lgbtqi.

so, today in class, we had to practice conversations whereby we were referencing someone's girlfriend. when my partner [who is female] asked me about my 'girlfriend' and everyone kind of started nervously laughing. and then the teacher suggested to change 'girlfriend' to 'boyfriend.' and then everyone started laughing. it was so awkward. and then something similar happened in my comprehension class and it was, again, awkward.
i wasn't quite sure what to do so i just nervously laughed with everyone else. :( i wish i were brave enough to have said something about it but had no idea how i would have said it in chinese [teacher/classmates only really all understand chinese].
i'm curious to learn more about the lgbtqi community in china. my assumptions are that being someone who identifies as lgbtqi is still rather taboo but i have no idea. but just from my experiences today, it would seem that this might be true.

i also met a japanese girl in my class today and since she only knew japanese/chinese and i only know english/chinese, we spoke only chinese to each other, with a few japanese words thrown in there. it was fun though! really forced me to practice my chinese. she was really sweet though. we also talked to a korean guy in chinese [she spoke to him in some korean] which was a bit difficult but still interesting, nonetheless. and i chatted with this french guy who sat behind me. all in all, i felt it was a productive day in terms of meeting new people. i hope this continues!