Here is a photo of the breakfast for sale at a local restaurant, and a photo of a few of my classmates. The bad news for today is I have a 听写 (ting xie - dictation quiz) tomorrow on 55 new vocabulary words. These are different than the 35 words I had a quiz on yesterday! My teachers here ask us to learn the lesson on our own the night before, test us the minute we get to class, and then teach the lesson! It is a huge 挑战 (tiao zhan - challenge)!
Today in the morning we went on a tour of the campus. There is a grocery store, about 8 different cafeterias, and a post office! We ate lunch at a Xinjiang restaurant. Yum! After lunch my classmates and I went shopping. I bought millet (a kind of grain like rice but small, round and yellow) yoghurt, and a dress that only cost 15 yuan ($2.40). I also saw a man selling chipmunks in cages. I suppose it is no weirder than people keeping hamsters! In the afternoon we had a 2 hour speaking and reading and writing test that was used to split us into levels. This whole program is for advanced Chinese study, but there is an easier class and a harder class. I got in to the harder class. After the quiz we walked to a local park called 紫竹院 (zi zhu yuan - purple bamboo park). There was lots of bamboo but it was all green. Inside the park was a little shopping area. I resisted spending the 100 yuan ($16) I was carrying on jewelry and instead bought a bunch of books for our classroom. I got the Chinese versions of some typical American kids books, like the Olivia book, Stone Soup, Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?, and more. I also got a cartoon version of the Journey To The West (the Monkey King legend).
I spent most of today getting the supplies I need for this semester. After a quick breakfast of warm soy milk and millet porridge (6 yuan = $.96) we headed for the subway station. When I lived in Beijing there were only 2 subway lines, now there are 15! The only different from the Boston MBTA is that the Beijing subway was cleaner, the train was air conditioned, and I had to put my bag through an X-ray machine when entering the station. I paid 2 yuan ($.32) and went 7 stops to 雍和宫 Yonghegong Station. Yonghe Gong is the only Tibetan Buddhist temple in Beijing. Here is the Wikipedia page for it. You can see some photos here. We walked around and looked at the statues and burned some incense. The biggest Buddha statue there was 26 meters tall and was carved from a single piece of white sandalwood.
After that we went to a store in nearby Wudaoying Alley where I bought one of these HEPA filters. For those of you who aren't familiar with HEPA filters, they clean the air. I figure this way I can breathe pollution free air at least 8-10 hours a day (any time I am in the dorm room). Wudaoying is a fun place, full of lots of little cafes and shops. After that we had lunch. I had chicken stir-fried with cashew and celery. Yum. (It was a bit expensive 48 Yuan = $7.70) but I have enough leftovers for another meal. A few of the customers in the restaurant were smoking, which drives me nuts. It is supposed to be illegal to spoke in public places in Beijing now, but the law isn't always enforced. The guys were sitting under a big "no smoking" sign too! After an afternoon nap (jet-lag is horrible) I had a big welcome dinner for the program. At dinner I found a menu for a cake shop under the table. The English in it was really funny. I'll end this post with a quote (from next to a picture of a really yummy looking coconut cake) "Southeast Asia is locally bom warn shredded coconut stuffing with gentle cherry young lady, will deduct joyfully hand with meticulous care, a pair for faction to fresh happy partner. Born that way noble, the matchless feeling in the mouth, is the ignition sends to the fervour godfather level cake." Haha! After an exhausting 24 hours I've landed in Beijing and am settled in at my dorm. The flight was OK, but as always long and boring. While waiting in line at customs I noticed the girl in front of me was carrying paperwork from the same university (Minzu University). It ends up she is one of my classmates, so we shared a cab to the dorm. The international dorms are quite nice. We are two to a room (not 6 to a room like the Chinese dorms on campus). The international dorm also has air conditioning!
After settling in we grabbed dinner and I bought some things for my dorm room. I got a rice cooker to reheat leftovers, fruit, a fruit peeler, and coat hangers. I accidentally left the coat hangers in the store. I didn't sleep on the plane, so I have been up for over 27 hours now. Time to sleep... Hi Guys...as promised, here is my first video. This video is about packing for Beijing. Here's my list of favorite things to bring.
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AboutI am a 6-8th grade Mandarin teacher in the U.S.A. These are my China adventures! Archives
August 2015
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