Beijing Week 1 (北京周一）

Classes:
I've heard the first week of HBA is the worst... that better be true or else there's no way I'm going to get through another 7 weeks o_O I already talked about the daily workload last post, but basically it culminates in a two hour test on Friday followed by an hour of debate, an hour of essay reading, and an hour or so of Chinese table before we're finally set free. By then you're exhausted and very sick of Chinese, so a nap is in order. But the relief of surviving is blissful indeed!

Language Partner:
After my nap I had my first meeting with my language partner. Everyone is assigned a language partner who's a Beijing student and who's supposed to meet with you two hours every week to practice conversational Chinese and help you with homework or questions about Beijing. Mine is a sophomore at Bei Yu (short for Beijing Yuyan Daxue) and is studying Chinese language instruction (she wants to be a teacher one day). She's only two years older and really adorable. She's also really patient... I guess everyone who deals with us have to be patient because we're all more or less at a stage where language barriers can be really frustrating. In regular conversation I have a relatively easier time compared to many other foreign students because I grew up with the language, but I've lived in America all my life and never really had a need for Chinese, so I also never really used it much before now. I can say basic things without thinking, but once conversation starts getting into more difficult subjects that requires more specialized vocab or more complicated sentence structures I get stuck really frequently or have to think much harder about what I'm saying. I still don't know that much personally about my language partner, but we talked a lot about a lot of societal issues and cultural differences from a similar age group perspective, which makes time go a lot faster than you would think.

Great Wall Simatai:
HBA organizes excursions on Saturdays, and the first one was to the Simatai portion of the Great Wall, which is pretty far from Beijing (3 hr bus ride) but less crowded and touristy than others. The climb was uber steep/scary and uber painful for sleep-deprived, out-of-shape people like yours truly, but very worth it. Like everything else in life, it was important to keep driving yourself to make it to the end, but the end itself wasn't such a big deal, it was just the process of getting there - the sights you see, the effort you make, and the people you suffer with. In other words, I kept thinking about two things: Camus' essay about the Myth of Sisyphus and Mama's lessons about persistence (greater suffering now leads to greater rewards later).

(At the start with Shengli Feng, the funniest and cutest program director ever)

(I love Engrish... you can find more at www.engrish.com)

(Me and Gabe, my climbing partner, at the end... we were the last lol)

Peking Duck:
For dinner we decided to go to the famous Peking Duck place in Wangfujing Dajie. We got baozi from the Goubuli Baozi place opposite the street while waiting for a place, which was a good idea because the Duck place was pretty expensive and besides the primary attraction Kaoya the food wasn't very good... but by expensive I mean $5 a person, which was definitely worth it for some quality duck ;9


Host Family:
HBA gives you the option of having a host family whom you don't live with, but act as relatives of sorts that you can turn to for help and give you more insight into native Beijing life. I chose to have one since I have relatives around China but not in Beijing and it'd be nice to have that opportunity. You dictate how much time you spend with them so it's not too bad in terms of hassle. My family consists of two parents and a son who's a sophomore in college. They're all really nice and typically Chinese (or at least fit my impression of typical) in terms of mannerisms, attitudes, etc. Today they took me to lunch at a surprisingly westernized mall and I feel like they're more interested in me than vice versa... possibly because they want to set me up with their son (eck) but also probably because I understand more about Chinese culture in advance than they do about American. I feel like I'm on language partner overdrive since I have to talk to so many people one-on-one (private tutor sessions, language partner, and now family), and it's tough finding time now for friends in Beijing or relatives in other parts of China who want to see me too, but I'd still rather meet new people while I have the chance and learn things from different perspectives and improve my language skills (as always).

Yaxiu Shopping:
After lunch I went with Stanley and a friend of his from home to go shopping at Yaxiu, which is one of those famously huge shopping plazas filled with several floors of deliciously fake/cheap stuff of everything imaginable - a haggler's paradise. Thankfully I only brought a limited amount of cash so I couldn't waste all my money before the program ends, but there are definitely trips to Xiushui and Xidan (other similar shopping centers) in order. Besides the amazing buys, perfecting the art of haggling requires a lot of training in rudeness, persuasion, and selfishness - an experience in and of itself. Plus, it makes you feel extra good about learning Chinese when people think you're a local student (albeit probably from the South) and go easier on you with prices ;)