Typing this on my Eeeps (I hereby declare this to be the name of my Asus Eee PC) at Fudan University’s Guanghua building. Supposed to start studying, it’s 3 days before my exams begin, and I thought getting out of any form of accommodation would be more conducive for preparing for the exams. But I guess I have to admit that I have been too 茫 this semester for any last minute Buddha-leg-hugging to work. Haven’t been studying, paying attention in class, nor submitting assignments, and the price to pay now is probably uneasy sleep, if any, for the coming week.

The drama played out in my life for the past couple of months is definitely worth writing about, if I ever get around to doing so. Though maybe I should think twice before disclosure on such a platform.

Banana is a discotheque/bar in the vicinity of Fudan University, though it looks like most of its patrons are not part of the Fudan community.

When I walked in, I felt very comfortable being out of place, and I thought, “Hey! The Chinese really know how to have fun!”. It was packed with people grooving to the semi-techno music. Then there were firecrackers (!), dancers dressed in futuristic pvc costumes, dancers in qipaos, dancers in leopard bikinis, and a bottle-swirling-fire-eating bartender (whom we managed to get free drinks out of later).

Nice people there too, for they were patient with us two foreigners trying to say the drinks we want into their ears.

But the best part was still managing to get free drinks (I have charm lalalalala), and then crawling into the bar itself after lights on at 3am to fool around with the bartenders woot!

And here’s how I was like at 4:23AM, after several shots and beer and other drinks (Jason, as requested):

I think humans need their vices. It’s what we resort to and it’s what keeps various industries going and making money. These industries are surviving/profiting on our degeneration, but yeah, it’s a mutually dependent relationship.

From my Chinese textbook 《Hochschuldeutsch (1)》 and UBC textbook for German “Treffpunkt Deutsch” (pp 9) respectively:

ch 读作[ç]，为清辅音，读音与汉语“xi”的声母“x”相似，但发[ç]时嘴张得较大，舌尖向下接近下门齿，嘴角向后咧。ch 在 e, i, ei, eu, äu, ä, ö, ü 和所有辅音后面均发[ç]。

German ch

After i and e, the sound represented by ch is pronounced like a loudly whispered h in huge. (this is so damn straightforward)

ch 在 a, o, u, au 后面读作[x]。发音时张嘴，舌尖抵下门齿舌背向硬颚后部拾起，但不贴上，用力送气，气流通过舌背和硬颚间的缝隙，发摩擦音。

After a, o, and u, the sound represented by ch resembles a gentle gargling.

I am so glad I brought my UBC textbook here instead of selling it while I was at UBC. One of the wisest choice in my life, huh?

I want to follow the class, so everyday is German day for me from now on.

Ich kann Blut kotzen (I can puke blood).

Every German lesson (on Monday and Thursday afternoons) I sit at the back of the classroom and barely grasp the grammar the nice teacher is teaching, although I hope that will change soon. Since the class has less than 20 students, I have to answer an average of three questions per hour. Everyone answers fluently and accurately while I struggle with the answers and translations by frantically flipping though my German dictionary in English and trying my luck when it’s my turn.

I guess I should be glad I’m the class entertainer since I come up with misinterpretations like “There are many ways to lead Rome (有很多方法带领罗马）” for “All roads lead to Rome （有很多路通道罗马）”

I will pull through.

Remember how I complained about the expensive textbooks at UBC? I was set back by about S$400+ (even after returning most books after photocopying them) on material for 5 classes.

Here, books for 9 classes are 100RMB (S$20). Of course, most of the photocopying has already been done by the teachers, complete with book covers.

I haven’t bought my Sociology text, but it’s included in the total cost of textbooks I quoted above. There are two classes I find no point in getting texts, but they won’t add more than 50RMB to the total cost. And these aren’t pirated books (remember that pirated books here are as rampant as pirated DVDs).

Okay, so this is one of the pros.

My final residence permit application woot! No more running around getting coloured slips and “introduction letters” (been doing this almost every semester), no need to wait around for hours just to submit application, done with payment, and no more passport photos (needed 3 for physical examination, 1 for travel visa application, 1 for residence permit application)!

This residence permit will last me all the way till 31 July 2009.

I’m done with all the unnecessarily necessary unstated SOPs (Standard of Procedures) after returning to Fudan — reinstating my student status, registering (met local students who were equally frustrated at the silly cross-school run in order to get papers and signatures from people who practise taichi), transferral of credits (successful), and residence permit. lalalalala I just want to graduate now.

It is indeed true that buying a second-hand bicycle from a dealer or the black market does potentially help bicycle thieves find a market for their stolen goods. However, it is a choice that citizens have to make considering the harsh reality that it’s difficult to guarantee their new bicycles will be safe from bicycle thieves.– China Daily

In my first semester, I bought a new bicycle that I really liked for its apt size and style. A year later, due to my negligence, I forgot to lock it one day(or I left the keys on the lock, I can’t remember), and my bicycle was unsurprisingly stolen. I then bought a second-hand bicycle from a friend, even though it was too big and old but I didn’t want to get a new bicycle for it increases the chances of getting stolen and feeling hate. I invested quite some money into it as I had to do repairs and change the wheel, and even though it was uncomfortably big for me, it helped improve my skills in evasion at cross junctions of road traffic. While I was away on exchange, my friend lent my bicycle to her supposed friend, and it got stolen (and this friend has been avoiding compensation).

So after walking to and from school for half an hour each time when I first came back here, I was informed by a security guard (who somehow remembers me since way back in freshman year) that he can get me a bicycle, that I shouldn’t buy one. I followed him behind a building where there were around ten bicycles that were abandoned and needing some love and care, I suppose. So he chose one for me and brought it to the repair man, so I just paid 55RMB (S$11) for the repairs (including a new basket, a new seat, and changing of brakes). It was an easy service job, including the hacking of the lock. He even spray-painted the handlebars black to hide the rust infection that plagued this old bicycle.

And so I present to you my new old bicycle:

“Never buy a new bicycle,” was the advice I gave when the topic of bicycles was touched upon in conversation. You can hardly find a single local resident who has never had a bicycle stolen. — China Daily

Did I inadvertently steal this bicycle?

The repair man also demonstrated how certain locks (most of us lock our bicycles with two locks) are easy to pry open, although all locks are hackable. Which is why no lock can prevent your bicycle from being stolen, but it is a hindrance for thieves who find it too troublesome when the one next to yours only has one lock. There’s a story that has been going around claiming that a student locked his bicycle with 10 locks, thinking that will prevent loss. However, he came back to find all his locks broken and a note saying that it’s not that the thief can’t steal his bicycle, instead he just chose not to.

Read about Bicycle Buying.

5 March 2008

Inside, I was to put on shoe covers, remove clothes till one layer, went to centre of bus, drew curtains, tested eyesight, tested colour vision, lay down, probed for heartbeat, got up and brought to another bed at the back of bus, lay down, drew curtains, had cold gel on ankles and chest, had clips on these areas, had cold gel on stomach, saw weird stuff on the ultrasound scan screen beside me, thrown a napkin to wipe away gel, had clips removed, told to go to front of bus, closed door, told to remove all clothing waist up while nurse stood there watching, passed me robe, placed me against x-ray machine and told to stand still, left alone in room until told it was alright to get dressed, opened door, removed shoe covers, thanked them, got down the bus.

This is how a physical examination takes place for foreign students in order to save them the trouble of going all the way to the International Travel & Sanitation Centre.

We need to pass this physical examination before a new student visa of 6 months or more can get approved.

Current students don’t need to go through this again, unless if like me, you left China for more than 3 months. (#@$! @&* !@#$)

Along with a blood test, it costs 386RMB (approx. S$77). (!@#$%&*&%$#@!)

Graduating isn’t too big a problem, but graduating on time (July 2009) might be.

After returning to Fudan from my lovely time across the Pacific Ocean at UBC, I’m being welcomed back with the multitude of procedures that test my patience and perseverance. (I’ve also learnt such things are a test of knowing the right people and what to say.)

The ever necessary multi-step procedures make me sweat over the small stuff, and surpassing my anxiousness to get my visa done, I am fretting over how I am not in control of my graduation eligibility.

Let’s talk about my visa. I assumed that I’d be able to get my visa done within the 14-day visa-free period my red passport entitles me in mainland China, but now I am on a tight schedule where I can only hope that nothing goes wrong. Since I’ve been out of China for more than 3 months, I have to do a physical examination again (these examinations are necessary for freshmen or anyone planning to stay in China for more than 6 months, and its main components are the liver and HIV, along with other general health conditions). Seeing that I came back (very reluctantly) a week before school began to settle the procedures for reinstating my student status (which could not be done afterall since the teachers I needed signatures from weren’t here although I was informed they would be), my visa-free days end this Monday (3 Mar). So in order to go about waiting for my physical examination and its report to be done I have to apply for a travel visa (L visa) such that it lengthens my ability to stay here till 18 Mar. Right now my application for travel visa (L visa) is pending while I await my physical examination on 5 Mar, and everything must be settled before 18 Mar, which is the expiry date of my travel visa (pending). However, it is unknown how long they will take to process my physical examination. :S

Then there’s my transferral of credits. I have to finalize my classes my Friday, 7 Mar, but I was told that the processing of my credit transferral will take 1-2 weeks (from my submission on Friday, 29 Feb, or later because it depends on when my faculty’s admin staff will give it to the people-in-charge) or however long it will take to get it approved. I requested an expedition of my application, but my faculty admin staff informed me that there is only one person handling the entire school’s population of student’s credit stuff and simply said there’s no need to be anxious since I’m not graduating this semester. She said that despite knowing the fact that I would have to make some major adjustments to my choosing of classes if any of my credit transfer fails, and that classes’ timings might clash in my last 2 semesters which will lead to unwanted postponement of graduation.

CG pointed out that this is precisely why many people in my school cannot graduate on time, because admin staff only get the sense of urgency for students graduating in that particular semester, when they could have jolly well killed the problem at its root  if they had just been a bit more sensible slightly earlier.

Actually, I should have learnt not to worry over these small things by now, huh?

Possibly the only visible certainty…

In the garbage bag there is a pillow, pillow case, blanket, quilt, quilt cover.
Along with the flask, I wish it came in a friendlier way.

Back at UBC I was learning Beginners’ German from a German PhD student whose lessons were quite fun and engaging. Even though he was unsure of certain grammatic rules, we always forgave him because beads of perspiration would form on his head even in the midst of winter. Our German textbook introduces grammar step by step and we were just getting into past tense. Learning was in short sentences. I was already struggling with so many rules to remember and vocabulary to memorize, but I managed to get by with pastel colours.

Here in Fudan my classmates are done with grammar rules and usages. My current textbook is filled with PASSAGES and during today’s lesson I was completely lost when the teacher read the passage and the class started analyzing sentence structures. Usages and grammatical rules are briefly reviewed in Chinese and I can’t really follow. There’s way too much I need to catch up with, and I’m not sure if I can handle learning a 3rd language with my 2nd language in such a short time. What is 第1-4格respectively? And then there’s 强变化动词，不规则变化动词 (irregular verbs?)，不定式 (indefinite?)，现在时(present tense?)，过去时(past tense?)，完成时…

I am so dead.