Unofficial sandwich day

Until today I had not eaten a sandwich since early August. Today I ate two. Not on purpose.

I consumed my first sandwich in the ten minutes between Economics of the Family ("children are like a 'durable good' for their parents") and Financial Economics. I had planned on having a local lunch as usual, but I'd forgotten I wouldn't have enough time between my classes. Even though I'd stared at my time table this morning. Anyway, I felt horrible gulping the sandwich down because it really wanted to be nibbled on. Spongy, bright white crustless slices with a smattering of tuna fish in between. And I don't even like white bread.

Well, it was good thing I ate before Financial Economics. Phew...the professor knows many of us haven't had any finance classes before (we raised our hands the first day) but throughout the entire lecture he'd ask questions about real assets, capital markets, derivative securities, the mortgage market... No! I don't know the purpose of stock splits! But I felt better after returning to my room and reviewing the information in my textbook. I even went to nytimes.com and read about Lehman Brothers and its expected $3.9 billion loss.

But anyway. After classes I went to the library for another go at printing out my absentee ballot request. I dashed to the first open computer I found, but alas, it was set to traditional Chinese and there was no log out option (for most of the computers you log in to the user with the language of your choice: English, Traditional Chinese, or Simplified Chinese). I briefly considered leaving and trying yet another time. But no--who knew if I would ever find another available computer. Turns out I could just follow a trail of familiar icons until I'd opened up the correct e-mail.

So yay! I'll be voting.

[pretend you see screenshots of my e-mail exploits here. my computer is being disageeable]

And without any transition:

Tonight I missed the Hostel E pig roast because it took place at the same time as the fencing club's O'Night (O for orientation). I would rather get to know the people I'll be seeing twice a week than the ones I'll occasionally share the lift with.

So: O'Night. I arrived on time, which apparently was early-ish because I sat awkwardly in a chair until people filled up next to me. Also: thank goodness for Isabel, my unofficial translator.

They began with an icebreaker game I'd played before, only I liked their version better. It goes like this:

Everyone sits in a circle and the person who's beginning points to someone and says "pirate," "banana tree," or "Mona Lisa." In Cantonese. The person who's pointed at either forms a hand into a hook shape, raises both hands and waves them, or folds hands into lap and smiles. And the people on either side of the person either make rowing motions, form banana leaves, or create a picture frame. Also: if the person calling out the command says only the first part of the phrase, like "banana" or "Mona" the person being pointed at needs to complete the phrase and point to someone else to complete the action. Or you can mix things up and point to yourself with the command. I don't remember any of the words now, but I did at the time (sort of). Everyone would clap so excitedly when I'd perform the correct action or manage to give a command. Apparently I did a very good job of pronouncing "Lisa" with a Cantonese accent.

The next game was more confusing, but it involved running around and alternating between being a tree or a forest critter. These phrases were longer, so I could only listen for the key words and even then I must have messed up half the time. Luckily it's the kind of game where chaos is purposefully induced.

Afterwards: snack time! With chrysanthimum juice, sandwiches (crustless and flawless as usual), crunchy somethings that would have fit in with Chex mix, and bits of hot dog and pineapple on toothpicks. And I learned some Cantonese (1-10, excuse me, thank you, sorry, you're welcome, jacket, mask, glove, advance, retreat, parry-riposte). I don't remember much of it now, but by the end of the semester...maybe?