Language Pledge

The language pledge started today, I shouldn't be speaking anything out loud but Chinese from now on. Of course, I've only had two years of Chinese and there are also 100 level students here so we're allowed to slip in English words every now and then to ask how to say something.

Dinner tonight was an interesting affair: there were around nine of us and everyone was 260 and below so the conversation was pretty stilted, but hilarious. Lot's of "Suuuuooyiiii... (Soooo...)," English words with "zenme shuo" (how do you say) tacked on to them, people saying things wrong, and general misunderstandings flying all over the place. We ate Chinese-style and had a room with a big round table to ourselves so we were pretty rambunctious. I think we have a ton of inside jokes now that I sadly can't tell you about because they have to do with the Chinese language and funny stories from language classes are never funny when you tell them to someone who isn't taking the language.

Though I will say in class today, one girl kept saying "qiguai" instead of "xiguan"... which means strange instead of "to become accustomed to." My favorite was when she said China was strange instead of she was getting used to China. I guess that wasn't too funny for you though.

Here's a picture of all of us at dinner, 很可爱！ (hen ke-ai = how cute!):


Yes, there's a Hooters in China:


A funny sign at a place that sells great 饺子, jiao-zi = dumplings: