the Chinese-Filipino Mafia/Gang--we take up a whole section of the hallway, thus the bestowed name. Oh, they're the greatest to be with. You laugh like crazy with these guys. It's like, a big family--everyone looks out for each other. I mean, when you get sick, you just know that there are people who'll be looking after you, even if you're all so far away from home.

It's still fun hanging with my other foreign friends, but the thing is, it's really different to be with people like you. We still have lunch dates, but it's good to have a regular group you can always count on. Like, barging into each other's rooms unannounced for unplanned girl-talk sessions is always something I look forward to. =)