http://tesslyon.tumblr.com/post/6470337680

Also more mundane than you’d think! Not that that’s a bad thing. I haven’t done anything terribly exciting, but day to day life is really good. Most of it is going to class or studying, I’m taking the new HSK 5 exam on June 26. Apart from that, hanging out with friends, usually going out to eat. The local food in Northeast China is on the plain and salty side, relatively speaking, but still brilliant. And you can still find pretty great spicy food in Sichuan and Korean restaurants, which is better than anything you’d be likely to find in Australia and will have to do until I get around to going to Sichuan. Plus, I’m learning to cook! Which, really, is at least as important as learning to speak Mandarin. Bought cooking supplies for my apartment on Saturday, and as of now can cook exactly one dish (a kind of fried egg and tomato thing). Oh, and I haven’t spoken much English in a really long time, apart from helping a friend study. Basically all my friends here are Chinese or Korean, so my entire life happens in Mandarin at the moment, which is sort of surreal when I stop and think about it. And… Well, that’s about it, really!