Roommates

Da Peng (means "Big Bird") moved in yesterday at around 9 a.m. He said it was a two or three hour train ride from where he lives in Shandong (the province north of Jiangsu). He came with a bunch of packets of dried fish, that I guess come from that province, which he gave to me and a several other people. Not bad, really salty and fishy. He seems pretty chill to live with, should be a good semester. I knew him from playing basketball and drinking baijiu with him last semester.

Speaking of which, Jerry, my old roommate, gave me a bottle of baijiu, named after the first Chinese to make alcohol some 3000 years ago. It's OK, 52% alcohol. Its way better than the Erguotou, which comes in 3 kuai flasks on the street, although that is good for passing time on trains.

I just got back hot pot with Da Peng and several other roommate pairs. I may have changed my mind about hotpot, now that I'm better at using chopsticks. I used to not like it because you have to put the meet/veggies into the pot and let them cook before picking them out. It makes for a long meal and I'm never sure when I'm full. Although in a social setting such as tonight, it was a lot of fun.

Tomorrow we go out with all the roommates to dinner and then KTV. Last semester it was a lot of fun so it should be fun this time around. Usually involves a lot of ganbei-ing, the Chinese equivalent of cheers when you finish your drink. I'll try to take a picture to throw up here.

I'm definitely staying in A ban as my laoshi thinks I can handle it. It will be a lot of work but my Chinese will be so much better at the end. Plus, Da Peng only likes to speak Chinese since he's a Chinese Lit major.