... Why are there kittens on everything?

Things I saw while walking to the 24-hour bar to steal internet access this morning:

• An adorable Chinese couple on a bicycle;  the guy was riding, and the girl was lounging on his arms, kissing him intermittently.  It was the cutest thing ever.
• Immediately afterward, two Chinese guys rode by doing the same thing (smaller one riding between the handlebars).  They kept slapping each other, and pretty sure they were saying the equivalent of "DUDE, get the fuck off me" in Mandarin.
• Chinese school uniforms are freaking adorable;  there were hordes of children being walked to school by their mothers this morning.
• Currently in a 24-hour bar (Lush) with an obnoxious German guy, two Chinese guys, and two exasperated-looking Chinese girls who just want to sleep.  All of the guys are intoxicated.  It's really ridiculous, the bar staff keeps laughing.

Had two really scary realizations:  I think I'm supposed to be able to pass some sort of language proficiency exam in six months, and then begin classes at my university (the Chinese government's probably gotten wise to the fact that people who THINK they know Chinese don't REALLY know Chinese, and/or didn't have the aspects of the program explained correctly).

*** break in time while internet connection phailed and afore-mentioned Chinese couples left ***

Ewwwww German guy.  You know how the United States has Yellow Fever, as far as guys are concerned?  Apparently it's reversed over here.  I've never been hit on this much by drunk people, and my initial impressions were correct:  icky.

Rice ain't an accurate representation of the world, guys, and I can't think of anything that might be an accurate representation of China, except for maybe East Germany and Russia when they were communist and debauchery-laden.

However!  I did learn some interesting things from Drunk-German-Dude (whose name was Mozart):

1. The yuan and the dollar are pretty stable, relative to one another (if the dollar continues to fall, so will the yuan)
2. Apparently there's a market for importing Fussball uniforms into Europe
3. There's a really nice restaurant down the street with internet access he wanted me to go to with him, to get breakfast
4. Alcohol is apparently very strong in China, and it smells just as bad

Going to continue making Mandarin flashcards this morning and afternoon, and probably try to walk around a bit more and see the sights.  When I order coffee and food, I've been trying to ask as many questions as possible, and for things like adaptors, directions, etc.  I think it's helping.  Oh!  And I've gotten used to yelling at waiters :)

Love you all, miss you bunches,
- Paige