Language Pledge Countdown: 2 Hours

At 1:00 today, I sign my language pledge. This will prevent me from speaking English until I leave. It is going to be really tough because I don't know as much Chinese as many of the people here and I have really only learned classroom expressions (contrast that with someone who speaks Chinese at home). I think I will have trouble expressing myself/fleshing out my personality. Then again, it will be phenomenal for my Chinese. 

I just completed my first day of work. It was a lot, but manageable. Meanwhile, Beijing is as dark as ever right now. It is raining, so that has something to do with it, but the pollution must also factor in. The pollution has gotten steadily worse since we arrived and the far away buildings have been shrouded in smog for a while now.