Winding Down

New developments one the Beijing competition front: I'm getting information one grain at a time (as in, I still don't know what time my flight leaves, where I'm staying, etc.), but today's grain was extra large. Apparently I haven't yet made it to the final final round, which is the links I posted earlier. Instead, the end of this week is the final round in which they select the few people who go to the final final round. This first competition isn't in a TV station at all - it's all around Beijing. This will apparently be put into a television program, but they are planning two-three days of "activities" in which they will get to know us. The catch? The entire three days are a test. Every conversation we have, everyone we run into (even while bargaining and people we might think are locals) are grading us, selecting us for the last round.

Success! This means I get to be escorted around China and speak Chinese non-stop for free, with little chance of having to stay for the extra weeks that the in-studio competition runs.


Back at ICLP, things are winding down. The end of the semester is quite disorganized. I found out an hour before my final exam that I had one, and took it impromptu. Tomorrow is our "speaking final", in which we're split into groups for debates. I'm the moderator for our group (the topic being Pandas vs. Polar Bears), so I'm not too worried. I only have two days of class left, and then I'm off to Beijing. People seem to be leaving whenever they want this week, so the classes are even more lax than usual, and there are plenty of parties and free food to be had.

Finally, I'm trying to eat up all the food in my apartment that I've collected over the summer. Not a bad way to go out.