Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a quick note to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I am studying for my upcoming Hanyu test, and most of the exchange students are having our second round of “mid-terms” this week. This time, in addition to a Kouyu and Hanyu midterm, we also had to do a speech competition, and the best from each class is chosen to compete against other classes in the same Chinese level. My speech was incredibly dull, and as soon as I got up to present it in class, I completely forgot everything. I had prepared for it pretty well also, so I was disappointed. Most students did narratives, which is definitely what I should have done. My Kouyu test was yesterday, and went really well (I think!) and my Hanyu test is in about 3.5 hours, and covers 11 chapters. Time to grab some coffee and continue studying!

Oh, tonight we have a CIEE Thanksgiving celebration, with “traditional thanksgiving food”, which should be interesting. Buffet style!

Midterms and Nanjing 期中考试和南京

Last week was midterm week for Beijing University, and after the frenzy of studying and testing, our CIEE group took a trip to Nanjing for the weekend. The midterms were similar to US midterms, in that the Hanyu class (writing and reading Chinese) test was 2 hours long, and tested grammar, dictation, measure words, vocab, and essay writing. Close to the same format as Chinese language tests I have had in the states. The major difference was that the midterm test covered 13 chapters — no small feat to prepare for the test.

The Kouyu class test, however, was different. It was brutal, humiliating, and humbling. I did well on it, despite the horrific nature of the test itself. We were told we had 8 minutes of 1 on 1 time with the professor, and we had to finish 4 sections of the test. The first section was listening comprehension, and we had to listen to five sentences, one at a time, and repeat them back to the professor. I struggle with 听力， listening comprehension — it is probably my weakest area. The next section was answering questions posited by the professor using some of the new vocabulary. After that, we had to answer 5 questions using new grammar points, and the grammar points were chosen randomly. The last section was a short spoken component, in which we blindly chose a topic from 6 pre-determined topics. As luck would have it, I chose the one I had not prepared. The topic had a list of words and grammar, and we had to tell a story using those. I actually did well on that section, despite the poor preparation for that topic. Of course, what was supposed to take 8 minutes per student ended up taking 15, and it was very nerve-wracking.

Of course, to “吹牛” a little, I am at an “A” standing in both classes after the midterms, so all is well. However, that is one of my frustrations right now — I feel like I can test really well, but my spoken and spontaneous Chinese is under par for what my testing shows. As I keep hearing, 别着急，慢慢来。I know it comes slowly, but that doesn’t stop the frustration at times!

We are moving through our Hanyu text at about a chapter every two days, which is clipping along, and my tutor is helping out immensely. I am also watching 家有儿女, a completely boring Chinese TV show about a family and the hilariousness that ensues, to work on my listening. More random thoughts: yesterday I went to two massive arcades in Xidan district, and played the hell out of some Tekken 6. It was a blast, and after too many tokens, I finally warmed up to the controls to win against some Chinese guy who was playing King (I played Law / Xiaoyu). They also had a Tetris machine, which I placed first on, although my guess is I was the only one who had played it in the last 17 years. Good times. I also watched some damn good DDR players, including a couple from the CIEE program (shout outs to Pei Yi and Jill).

I can’t get enough yangrou chuanr，羊肉串，or lamb on a stick, especially spiced up nice and hot. Here are some pictures from the Nanjing trip, which was absolutely a blast — I am posting 4 pics, but if you are interested in seeing more, here are links to both my Nanjing trip pictures, and my Tai Shan trip. Enjoy, and feel free to post comments, though I am not sure how it works, etc etc.

Nanjing at Night, an amazing shopping and food center

On top of Yue Jiang Lou

On Nanjing's City Wall, where I walked for over two hours

I took a boat ride on the river in Nanjing on Sunday night

泰山照片

泰山风景不错，这些是有些我的照片。

午饭

很多锁

我不怕。。。

哈哈。我的最喜欢大衣。

早上！

日出

Back!

Finally can access my blog again! Getting ready for the week of school to start, had a great National Holiday break. Went as close as I could to Tian’AnMen to watch the fireworks at night on a rooftop that felt like it was going to crumble at any second (it was on the corner of a hutong bordering Forbidden City), watched the festivities during the day on TV, and ended up spending a couple hours after the fireworks hanging out with a couple of fellow students and some Beijingers (well, originally from Shandong province), attempting to learn how to play a Chinese card game. It was a blast.

On Sunday, the 4th, I headed with a group of 10 students to Shandong province, to the city of Jinan, with the goal of climbing Tai Shan on Tuesday. Later tonight I will add some pictures and stories of the trip, but right now had to post a quick note to let everyone know I am still here!

60th Anniversary Security

(Kim writing again)

Christian would like for me to post that wordpress is once again blocked in China.  We think this is due to the tightened security surrounding the 60th anniversary celebrations and hope the block will be lifted soon.

Henan Weekend

Back from Henan, and had a great time. We left Friday night around 8pm, and took a train to Zhengzhou, which was about an 8 hour train ride. We had soft sleeper rooms on the way there, which means 4 people to a room, with 2 bunk beds. It was a decent ride, and not too uncomfortable. We arrived around 7am, and checked into our hotel, the Longdoujiudian, 龙都大酒店，and Martin (my roommate) and I had this view:

Then we went to Shaolin Temple, where we watched a martial arts performance that was a little too “touristy” for my tastes, but still fun to see. My vision of a dusty, vacant courtyard where I got to watch Shaolin monks duel to the death, alternating weapons and styles as they went was shattered the second the music started. Well, maybe before, when the room was packed with over 700 people. I did get great videos of the performance, and one of our CIEE group members tried his hand on stage at mimicking a style as part of a game. After Shaolin Temple and lunch, we headed back to Zhengzhou, for dinner and exploring the city. A group of 4 of us went to a great noodle shop, then walked around the center of the city for a while.

Shaolin Temple

Doesn't beat the TARDIS, but a unique phone booth all the same

Shaolin Temple

Pagoda Graveyard

Zhengzhou at night, center of the city

The next morning we were up and on the bus to Longmen Grottoes, where there are over 2,300 caves and niches carved into the side of a cliff with more than 100,000 Buddha images and other carvings and inscriptions. I liked Longmen much more than Shaolin Temple, and it was awe-inspiring to see the biggest carving at Longmen, as well as the 10,000 Buddha room.

Longmen Grottoes

Longmen Grottoes

Martin, Taylor, and I exploring Luoyang's streets

Luoyang Market, main street. It was so packed and busy everywhere, good times!

After Longmen, we headed back to Luoyang to spend free time wandering the city, and 3 of us walked around the market for a bit before wandering into the alleys, where we were invited to watch a majiang game being played by 4 women. It was in a tiny atrium, courtyard-like but smaller, and they gave us stools to sit on and we (attempted) to speak Chinese with them as they played. It was a great time, then we wandered back through Luoyang’s main market area, buying street food and eating on the way back to the bus. The day ended with the train ride back to Beijing, and we arrived at 7am Monday morning, just in time for my 8am class. On the ride back, we had hard sleeper rooms, the only difference between those and the soft sleepers being  6 people to a room instead of 4. A great trip, and it really made me want to see more countryside and other cities in China.

Weekend in Henan

Just a quick post before I get ready to take the train to Henan for the weekend. I have been busier than I expected with classes, but I did manage to find time today to walk a market that I found about 15, 20 minutes west-ish of campus, and my tutor tells me it is called zao3 shi4, or morning market. Nearby there is an alley that has a street vendor who serves some food that I like. On the way, stopped and took this picture:

The driver thought I was trying to get his goat. Ha. Ha. Ha.

That’s about it for today, though it seems I have <slightly> improved my Chinese this week. Huzzah!

First Day of Classes

Dorm room, in the process of moving in

This morning was the first day of classes, and Bei Da was busier than I had ever seen it. I started out buying a 煎饼, jian1bing3, my “usual” (for the last couple days) breakfast for 3 kuai, roughly 50 cents. I was up early, and watched some 太极拳 tai4ji2quan2 in front of the Russian building, where my classes are held. I worked on some of the first chapter, which looked disappointingly easy. It turned out to be alright though, in class Professor Yang, 杨老师， spoke only in Chinese and moved fairly quickly. Even though the book didn’t introduce any new vocab today, he did, and that was helpful.

My second class is in the same building, and 刘老师, Professor Liu, was a little more lenient. She used English a lot more often, and some of the students introduced themselves in English. . . There seemed to be a wide spread in Chinese language abilities in that class, from a woman from Egypt who has one PhD and is working on a second one at Bei Da, with no previous Chinese at all, all the way to the couple of us who have had a couple years under our belt. That class seems like it could move too slowly to help much, and I may need to talk to my program directors about it, but I am willing to give it another day or two and see if it picks up. I think most of my learning will come from outside the classroom, during study and conversational Chinese with Bei Da students, people on the street, and other CIEE students.

This is the view from our dorm hallway

Day one of speaking no English has been interesting, as far as I know there are only 3 of us in my program taking the pledge to speak only Chinese, and other CIEE students have been good about speaking Chinese to/with me, which helps reinforce the goal. I can already tell the benefits of forcing myself to use only Chinese. Now to improve my vocabulary, learn any sort of grammar, and practice what I know.

This weekend we are going to Henan province by train, should be an awesome trip. I found an intersection I like to start taking photos each day at the same time, a little project I am interested in pursuing, so with any luck I can hop outta bed tomorrow morning around 6 to start getting a picture around 7.

Buying bikes for 125 yuan each, basket included! The whole process took 5 hours total, from start of negotiations to everyone arriving home.

Also, I got my luggage that was lost returned! They delivered it last night, so now I feel complete with my Swiss Army Knife and First Aid Kit. Time to slice my finger while peeling a mango then bandage it  up.

Internet!

Finally got my internet up and working smoothly, at least for now. A couple problems on PKU’s end, and a couple with my computer randomly connecting to more than 1 network, but it seems to be working a little smoother now. Hopefully will have some pictures and writing up shortly. Classes start tomorrow, and I will be taking 2 hours of spoken Chinese and 2 hours of written Chinese each day, along with a Chinese Philosophy class once a week that meets on Tuesday nights. Also, we get an individual tutor for 3 hours a week, and I have met with mine twice already. She has been extremely helpful.

It has been a fairly easy adjustment for me, with the exception of a rude awakening about my level of Chinese. I was about to enter “high intermediate” Chinese at U of L, but that translated to Elementary level here. Of course, classes haven’t started and I already have improved, and I can understand the difference in level placement. The background I do have is helping me, so while it was frustrating at first to be placed in what sounds like lower than my U of L level, I know that it is where I need to be and I will greatly improve far beyond what another year at university would have provided me.

I start my 24/7 pledge tomorrow, to speak only Chinese with the exception of friends and family that cannot speak Chinese. I don’t think I can truly prepare myself for how frustrating that will be, but I know that is the best way to immerse myself in the language. Wish me luck =p.

Here is a very standard Bei Da student and tourist photo, on campus, at Wei Ming Hu lake.

Wei Ming Hu

Update by Christian’s wife

Hi everyone, Christian arrived in Beijing yesterday after a long day of traveling!

He would have liked to update all of his readers himself on his voyage so far, but it seems that wordpress is currently blocked by China.

We will be working together over the next few days to find a new blogging venue. I’ll link the new blog site from here, so stay tuned for details!

-Kim (Christian’s wife)