You know you're at Conservatory when...

at the end of the day, you count on your fingers all of the hours you have played since that morning and nearly run out of fingers. I played for ten hours yesterday, can I just say that that is absolutely insane. The craziest part is that I don't feel sore, my hands are fine, my shoulders are fine, my back is fine...so I guess I'll just try it again today. In the meantime...I want to share a few things I've learned about China:

1. No one wears white here because if you wash a white article of clothing in any water, it comes out a lovely slightly off white/yellowish color. 

2. The Chinese have incredibly high metabolism. They are all stick skinny but eat only fried food and food drenched in either sugar or oil.

3. Conservatory students think about one thing and one thing only...practicing. (I have definitely adopted this habit)

4. Elevators are like clown cars, you never know how many people you will squish into one elevator. (I have taken to just taking the stairs down from the 14th floor at the busy time in the afternoon...otherwise you wait almost ten minutes for the elevator)

5. The Chinese will wait for the laziest mode of transportation, i.e. the elevator or in the metro station there will be a giant crowd in front of the escalator while there are only two people on the stairs.

6. "For all the tea in China" is kind of a lie. Since I've been here, I've only had three cups of tea. I think I've drank more coffee in the last two months than at any other time in my life.

7. Don't cross the street on a red, you will get hit. For that matter, don't cross it on a green either there will be an angry taxi driver or a bus turning and they will not stop.

8. When buying illegal DVDs always ask if they are in English. We bought Wanted and it was actually dubbed in Russian...go figure.

9. I love jiaozi (dumplings in English).

10. No matter how much cool/interesting stuff there is in China, home will always be better, I think. But for now, this is definitely where I'm supposed to be!