Update

My life here slowly starts to take shape. Lessons started last week and I have class every Monday to Friday between 8.30 and 12.30. In the afternoon two hours of self-studies are expected. My class contains of 20 people from 12 different countries, there are 14 boys and 7 girls. Every day we get at least two pages of homework and every day we finish a new chapter, so the pace is pretty fast.

Among foreign students in China it is common to have a language partner or a tutor, either a Chinese student who exchange their Chinese knowledge with your English skills or a Chinese student who gets paid for teaching you Chinese. They are easy to find, often they just approach you in the street. Yesterday I met two willing candidates for the job, and I just have to call them whenever I want to practice some more Chinese or need some help with my homework.

In my freetime I have started to hang out with a bunch of North American guys from Canada and the US. It is good to be a group here, especially when you go out for a meal since the Chinese way of eating is to order several dishes to share, which is hard to do alone. Last night we were six people that went out for a nice dinner and we paid the total of 143 yuan. How cheap is that?!

I happen to be the only girl in our group and also the only one who's not from North America and therefore speak another native language than English. They like to tease me for that, but I see it as my duty to spread the Swedish culture to these uneducated men. Therfore, we are going to IKEA tomorrow!!!! My plan is to buy some necessary stuff I need, and buy everyone some Swedish meatballs! I'm so excited! The first proper food in over 10 days!