Time info:
Beijing is on UTC+8 time, which means it’s 13 hours ahead of US central time, 12 hours ahead of eastern time, etc.
Hours that I am in class: 9-12, 2-3:30 pm.
Hours that I am busy on Saturday: usually 9-3, maybe later depending on the trip. This is the day we travel around to all sorts of random places in china. I’m free all day sundays.
Contact info:
Skype: kevin.g.shepherd (Skype me! I have a new microphone so it should work just fine. I’ll be on skype pretty much whenever I’m in the room)
Email: kevin.g.shepherd[at]gmail (Checked very frequently)
Phone: 15010674857 (Dont know how to text internationally, but I can call internationally. Can text and call domestically)
Trips incoming:
June 23rd: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City
June 28th: Cruise in Longqing Gorge
July 10: Great Wall
July 15-20: Shanghai World Expo
July 24: Jingshan Park and Beihai Park
July 31: Antique Market and Temple of Heaven
August 7: Summer Palace
August 15: Vacate dorm
August 16-29: Attempt to survive in Beijing. A little terrifying.
Dinner soon, but today has basically been completely nuts. Really, the prices here are the hardest things to adjust to. For instance, today at breakfast we fed 6 people for a combined 20 yuan, which is about 3 dollars even. Everybody got an egg, some oatmeal type stuff, two steamed buns (包字), a drink, and a sticky bun. Granted this was a little cheap even for china, because this particular dining hall is government subsidized for tsinghua students only. You need like a special card to eat there. Fortunately a woman took pity on us this morning because the grocery store beneath our classroom was closed and we had nowhere to eat, so she gave us a meal card with 35 yuan on it. This card is rechargeable. Foreigners are really not supposed to have them. Did someone say 50 cent breakfasts for the whole summer? Because I hear the chinese communist party is paying. Hell yeah.
Then later, I got both a cell phone with 200 minutes and a bike for a combined $50 USD. Basically, this country is incredible. I mean granted the bike is flimsy and terrifying and the brakes aren’t what one might call “reliable” but hey, it’s China.