Nothing really exciting to talk about today. I had another class this morning, 0830 optics. SNOOZE. I get to class, its relatively small (30ppl) even thought our professor says there are supposed to be 50 kids. Its two hours of optics. He grew up in China as he told us, and he likes to stop and ask the Chinese kids to help him remember the Chinese names of certain variables and names. Our laoshi (Chinese for teacher) lives on campus, like many professors get to here. He tells us class will start late everyday because the bus always arrives late. So there are many buses that come to campus; there are 3 internal only buses, I take the C, there is a free bus that goes to the closest MRT (subway) station, and two buses that cost $ to take to various places outside of campus. Fortunetly, I live the next stop after the big bus station. This means there is nobody on the bus :) By the time we have rolled around 1/4 way through campus, kids are jamming in to the bus, standing (even thought there are government signs saying its against the law to stand in a moving bus) on in the aisles. The driver couldn't care less. Just don't drink/eat on his bus! They like to start moving while kids are still walking up the stairs and the doors are open. Many times we skip stops simply because there is no room.
All of my classes so far have been very different. I feel like at ERAU (please keep in mind my tiny ,4800 person school bias here) that most of our classes are structures the same. Here, they all seem different. My materials, you show up to lecture (this is my 500 person class) and go to "tutorials" about every other week. Tutorials (all classes have these) are kind of like a mix between a lab and a tutoring session. I assume they are boring, as all professors require you to show up to at least two. In materials, you have tutorial questions that must be answered before or during the course. They are not graded and have no effect on anything. In Islam class, this is when we do readings and talk in little groups. For Optics, we do practice problems and do homework. This is my only class with homework so far. ALL the others, the final is worth 70% of your grade. This is a school wide thing. Exams are a big deal, 2.5 hrs long. They give them over a 3 week period, only allowing 3 class exams to be proctored a day. I have a PhD friend who has proctored one, and he says if you use the rest room, he had to walk into the bathroom and the student had to keep the door open. Hm...
Learned a Chinese phrase today. Gong Xi Fa Cai (gong see fai k-eye), meaning Congratulations, make money! It's a typical exchange between friends on New Years, which is fast approaching next Thursday (so Wed night is New Year's Eve). I spoke with a Singaporean in my Islam class who told me Wednesday night her and her family get together, eat, and hang out. Nobody parties because the elders are there. They go around the neighborhood and collect money. There is a firework show happening in Chinatown that night we are going to. I told her about National Hangover Day, she thought it was hilarious.
It's been raining alllllll day. (11am til now, 5pm) and its not letting up. I've been spending the day booking plane tickets and setting up itineraries. So blog's to look forward too: I am going to Bintan, Indonesia this weekend. Its a small island off the south west coast of Borneo. You can only get there via boat, we are taking the ferry. Next weekend, for Chinese New Year, I will be joining a crew to go to KL (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). It's a big city, so we will do the city/monuments/sites thing (Independence Square, where the Red Army surrendered and the Malaysians gained their independence!), we are also going to the jungle for some hiking and the Batu Caves (Cave system with a 271 stair entrance with a Hindi temple inside), as well as to Putrajaya, which is a city built in 1992 as a "town" for the government building to go to, very modern! The last weekend in Feb. I am going on my FAVORITE trip, the Hue, Vietnam. Going to see the DMZ and all that jazz, and doing a day and a half tour of the 7th century imperialist tombs and forbidden cities in the city! Got a Vietnam (as in he is Vietnamese) veteran giving us the DMZ tour, much looking forward to that!
Off to bear the rain for food!
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