朋友

We had our first day of classes on Tuesday. They were frustrating in the very beginning. I had a very difficult time with the tones as I happen to be tone deaf. But towards the end I got them down - somewhat. And as classes have progressed I have learned more and more words and characters, including 你好吗？ 我很好！ 爸爸，妈妈，火， 我， and many others! It takes forever to write them out and to copy them over, my handwriting is about as good in Chinese as it is in English.

I have to say that I have been enjoying the culture classes during this trip as well. The Martial Arts and Tai Chi classes make my legs ACHE! But I am glad that I am getting a lot of practice and am able to work out.

The Beijing opera class was very interesting, he taught us that the three treasures of Chinese culture are the artwork and calligraphy, the medicine, and the Chinese opera. He went on to describe the many different roles for the actors and give little skits on them. It was hard to understand the translator, but I could tell the teacher was very good! Next time, after the opera class, I will be going to a certain shop and dress up as an actor in traditional clothing and make-up! During the class he also described the colors on the actors and masks for the characters in the opera. White = sly, black = upholding justice, green = a hero come from wild, yellow = REALLY WILD, red = integrity. Some more interesting differences from Chinese culture and back home. White and black have reversed roles in this culture!


Friends.朋友





I have found one of the five F's to be true through personal experience. The second night of Nankai University a good friend that I met at Maryland last semester came to visit me! We went out to dinner and it was a real pleasure to hang out with him. But the fact that he would fly down to visit me really meant a lot to me!
I met him in one part of the world, and we were good enough friends to meet on the opposite side. :-)

We went out to dinner with another friend of his and then the next day we spent the entire day (after classes) walking around and seeing the city! He helped me get my cell phone card! - ahh yes, to contact me here in China the quickest way will be to call me - I get free incoming calls - at +86 15922136057.



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