Half asleep I hear the alarm ringing.  It is not mines, but my roommate's.  He sits up, stretches over to his alarm clock on his desk and then shuts it off.  He then lays back down onto his bed, continuing his sleep.  Some minutes later, the alarm goes off.  He again, turns off the alarm.  Some minutes later, the alarm rings and he does it again.  Eventually I wake up, not because of his alarm, but it is the "time."  I look at the clock at it reads 8:45.  I get up, a bit tired.  I head for the counter by the window and grab my toothbrush, toothpaste, and towel.  I then open the door and go the bathroom to brush my teeth.  As I exit the bathroom and pass the kitchen, I see "Sister Lee".  After returning I find my roommate up.  The moment I enter, he exits and goes to the bathroom.  I turn on his computer to look at www.cnn.com to figure out if anything big has happened in the world when I was sleeping.  While reading the news, I eat slices of bread, which are covered with the chocolate peanut butter and jam that I have spread over them.  I look at the clock and it is 9:09.  I realize that I don't have much time.  I quickly change clothes and comb my hair.  The time is 9:13.  I quickly jam my Kung Fu Putonghua text book, pencil & eraser, black pen, and the Nokia phone that I have left out overnight to recharge, into my Northface backpack.

The time is 9:14 and I must leave.  I quickly say "bye" to my roommate and exit the room, slamming the door very loudly, maybe too loud.  I rush down the corridor.  I plan to take the lift, but I see that the lift is on the 6th floor, meaning that I would have to wait a while for the lift to come down, and then wait for the lift to take me up.  It is too slow - I don't have the time.  I open a door by the side and quickly rush up 4 flights of stairs, all the way to the top, the 6th floor.  I run straight and up another flight of stairs.  After a few steps I could see the 9:15 Shaw Bus.  I rush inside.  I have made it.  However it isn't a close call because the bus has not yet started.  My watch is actually 1 minute and 20 seconds fast!  All the seats are taken so I just stand up on the bus, along with about 7 other people.  I see the Japanese exchange students in the bus: Mitsuyo, Kimiko, Kaori, Ayumi, and Miho.  However, they are busy talking to themselves and are quite far from me.  The bus stops once and then the people who are either going to UC College or New Asia step off.  There is now room to sit but I choose not to because the next stop is the one I will get off.  The bus stops in front of Franklin Canteen.  The terminus of the bus is the Science Center, not the train station.  I get off the bus and stand in line for the train station bus.  There are a few people in front of me.  Anyway, the Japanese exchange students pass by me as they walk to the end of the line.  We greet each other, "Ohaiyo, genki desuka?" and "Genki desu!"  Right after them, Holly and Si Wai, both Americans, pass by and I say "Good morning!" to them.  The Meet Class bus turns at the corner and stops in front of us.  I get on it.  There are also 2 other Meet Class bus.  One is from New Asia, one is from United College, and the other one is empty.  For some reason the United College Meet Class bus is always the last one.  In the New Asia Meet Class bus, I see Shinichi and Chang Ki sitting together.  I then sit with them.  Tomoe and Hiraling are also on the bus so I greet them too.  However Takuya and Masayuki aren't on:  they probably have overslept!  Anyway there is a stop by the University Gym and another one near the Chung Chi College buildings.  The terminus is the train station and we exchange students all get off here.  I look behind and also see the United College exchange students:  Mayuko, Kye Sook, Kiyoko, and Waniko are all there.  I also have to greet them.  We all walk up a small flight of stairs to the language center's side door.  There is a coffee and tea vending machine there.  Many of the language center's students are there buying their morning coffee.  I walk up a flight of stairs and see Roberto, the Mexican priest-in-training.  He says, "Good morning" and I reply, "Buenos Diaz," which is one of the few Spanish phrases I still remember.  The first floor is filled with many Cantonese teachers, and a few Putonghua teachers.  This isn't the floor for me.  I walk up another flight of stairs and then another.  This is the rooftop.  However I come up here to get a drink of water from the machine.  I return to the second floor because it is the Putonghua floor.  I look at the schedule and walk to the appropriate classroom.

I open the door and see the teacher, David Marlowe (Ma Da Wei) and Eri Ueda (Shang Tian Hui Li).  I say "Zao" to everyone.  David is always the first one to class.  He wakes up really early, takes the bus down to the language center, reads in the reading room, and then heads for class.  He is eating his breakfast, bread from Maxim.  He also offers me some of that and I accept.  Another thing on his desk is coffee.  According to him, he has been drinking coffee every morning, ever since he was a teenager.  As for Eri, I usually see her walking to the language center when I am on the Meet Class bus.  Anyway, I sit down and wait.  Mayuko Kakinoki (Shimo Ma You Zi) enters shortly afterwards, since she too comes from the Meet Class bus.  Mika Tomoda (You Tian Mei Xiang) enters.  She is a little late since it has already past 9:30, the time that class officially begins.  However class has not yet begun.  Several seconds later, class begins.  Depending on the teacher and which part of the lesson we are learning, the class time is quite different.  However there are a few constants.  About fifteen minutes after class begins, Toshihiro Morio (Sun Wong Min Hung) enters the classroom and says "Dui Bu Qi" to the teacher.  He is almost always late, since he wakes up at around 9:00 everyday.  This happens more than 50% of the time!

Every time that David answers a question, he makes many hand gestures.  Also, for many of the questions that the teacher asks, David always mention "piaoliang de nu ren (beautiful women)."  For example the teacher asks "Ni xihuan shenme (what do you like)." He would reply "Wo xihuan piaoliang de nu ren. (I like beautiful women)"  As for Toshihiro, he would reply, "Wo xihuan qian (I like money)."  Another thing about Toshi is that he always mentions his mother such as, "Wo mama song gei wo yi ben shu (My mother gave me a book)" or "Wo mama bang wo zuo zuoye (My mother helps me do my homework)."  During the break, I go to the top floor to get a drink of water.  I also get out to the rooftop to stretch around and to look at the environment.  It is quite a nice view!  However if I am really tired or sleepy I go to the bathroom to wash my face.  As I sit down in the next class, David comes in singing his own song, or that new Faye Wong song.  "Ni yao shenme..."

Class ends around 12:23 and we all say "Zai Jian" to the teacher as we leave.  I walk downstairs and exit the language center.  I see the Cantonese students.  The exchange students are standing around while the off campus students walk towards the language center.  As for me, I wait around for everyone.  I usually come out with Toshi first.  David usually takes the bus back to New Asia.  Meanwhile, for some reason, Mika, Mayuko, and Eri are always a little late getting out of the language center.  As people wait, they talk to each other.  When I feel that most of the people have already came down, I would say "Ikimashouka (let's go)!"  No one listens except Toshihiro and Takuya.  I then walk away with them.  It is then when people start moving.  I guess someone needs to depart first before others will follow.  I look at the menu, specifically at the fast food section.  I search for some dish which seems like something I haven't eaten before as I always want to try something new.  However my Chinese isn't good enough.  I look at the characters.  If a disk looks unfamiliar, as in that I have never seen that set of Chinese characters together, I will take out a small notepad and write it.  I then line up.  There are four lines and four cashiers.  Usually for some strange reason, two lines are really crowded and the others are not.  I go up and then tell the cashier what I want, pointing to what I wrote.  I pay the money, about $15.30, which I think is really cheap.  He also reads the name of the dish out loud.  I then get the receipt.  Right afterwards, I begin looking for a place so that all my friends and I can sit down.  It is quite difficult to get seats in Chung Chi Canteen.  Usually the inside is too full so I find some place outside, near the lines.  No one likes those seats because of the lines.  Anyway, I set my backpack down on one chair and then take some stuff out, like my putonghua book.  I place those articles on top of the other chairs, to reserve them and to make sure that my friends could sit down there.  I then line up in the fast food line.  It is quite fast.  They ask "Ni yao mut yeh (What do you want)" and I try to repeat what the cashier had told me, but sometimes they don't understand and I have to show them what I have wrote down.  I then bring the dish back to my table along with a spoon.  I then go off again to get some water.  I rinse the cup with hot water then fill it with cold water.  My friends have already put their stuff on the chairs.  Most of them are still getting food.  However, I eat first.  Whenever someone comes with a different dish, we all want to taste it.  If it is a male, we just dig our spoons into his food without asking.  Often I get Shinichi's fried rice or Chang Ki's fu yong dan fan.  I usually finish first and we just all talk.

Eventually it is 1:15.  All of us have long since finished eating but we have just stayed around to talk.  We all leave.  Mika and Makiko walk leave us because they live in Chung Chi's Lee Shu Pui.  The majority of us walk to the Meet Class bus stop.  The Meet Class buses come at 1:18.  We all ride the bus to United College because we want to check our mailboxes in OISP.  We enter Tsang Shiu Tim Building and climb up the stairs.  My female friends all complain about the number of stairs although OISP is just on the third floor.  OISP is closed, but the room is still open.  All the staff are out eating right now.  I look at my mailbox and see nothing.  My Japanese friends on the other hand get mail from companies because they are looking for jobs right now.  I get another drink of cold water.  While my friends are chatting amongst themselves, I look at the South Morning China Post.  I look at the front section, but completely ignore the business and property sections.  However the section which I like reading the most is the "Lai See" column.  In this column, Charlton Pearsons discusses funny things with a sense of pessimism and cynicism.  I finish reading and then realize there is nothing else to do in the OISP office.  The OISP office opens.  My friends take care of business with the staff.  After a while, we all leave.  Outside, we all go our own separate ways.  I walk downhill, all the way back to Shaw College Hostel 2.