Listening to:
Rachael Yamagata's "Duet". (Fine, I'm actually a woman.)
Drinking:
Iced cafe latte from the dorm lobby. Strong, delicious, much needed, and quite possibly the beginning of a two-month-long summer fling.
Recent casualties:
My bright orange "motherboard" shirt fell apart in the wash yesterday. Doing laundry here involves wrestling with a howling, bronze-age washing machine going through heroin withdrawal.
Also, I'm probably moving out of the dorm this weekend to begin my homestay. (Li laoshi asked me yesterday if I'd like to do one, and I agreed to, for better or for worse.) Second-year students at DSIC normally aren't allowed to do homestays, but apparently several higher-level students who originally applied to stay with Chinese families have decided they'd rather stay in the dorm.
Honestly, they're probably making the better decision: they'll have better rooms, private restrooms, no curfew, and the lobby cafe's coffee. Plus they'll be on campus, a definite advantage whether cramming for tests at 6 a.m. or coming back from late nights out on weekends. On the other hand, I'm looking forward to a more complete cultural immersion. I'm sure that trying to coexist with my Chinese family using my very broken Chinese will make for an interesting experience!
