Last Sunday
My first week of class! I started on Tuesday. Here's my schedule:
Not that many of you can read that... I remember my work giving me the equivalent last September (2005), and I couldn't understand a thing, mostly because I couldn't read a word of Chinese (I didn't even know 1, 2, 3 - on the left - stands for the days of the week) and I also wasn't used to having the times up top (usually it's the days of the week up top and the time on the left; in China it's the opposite). But now I know... I was put in class 101-06. 100 is complete beginner, so I'm semi-beginner, what in ESL I would call B2 (Beginner 2). It's really tough, but I'm so excited. I don't understand a lot, but I'm learning tons. I have three teachers and they're all really nice (all women) and I think I like my listening teacher the best even though I that's the class I understand the least.
I'm learning how to write, which is an awesome experience. I'm learning how to write such things as "Not long ago, the roads didn't have as many cars," and "studying Chinese at the same time as studying English" and "Beijing's deepest impression on me is: lots of people, lots of cars, traffic is very crowded." It seems like the running theme among all the classes (Listening, Speaking and Writing) is traffic and taxi drivers. Fun!
So remember I told you that this park was closed to the public? Well here are people enjoying the green space in the evening. Nice lighting...
So last Sunday afternoon (September 8th), I spent with Yosuke, a Japanese guy living on my floor. He's doing a project on the environment and he wanted to go to Beijing's Environment Centre so we left our residence around 1:30-2 PM and walked around a lot, and asked a lot of people how to get there, took the bus, and Yosuke forogot exactly where it was so we had to walk some more...and we finally got there around three hours later!!! And it wasn't even very far!!!
This is us in front of the building we were looking for - we're very happy!!! Yosuke can't have a beard while going to university in Japan so he decided to grow his beard in China. We talk in Chinese to each other, although when there's a breakdown in communication we use English words.
So...we finally find the place and then finally find the entrance (another adventure because in China it's not always easy to find the entrance to buildings)...and...the centre's closed! Nobody from the centre comes in on Sundays! So we chatted with the security guard and took some pictures with his cap (there are his comrades' caps on the windowsill behind us too).
I hate how my face is so much whiter than the rest of my body. :-P
Yosuke being a monkey in front of the Centre's entrance.
There are pedestrian bridges that go over huge (kuan le) streets. Yosuke and I wandered around and took some pictures...
This is the other side of the street. It was a beautiful warm day. It took us one bus ride and maybe a 20-minute walk to get back home...
Not that many of you can read that... I remember my work giving me the equivalent last September (2005), and I couldn't understand a thing, mostly because I couldn't read a word of Chinese (I didn't even know 1, 2, 3 - on the left - stands for the days of the week) and I also wasn't used to having the times up top (usually it's the days of the week up top and the time on the left; in China it's the opposite). But now I know... I was put in class 101-06. 100 is complete beginner, so I'm semi-beginner, what in ESL I would call B2 (Beginner 2). It's really tough, but I'm so excited. I don't understand a lot, but I'm learning tons. I have three teachers and they're all really nice (all women) and I think I like my listening teacher the best even though I that's the class I understand the least.
I'm learning how to write, which is an awesome experience. I'm learning how to write such things as "Not long ago, the roads didn't have as many cars," and "studying Chinese at the same time as studying English" and "Beijing's deepest impression on me is: lots of people, lots of cars, traffic is very crowded." It seems like the running theme among all the classes (Listening, Speaking and Writing) is traffic and taxi drivers. Fun!
So remember I told you that this park was closed to the public? Well here are people enjoying the green space in the evening. Nice lighting...
So last Sunday afternoon (September 8th), I spent with Yosuke, a Japanese guy living on my floor. He's doing a project on the environment and he wanted to go to Beijing's Environment Centre so we left our residence around 1:30-2 PM and walked around a lot, and asked a lot of people how to get there, took the bus, and Yosuke forogot exactly where it was so we had to walk some more...and we finally got there around three hours later!!! And it wasn't even very far!!! 
This is us in front of the building we were looking for - we're very happy!!! Yosuke can't have a beard while going to university in Japan so he decided to grow his beard in China. We talk in Chinese to each other, although when there's a breakdown in communication we use English words. 
So...we finally find the place and then finally find the entrance (another adventure because in China it's not always easy to find the entrance to buildings)...and...the centre's closed! Nobody from the centre comes in on Sundays! So we chatted with the security guard and took some pictures with his cap (there are his comrades' caps on the windowsill behind us too).
I hate how my face is so much whiter than the rest of my body. :-P 
Yosuke being a monkey in front of the Centre's entrance. 
There are pedestrian bridges that go over huge (kuan le) streets. Yosuke and I wandered around and took some pictures...
This is the other side of the street. It was a beautiful warm day. It took us one bus ride and maybe a 20-minute walk to get back home...
posted by Caro at 11:05 AM
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