"oh that white haired man"

so i got to my dorm and it was exactly what i thought in many ways; one of the cool things about the set-up is that it is an international student dorm so in addition to learning about Chinese people, i get to learn about all of the other cultures of the people that live in my dorm. the first day i was here i had nothing to do at night and since i figured out that i can't talk to anyone i resigned myself to 'alone time' in my room, (i was moderately depressed about this). about 10pm i heard a bunch of noise in the hall and decided i needed to go make some friends. it turns out that there is a kitchen on my floor and i met four african girls who were cooking dinner there. they spoke great english and were really cool!! it was so good to be able to talk to them and hear there stories. first things first, americans need to stop thinking they are so stinkin smart...these african girls are smart. they are here in china going to medical school. they spent the first year here learning chinese and now have all their classes, all their textbooks, and all their exams in chinese. all of us americans who are freaking out about how hard med school will be in our own language need to think again. so i end up having dinner with these girls and they are speaking all kinds of languages. i inquire about the situation and it turns out that they all speak english, french, chinese and the native language of their country. dang it i'm a moron....i complained about 2 years of spanish in high school...so to make a long story short, the only american music these girls have is michael bolton and kenny rodgers...first they are talking about michael bolton, and how they love him...though i can't say i've ever seen him or heard his music i respect this opinion..then one girl (from kenya) confesses her true love for kenny rodgers...at which point she smiles really big and says, "..oh that white bearded man!!" {please pause to let the humor sink in} anyways, these girls are awesome, and though i have only seen them once since then, they were incredibly helpful in filling me in on life in and around the university since the man in charge of my stay wasn't really helpful at all.