Breakfast

Might as well talk about breakfast when it's nearing 10 PM since I talked about dinner at 7:30 AM.

I've started drinking coffee-flavoured "night cha" or milk tea. It's bubble tea. I could get it at the cafeteria for a whopping 4 kwai (this is expensive!) or go line-up at the campus supermarket and get it for 2 kwai, but it doesn't taste as deliciously good (although I mostly drink it to keep warm). I can't believe I'm hesistant about buying a drink that costs 65 cents (4 kwai)! In Vancouver, I'd pay $3.50 minimum. But then again, in Vancouver I wouldn't have the same salary...

This evening we went to see "La Marche des Empereurs" - the March of the Penguins? It's about how Emperor Penguins (do they have the same name in English?) reproduce and survive in such terrible conditions. It's pretty amazing. The movie was well-made and entertaining. The room we were in was large and noisy (don't worry, they did turn off the lights), but surprisingly no cell phones went off. The girls behind us did talk and laugh rather loudly. The screen looks small, but you get used to it pretty quickly. I think on the whole the audience really liked the movie. I certainly did.

The movie started at 6 PM. Bob, his Chinese friend Cindy (she teaches in the Continuing Education deparment - like me! - but I had never seen her before) and Jean-Baptiste, saved seats for Katia and me, who walked in without tickets or anything. It was at the cinema on campus and since we spoke French and the movie was in French they just let us in at the door without asking any questions.

We went for dinner at the same place we went to last Monday - BBQ at the table (where we use a gigantic amount of oil to cook our food in the middle of the table). I'm so afraid of eating meat that's not cooked enough. Terrible.

Hope you're all eating safely and enjoying your meals as much as I am.

I forgot to tell you about this afternoon. I prepared for class at 2 PM and arrived a little bit late (maybe 2:05 PM). Nobody was in class! This was the class I had celebrated a birthday with last Thursday and I thought, "Shit! They think I'm cool and down with it so they don't need to come to class anymore." I waited half an hour in the classroom but still nobody came. I left and totally by chance saw (outside the campus supermarket) one of my second-year students whose boyfriend would've been in my afternoon class. I asked her what was up and she looked at me wide-eyed and said, "But they're taking an exam right now!" (well, her English isn't that good, but you get my point).

I was like, "What?!"

And she said, "You didn't know? Nobody told you?"

So I said, "No."

And she said, "That's terrible!"

And then I asked her, "What room can I find Mrs. Her (my boss) in?"

"513." So off I went and I found Mrs. Her and stood by the door of the examination room until she saw me and she came right out and when she realised I hadn't been told she took responsibility and apologized. She didn't help me any (I had many other questions about when our winter break is and all). I wasted an afternoon (I could've done something at noon, now it was 3 PM). But I totally didn't care, really.

I went for a bike-ride with Katia and we found this cool place to shop that could possibly have some decent clothes - they at least look a little better than the clothes we've been seeing in other places. Or maybe we're just getting used to that crazy Chinese style.

I'm going to come back a new woman, just you wait and see. ;-)