well my visa worries have somewhat subsided as my boss is allowing me to leave work early to pick up my visa. but as always, new problems arise just as the old ones are resolved. for instance- last night, after a long day of working, getting off at the wrong bus stop and having to take an expensive ride home, talking to my language teacher about my new schedule and discovering that no one has time for me, i came back to my apartment and settled in, ready to watch Clerks II (which i have heard is very good) and then go to bed. But not ten minutes into the movie, everything went dark. i guess my roommate and i forgot about paying the electricity bill, and so our electricity is out. forgetting to pay the bill isn't as stupid as it sounds, there actually is no bill, you have to figure out when you've used too much, based on a counter that goes up instead of down. what happens when our electricity goes out? we have to call our landlord and tell her to put more time on the electricity card. my roommate, having drastically better chinese skills than i, has always been the one to deal with her. but she left yesterday morning for a vacation in america. so here i am, with no power and no way to reach my landlord, and i'm not sure if this can be resolved within the next four days. but it sort of has to be, because i have stuff in my refrigerator that i don't want to go bad.
i've gotten my first assignment at work, reading over a guideline for people hired to assist with the olympics. that's what my company does, overseas all olympic broadcasting stuff in 2008. my section publishes all the print material related to this. the more i read about it, the more i hope that i can get a full-time job working here. sure its not superinteresting now, and probably won't be for a while. but if i'm working here during the olympics, it'll be really cool. okay one of my contacts has ripped so i can only half see right now, and writing this is giving me a headache so I'm gonna stop.