Ni Hao!

It's about 9:00pm on Monday night and I just got back from quite a food adventure.
We went to a little restraunt down an allie near the University that serves Hotpot. Hotpot is a bunch of vegetables and meat that you throw into a big pot in the middle of the table and watch it cook right in front of you. It has tons of spices and is cooked in this oil water. Our hotpot was cooked on a hotplate but most are built into the table with a flame. I would say this was my least favorite meal but most interesting. Since all of the ingredients were in Chinese characters, we just guessed and picked what to order for our hotpot. We still didn't know what the food was when it came out to us, but we found out later that the meat was some type of pork (we're not sure what body part it was, but it was definitly not the pork we are used to). There were bean sprouts, lettuce, bamboo shoots, potatoes, red and green peppers, garlic cloves, onions, celery and much more that we couldn't name. All I know is that I don't think I will try this again!

My Chinese language class is beginning to become more intense. It is four hours every morning (including Fridays) and the teachers speak Chinese to us the entire time. It is very overwhelming but I'm hoping I will pick it up fast. My other classes are very interesting but little work is involved. I'm starting to get to know the streets of Nanjing, although I still feel somewhat lost in some areas. The subway system is very simple (one line) and can get you to most big spots in Nanjing. This weekend I'm going to purple mountain to either hike or take a cable car up to the top and see the view.

I'm meeting so many people from all of the world and it's great to see that many of them are just like me. We have a lot in common (all studying Chinese, and a lot of international affairs majors) and it will be cool to have people to visit from all over the world!

Well it's back to the homework! Zaijian for now!

Becca