Tonight...

...was a memorable night.  After work my housemate and I walked home and changed because it had started to rain lightly and I was only wearing a tank top, some shorts and flip flops.  Even though it's pretty warm here (at least by my standards), I had to go home and change into something more appropriate.  I threw on the navy shell I brought from home and my hiking boots.  Strangely enough, the rain gave me an intensely sentimental feeling since I practically breathe, eat, and sleep the rain back home in Vancouver.  It was comforting, it almost felt like a sense of order was washing over me with the grey skies and puddles on the roads.  I found the city incredibly beautiful as I looked over the roads which reflected the swimming lights of the buildings all around me.

On a less pleasant note, I was late for a meeting with my coworkers and bosses because I was trying to get from the Starbucks in the middle of the city back to the university campus and the cab driver did not seem to understand me when I told her in Chinese where I wanted to go.  This was quite discomforting since it had worked for me on other occasions.  Anyhow, I ended up catching the bus as it conveniently pulled up just as I was getting out of the confused cab driver's car.  I was fifteen minutes late though since the buses go slower (woops).  The meeting was called because one of my bosses seemed enthusiastic to hear I had applied to several different Canadian universities and had gained acceptance to all of them.  He told me he wants information for interested Chinese students on different undergraduate and graduate programs in Canada.  So for the rest of the afternoon I pulled together as much information as I could.

I was excited to hear from several people earlier that tonight they were thinking of going to see Maeva, a girl around my age who lives in the same building, play at a local bar called MBox.  Maeva teaches French at the university and is from France, though she has excellent fluency in English and speaks Mandarin as well.  As nerdy as what I'm about to say may sound, I was even more excited to try my hand at some Chinese traditional calligraphy classes from 7-9 PM with a few other colleagues.  We met at the main library on campus, a place shrouded in mystery since only those in possession of student or teacher's cards could supposedly gain access to the building.  Turns out we were white- so they let us just walk on through.  Interesting.  I shouldn't have been so surprised since I always see people just starring at me in awe and disbelief over the colour of my skin, hair, and eyes everywhere.  I've grown used to it though.

The building is absolutely beautiful.  I'll have to post some photos of it and the campus soon.  

The calligraphy classes were a real treat for me for the following reasons:

1. A truly meditative experience- we were instructed to practice drawing lines in the correct way for about an hour and a half- a dull prospect for some (I assume) but I found a certain kind of relaxation and calmness wash over me as I sat there, improving my skill with each stroke.
2. Simply beautiful- the black ink, the brushes (some made of sheep's hair and others from wolf hair) and the formal paper (we practiced on plain cheap paper though) are magical and very pleasing to the eye.  I can't wait to take home a beautiful traditional Chinese paper, with the characters of some kind of ancient poem written on them.  By me.  How cool is that?
3. The best instructor I could ask for- apparently he's been teaching calligraphy for about 11 years.  He's incredibly patient and skilled.  He is supposed to be very well known around China for his skill.  He also teaches Tai Chi by the lake on campus in the mornings, something we are going to try out too.

We met a few other people there, most of whom were from other parts of Asia (such as Kashmir, India, Indonesia, or Korea) and they were all really nice.  I'm planning on attending calligraphy classes as often as possible, which is three times a week (Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Monday afternoons too), all two hour sessions.

After the lesson ended, we went to see Maeva sing.  She has an amazing voice.  She sang some acoustic covers of Lady Gaga, John Lennon, Dolly Parton, and other famous songs I can't think of now with her guitar.  We all had some Qingdaos and enjoyed the music.  I liked how they give you free popcorn at this place, and the atmosphere was pretty relaxed.  A few people bought us drinks or raised their glasses with us (hence the whole white thing), a fairly regular thing when we go out.

Anyway, I'm pretty tired, I think I'll turn in for now.

Keep posted for more photos.