Siberian Dreams

BEIJING - I have a friend who believes dreaming in a language is an important step toward fluency. Consider that barrier crossed.

Last night I returned from Propaganda feeling a little tipsy. I changed shirts and crashed into my bed, ignoring the toothbrush and soap on my night stand. The sticky May air wrapped around me as lie down.

I began chatting with my roommate, addressing a number of subjects.

"Drinking on a Monday is very bad," I said, several times. "Very bad."

"You're a good student. I don't think you would drink on a Monday."

"I study hard during the day, but still, drinking on a Monday isn't great."

"I usually don't drink on Mondays."

"Drinking on a Monday is bad."

Eventually I grew tired of this one-way conversation and drifted off to sleep. Here's where things get interesting: my roommate said I kept talking.

"不错， 不错. 哈尔滨， 不错. " I apparently said. "Harbin, it's not too bad."

Harbin is a city in northern China famous for its Russian architecture, heavy industry and annual ice sculpture festival, which each year tricks thousands of southern Chinese into voluntarily traveling to Siberian taiga in the middle of winter. Earlier in the day several of friends were offered jobs teaching English in Harbin by a random person on the street. I guess my dream consciousness is telling me that moving up north wouldn't be all that bad.