Golden Week (China)

My class had a dinner party last night. Some quoted lines from the textbook, which was quite amusing. :P A whole table of Chinese-looking people speaking Putonghua, yet not one was a local.

The age-range in our class is rather wide: 3 high school graduates, one 2^nd year uni student, one a year younger than me, and the rest are 30+ (up to about 50-ish?) Nonetheless, a great bunch of people. For some reason or another, the Korean girls always seem to be the most friendly and cheerful.

October 1 – 7 is Golden Week in China, celebrating the Chinese National Day. Many students have travel plans to other parts of China, but I have nothing planned as yet. Perhaps I’ll do some sightseeing next week. I’m just not too keen about the huge crowds of people…

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優しいメール、コメント、ありがとう！気遣ってくれて、ありがとう！おかげさまで、風邪がほとんど治りました。休める時間があるって、ありがたいことですね。やはり学生生活は良いですね。

昨日の夜、クラスの食事会は寮のすぐ隣に新しくできたレストランで行いました。クラスの20人中の13人（？）が参加しました。みんな、アジア人の様子なのに、メニューを見るだけで目が回る外人ばかりでした。しかも、共通語は北京語。なんか、面白かったです。年齢の幅はかなり大きいだけど（3人は高校卒業ばかり、1人は大学2年生、1人は私より1歳下、後は30歳から50歳位かな）、暖かくて、優しい人ばかりです。やはり、韓国人の女性は一番明るいですね。韓国の言葉や文化を習えば、韓国人っぽくなるかな。^^;

中国では、10月１日からGWに入ります。今日を含めて、休暇は８日間もあります。多くの学生は上海や香港やほかのところに旅行に行ったけど、うちは何の予定もないです。今日は別に何もしなかったけれど（勉強以外^^）、来週、どこか観光でも行こうかな。
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大家好!

Woohoo! I figured out how to input Chinese characters.^^
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今日は、ちょっと厳しかった。
風邪がちょっとひどくなって、熱も出ていたのに、朝８時から授業があって、、、
昼、授業が終わったら、少し食べて、夜、母が電話かけてくるまで寝てた。
明日も早いから、暖かいふとんに戻ろうかな　－－；
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Actually, the newspaper class isn’t so bad. We started off really slow, doing just 2-3 paragraphs per lesson. The pace has picked up slightly but still manageable. And teacher doesn’t expect us to understand the newspaper articles in too much detail which is good. Since the textbook is quite old, the teacher prepares additional, more recent, related material for us. I quite like this teacher. She’s well prepared and knows what she’s doing.＾＾

The material for the Comprehensive Chinese class is actually quite difficult as well, but the pace is also quite slow, and Wang laoshi is a good teacher (our class’ one and only male teacher). I like him too. He uses flash cards and interesting examples to help us remember new vocab and how to use them.＾＾

Well, I'd better get started on homework. :P

Beijing roads

Pretty tasty...& it even came with a plastic fork^^

It’s cooled down quite a bit these past 2 days. I brought mostly long-sleeved tops and only 3 t-shirts (>.<) so I was going to buy more summer clothes coz it had been so hot, but I guess there’s no need anymore.^^

I’ve been running around a lot these few days.

First thing this morning, I went to the police station (a 20 minutes bike-ride away) to get a written report for my lost wallet. Yes, I lost my wallet. Stoopid me. Or maybe it was just my unlucky day.

It happened last Friday night when I went out for dinner and shopping. I don’t think I left it anywhere. For your information, my bag was zipped up, and wasn’t damaged in any way. It’s one of those bags that has a flap over the opening as well. Damn, they’re good. I didn’t feel a thing.

So now I have to get my HK IDs and 2 bank cards reissued. Thank goodness I left all my other cards in my room and didn’t have much cash on me.

So anyway, I reported it to the police that night and they came to pick us (thanks so much for coming with me K!!^^!!) up from the dorm. My first ride in a police car. Hmm…how can I put it? The policeman driver drove as if he owned the road. He stuck his arm out the window to get other cars to let him pass, used the bicycle lane as an overtaking lane and went straight through a red light. Anyway, he got us to the police station in one piece.

The police station was yet another eye-opening experience. It reeked of cigarettes, the floor was sticky, the chairs were filthy...The policemen yelled at each other through their radio system. They even hung up on each other (!) It was weird.

This morning, I went up to the actual offices in the police station. I enquired at the front window, and was then told to go upstairs. The door was locked so I went back to the window to ask them to open it. They told me to ring the bell, but no one came. The 3 guys in the front room were just sitting and chatting, yet not one would get up and open the door. Thank goodness a police woman came along and let me in.

Upstairs, it was just like any old dormitory; a long corridor with closed doors on either side. In the office was a cupboard, a bed, 2 desks, 3 chairs, one computer, a water tank thingy, 3 policemen and some other guy who sat on the floor behind the door (I didn’t even notice him at first). The senior police officer gave the younger policeman a pen and a pad of paper to write me a report, but he was quick and said something along the lines of “who gives out hand-written reports these days?” And so the job was passed on to the third policeman who was sitting in front of the computer, the one who actually interviewed me Friday night. The younger policeman was actually quite friendly and tried to make conversation. However, as with many locals I’ve come across, they’re not very patient with foreigners that don’t understand Putonghua.

Well, thank goodness that’s all taken care of. Now that I’ve had all my cards stopped, I need to apply for new ones. The HKID and huixiangzheng are the most troublesome. I still need to find out whether or not I can exit China without the huixiangzheng and without going through HK. That requires me to call cn immigration. I can prepare what to say, but I’m worried that I won’t understand a word they say. Think I’ll go downstairs to make the call. That way, if I don’t understand, I can ask one of the dormitory receptionists to listen and then explain it to me.

There are about 20 attendants/receptionists in our building. They’re pretty friendly and helpful most of the time. At least they’re patient with our broken Putonghua. Well, with mine, anyway.^^

Went to a really nice Thai restaurant for dinner tonight. Aa’s Thai/Chinese classmate took us. It’s actually just 2 or 3 blocks away from the uni, but the traffic made it feel twice as far. Think I might just stay on campus tomorrow night. I spotted a cafeteria on the opposite side of uni that offers Muslim and Vegetarian food. Maybe I’ll go check it out.

Well, I’d better go to bed. Think I might have a touch of the flu. Plus, I have “newspaper” class tomorrow. Argh!

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日本の皆さん、ごめんね。許して～
先週、財布をなくして、色々忙しくて。。。>_<

まあ何とか落ち着いたので、心配しないで。＾＾

ちょっと時間かかるかもしれませんが、少しずつ翻訳しますね。（もしくは、英語と日本語を交代にしましょうか。）

この数日、かなり涼しくなりました。Tシャツを３枚しか持ってこなくて、こっちで買おうと思っていましたが、必要ないかもしれませんね。＾＾

今夜、友達のAaさんのタイ人同級生がタイ料理のレストランへ連れてくれました。かなり本格的ようで、おいしかったです。＾＾

明日は「新聞購読」の授業があるから、寝ないと授業中に眠り込みそうです。しかも、ちょっと風邪気味かも。＾＾；
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Yonghe Gong (Lama Temple) & Beihai Park

Went to an expensive-looking Japanese restaurant for dinner tonight, yet it only cost 22 RMB. The interior was really nice, and the restaurant smelled like vinegary sushi rice. Except for the Chinese waitresses, you’d think you were in Japan. I had warm Japanese soba. The noodles were a little too soft, but it tasted ok. There was spinach (!), some kind of chewy mushroom, shimeji mushroom, bamboo shoots and some other mountain veggie in it. It was a nice place to relax after 5 hours of walking.

Today, K, D and I met Steffi for another day of sightseeing. First we went to Yonghe Gong, the biggest Tibetan Buddhist Lama Temple in China. It was huge. The architecture was amazing. I was particularly impressed by the colorful and elaborately painted ceilings and roofs.

After lunch, D left to meet a family friend and the rest of us strolled around Beihai Park. It’s so big that it took us several hours to walk from the north gate to the south gate. Though we did stop to take lots of photos.^^

I tried a haw-flavoured ice-block...not bad. (Fyi, "haw" is the fruit of a hawthorn.)

＞＞　Click here for more Lama Temple photos

＞＞　Click here for more Beihai Park photos

I’ve decided to stay in the upper intermediate class after all. The teachers are much, much better and the lessons more interesting. I’ll just have to study harder. >_<

We tried out another cafeteria yesterday (and today). I think I like this place better. It's ony got 2 floors, but it's newer and better lit. Food is served on plastic plates and bowls (as opposed to the metal dishes used at the other place that remind me of those used in prisons). Also, the food is less oily, the serving sizes are smaller so the price is cheaper. Today's lunch (steamed bun, a dish of bean sprouts & curry potato, plus a small bowl of rice-noodle soup) only set me back 1.5 RMB (AUD 0.25, JPY 23).^^

Umm...

I’m having second thoughts about this class…the first reading in the newspaper reading class was about the financial investment practices of the Chinese people…way beyond my league. Might go check out one of the lower intermediate classes tomorrow…

Well, I’d better get studying. Hope I can wake up for my 8am class tomorrow.^^;

Chinglish

the Chinese characters say "please shut the door"

First day of class

My class is one of the smallest out of the 4 intermediate-1 classes, with about 20 people. There were 2 students from Japan, 2 from Indonesia, one Norwegian, one Chinese-Italian, one Chinese-Russian, one Filipino…and the rest were Korean. However, there were people coming and going throughout the day to check out which class they think suits them best. I’m happy with the level they put me in. I had speaking and grammar today. Both teachers seem quite good, even though they’re rather young, so I think I’ll stay in this class.

At the moment, I have just 2 subjects per day: 1:00 ~ 4:40 PM Monday to Wednesday and 8:00 ~ 11:40 AM Thursday and Friday. There are 4 subjects overall: speaking, grammar, newspaper reading and comprehensive Chinese. Just flipping through the textbooks, I think I’ll be ok if I study hard, but the newspaper reading class looks particularly difficult.

After class, we decided to check out the cinema near the uni as we wanted to see “The Banquet”. Coincidently (or not), movie tickets are cheapest on Tuesdays here as well. I say “cheapest” because when we asked the cinema staff what the regular price was, he said that it was 60 RMB ($10) yesterday, but he doesn’t know how much it will be tomorrow. (What the…?!) However, Tuesday is always the cheapest. It was 30 RMB today.

The cinema has 3 screens: one 500-seater (non-assigned seating), one 90-seater and one 50-seater (both with assigned seating). We were in the smallest theatre, but we still got cushy seats with cup holders. I don’t know if the size of the screen had anything to do with the quality of the actual screening, but we got ripped off! It froze and skipped a few frames in the middle of the film…twice! Also, in any normal cinema, they’d let the credits run through to the end, right? Well at the cinema we went to, they hit the stop button as soon as the last person reached the door. To those wondering whether popcorn was available or not, it was. As long as you don’t mind microwave popcorn :P

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今日は授業の一日目。

私のクラスは２０人で、中級１の４クラスのうちに一番小さいクラス。クラスのメンバーの中、日本人が２人、インドネシア人が２人、ノーウェイ人が１人、中国系のロシア人が１人いて、そして残りは韓国人。自分に適すると思うレベルを決めるために、人が入たり出たりしていたので結局何人クラスになるかまだ分からない。私に対しては、あてがわれたクラスに満足している。今日は、会話と文法の授業だった。両科目の先生は若そうだけど、いい先生みたいだから、このクラスに残ると思う。

今のところは、毎日２科目あって、月～水曜日は１３：００～１６：４０、木・金曜日は８：００～１１：４０。全部で会話、文法、新聞記事の読む練習と総合中国語の４科目がある。教科書をさっと読むと、かなり頑張らないといけないと思う。特に、新聞記事の読む練習の授業。＾＾；

放課後、学校の近くにある映画館に行ってみた。“The Banquet” という中国映画を見た。オーストラリアと同じように、火曜日はチケットが一番安い。普段の値段を映画館職員に聞いたら、「昨日は６０元（９００円）だったけど、明日は分からない。ともかく、火曜日はいつも一番安い」と答えた。今日は３０元だった。

映画館には５００席（自由席）、９０席と５０席（指定席）の３部屋（？）がある。私たち５人は一番小さい部屋だった。それでも、カップホルダー付の快適な席があった。スクリーンのサイズに関係あるかどうか分からないが、上映中、２回も固まれて、数こまが飛ばされた！そして、普段の映画館では、クレジットタイトルが全部流されると思うのだけど、私たちが行ったところは違った。最後の客が出口に着いたとたん、消された。

あと、ポップコーンも販売された。電子レンジで作るポップコーンだったけど。:P
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Tsinghua University Science Park

Welcome Ceremony

Woohoo! I got into intermediate! And I didn’t even study…(^o^)/

My day started off with the foreign students’ Welcome Ceremony in the Main Building (7 minute bike ride from the dorm!). It was all in Mandarin, with no translations. Haha! Some people just gave up and left halfway through. I think I understood about 70% of what was said. Perhaps I could’ve understood more if I wasn't so sleepy.^^;

Anyway, some guy gave the opening address then a lady gave a PowerPoint presentation about the school’s history and facilities (with English translations on the slides) and another guy finished up with a lecture about how good the university’s language course is and how we should enjoy studying, not miss classes and not ask to change classes just so we can be with our friends. It’s as if I was back in high school. Finally, we split into English, Korean and Japanese groups for a lecture about Chinese laws concerning foreign students by a representative of the local police force. No driving, no drink driving, no drugs, watch out for pickpockets, don’t ride in illegal taxis…you know, the usual. I think about a third of the students went to the Korean and Japanese lectures. I’ve noticed there are lots of French students too, and many more overseas Chinese. Met a handful of Aussies as well. So many language students are here fresh out of university. Makes me feel so old…>_<

I made 2 new Korean friends today (they call me “jiejie”, as in “older sister” :P). Their Mandarin ability is quite good. One of them, JS, studied a bit of Japanese in high school and wants to keep it up, so we made an agreement: I’ll help her with Japanese and she’ll help me with Korean. Hehehe, let’s see how this goes.^^

Perhaps I should concentrate on Mandarin to start off with. The 2 Korean girls joined KT & me for dinner, and we spoke in Mandarin the whole time. It was the most Mandarin I’d spoken since I got here, but for some strange reason, Japanese kept creeping into my head.

I’d heard bad stories about the food and the cleanliness of the university cafeteria, but it wasn’t so bad when we went for dinner. Maybe coz I was expecting the worst. There was even a vegetarian counter on the second floor, with 7-8 dishes to choose from. Hmm, I wonder if the menu changes every day. There are actually several cafeterias within the university campus. I’ve only been to the one closest to my dorm, but there are 4 floors of food. Kinda like a 4-storeyed food court. It’s so different to UNSW and NCU. It’s actually quite high tech. We apply for a student dining card that can be used at all the university cafeterias, and deposit money in it. At each food counter, there’s a machine in which you insert your card to pay. It then displays how much credit is reduced and the remaining credit. Very fast and efficient.

As for the food, the servings are huge yet unbelievably cheap. One serving of rice is double the amount I usually have per meal and costs just 0.45 RMB. One plate of other dishes costs between 0.5 and 5 RMB. That’s less than a dollar a plate! You can get a 1/8 of a watermelon for 0.7 RMB (12 cents!)... I reckon it’s best that I go eat with a whole bunch of people. :P

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勉強せずに、中級のクラスに入れた。(^o^)/

今日はMain Building（寮から自転車で7分！）で留学生の入学式が行いた。式は通訳なしで、全部北京語だった！途中にあきらめて出た人もいた。私は多分7割位分かったと思うだけど、眠くなかったら、もうちょっと分かったかも。＾＾

開会のあいさつがあって、そして、大学の歴史、施設などについての発表（スライドに英訳が書いてくれた＾＾）があった。次、清華大学の中国語講座の良さ、勉強を楽しむべき、授業をサボらない、友達と同じクラスにいたい理由でクラスを変わらない、などなどの話だった。なんか中学校に戻ったような感じ。最後に、英語、韓国語と日本語の3グループに分けて、警官が留学生に関する法律について教えてくれた。（車の運転禁止、飲酒運転禁止、麻薬禁止、すりに注意、違法のタクシーに乗らないこと、など...）グループに分けたとき、約3分の1の学生が出た。英語グループにフランス人がかなり多い気がした。そして、中国系の外国人。オーストラリア人も数人いる。多くの語学留学生は大学や高校を卒業してすぐここに来て、かなり若い。＾＾；

今日、新しい友達が２人できた。中国語がかなり上手な韓国人の女性で、私のことを「お姉さん」と呼ぶ。１人は高校時代に日本語の勉強をしていて、続きたいと言った。私も韓国語の勉強を続きたいので、お互いに教える約束をした。どうなるのかな。＾＾

しかし、最初は中国語に集中したほうがいいかもしれないね。韓国人女性２人とKと私とご飯を食べに行って、ずっと中国語で話していた。こちらに来て、一番長い中国語の会話だった。何だか分からないけど、何回も日本語が頭に浮かんでいた。頑張らなきゃ～＾＾；

食堂の食べ物や衛生に対するひどい話をたくさん聞いたけど、夜行ったら、思ったより悪くなかった。最悪の場合を予想していたからかな。２階には７－８種類の野菜料理のカウンターもあった。メニューは毎日変わるのかな。

実は、構内でいくつかの食堂がある。私の寮に一番近いのしか行ったことないけれど、そこはUNSWと名市大の食堂とぜんぜん違って、４階建てのフードコートみたいな感じ。しかも、かなりハイテク。食堂用のカードを申し込んでお金を入れたら、構内にある全部の食堂でも使える。食堂の各カウンターに小さい機械が置いてある。カードをその機械に入れたら、減らした金額と残金が表示される。速くて効率的なシステムだね。

食べ物に関しては、量が多くて、値段が信じられない位安い。１人分の白ご飯は0.45元（７円）しかかからないのに、私に対して２食になれる位の量がある。おかずの大きい一皿は0.5~5元…８０円もかからない！スイカの1/8は0.7元（１円！）沢山の人と一緒に食べに行くほうがいいかもね。:P
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The Great Wall

Blue skies, warm weather…perfect for a little sightseeing! My new German friend invited me to join her and a local acquaintance to the Great Wall and Ming Tombs in north-eastern Beijing.

I left the dorm before 8am to meet them at Steffi's place. It was my first go at catching the train and subway on my own. It wasn't so bad. It's actually a little quicker than taking a taxi because of the heavy road traffic, and several times cheaper. I think I feel less vulnerable when on the train with lots of people than in a taxi on my own.

Anyway, Mr. Gao, Steffi's acquaintance, ended up just chauffeuring us around. It was about a 2-hour drive from Steffi's to the BADALING section of the Great Wall. I was so sleepy that I was falling asleep in the car, even on the way there. The car park at the Great Wall was full, so Mr. Gao just waited for us in the car while we climbed the Wall. It was quite a climb! Lots of ups and downs, very steep in places, and where there were steps they were mostly uneven. It was unbelievable how crowded it was, and they were mostly Chinese tourists. Nevertheless, we made it up to the highest point of the north section of the Wall. I didn't think the landscape was particularly beautiful, but it was a worthwhile cultural/historical learning experience. There were people trying to sell souvenirs, etc. the whole way up. There were these funny vase-like paper(?) things and when the two ends are compressed, it turns into a hat! You could even get a certificate to say that you climbed the Great Wall for 25 RMB. Unfortunately, I didn't recharge my camera battery yesterday and it died on me before we reached the peak of the Great Wall so I wasn't able to take many photos. >_< see the hat?



As we didn't want to make Mr. Gao wait for us any longer than necessary, we decided to take the sliding cars down to the bottom...only to be told by the illegal taxi drivers that it we were at the wrong car park. We called for Roger to come, but apparently he couldn't enter that section. After at least half an hour of continuous hassling, we accepted a ride and met up with Mr. Gao.

After a quick lunch stop (stir fried potato, raw veggies with some sauce, soupy corn-carrot-cucumber dish and flat corn bread with veggie filling), we made our way to the Ming Tombs. The Ming Tombs admission fee was 20 RMB more expensive than the Great Wall, but not much more to see. We entered one excavated tomb, also called the underground palace. There were also 3 small exhibition rooms displaying artifacts from the tomb, which were quite interesting. There were displays of woven dress fabric that were really pretty.

>> Click here for more Great Wall photos

Shopping

It turns out that I didn’t have to do the speaking test after all. I wonder why. Maybe I aced the test.^^

Anyway, I went on a shopping adventure with my 3 new HK/Canadian buddies today. We caught the train and subway to two shopping districts. One of the guy’s local friends met up with us and took us around. We basically looked at menswear all day coz one of the Canadian guys, D, had only decided at the last minute to take the language course here and had enough clothes for just 4 days. The native Beijingers did some serious bargaining for us too. What I thought was cheap, they thought could be cheaper. K wanted to buy a hair dryer but didn’t want to pay the quoted 80 RMB, and Frk got it down to 30.

eat street in WANGFUJING

Beijing Olympic Mascots

We shopped all afternoon, until dinner time. My feet were so tired. We only sat down for meals. We went to a Japanese place for lunch, and a Korean place for dinner. Last night we had Italian. The night before, I had Chinese – tofu and mushroom. Most of the Beijing food I’ve seen so far has been oily and/or spicy. And I’ve noticed the people here eat a lot of rice and meat but not much greens. Perhaps I should buy myself a gas stove and some cooking utensils and start doing some cooking myself.

Settling in

It’s been 2 days since I arrived in the Chinese capital and yes, I'm still alive and well. I haven't had anything stolen either...touch wood.

Thanks to an uncle in the U.S. who introduced me to a Chinese-Canadian girl with an apartment and acquaintances in Beijing, I was picked up from the airport, accompanied to the apartment where I was to stay until I could move in to the university dorm; taken to lunch; accompanied to the university to enrol, sign up for a dorm room; and accompanied back to the apartment.

I waited ages and ages for my suitcase to come out. I was just about to go and ask someone when I spotted one that looked like mine. It even had the same yellow ribbon tied to the handle except that the suitcase was wrapped in plastic. When I took a closer look, I saw that it was my suitcase and that the side handle had been broken off. I figure that’s why it took so long for it to come out and why it was wrapped in plastic. Oh well, I guess it’s time to get a new one.^^

Walking out of customs at around 11:45 Beijing time, I spotted the piece of A4 paper with my name printed on it. The lady is quite proficient in English. I actually started off speaking to her in Mandarin on the phone the previous day but my brain quickly switched back into English mode. It’s so frustrating not being able to say what you want to say so that the the listener understands.
Anyway, she introduced me to Teacher Z, accompanied me to the apartment, to lunch, to the university for registration, etc. then back to the apartment. I feel so bad for having her help me with my luggage and taking up her whole day, but I don’t think I could’ve managed on my own. I was lacking sleep and utterly overwhelmed by everything.

Even though I could’ve moved into the dorm straight after registration, I’m glad I stayed at my uncle’s friend’s apartment that first night. It’s a very nice 3 bedroom (incl. 1 ensuite) apartment with a very spacious living/dining area. She herself wasn’t there, but a German girl was staying there temporarily and we went out for dinner together. At least I was able to be of some help to someone, even if it was just explaining some of the dishes on the menu. She’s a university student studying business administration and is here for 2 months on an internship. What’s funny is that she doesn’t know the apartment owner personally either. She was introduced to the girl’s sister who lives in HK, through another friend. Connections, connections, connections.^^

Teacher Z kindly arranged for a taxi driver living in the same complex to drive me to uni the next morning. So on the morning of the 14th, she came to meet me at the apartment to help me with my luggage and explained to the taxi driver where I wanted to go. She didn’t speak English, but luckily I had a map handy. We got there in good time and I moved into my dorm room (bldg 21, rm 637). It’s smaller than my room in Nagoya, but quite reasonable with a bed, desk, wardrobe, sink, toilet and shower, and a nice flat screen TV (with at least half a dozen channels). The beige-tile flooring and metal bed frame, also in beige, makes the room feels rather cold and dull. It desperately needs some colour. At least it's reasonably clean.

My room


You know the foam squares for kids, that connects like pieces of a puzzle? Well, I bought a pack and used it to cover the cold, tiled shower floor. I also wanna get a colorful rug or something that runs down the length of the room, maybe stick a few posters or photos on the wall. I wonder if that’s allowed... There are staff that mop the rooms and empty the rubbish bins every weekday, which saves me from doing it myself and buying all that cleaning stuff.

Yesterday was fine, but rather smoggy. I made several trips to the supermarket buying the essentials, and did hours and hours of walking trying to find the fricking office to get a dining card for the uni cafeterias. I asked a security guard on duty and he studied the map for a while, then confidently gave me directions…to a river! The office turned out to be in a totally different direction; a tiny room in the corner of an old looking dormitory building. I even walked past it! But who would’ve thought…

After that, I made the long trek down to the main academic building to apply for internet access. O.M.G. It is absolutely gigantic with a giant ramp leading up to it, like a castle or some luxury hotel. I found the office and there were 4 people in the queue. I thought good! it would be quick. But when I asked the lady for a form, she told me that they were closing soon. It said on the notice that they close at 5:30pm and yet it was only 5:15. All she had to do was enter my name and student number into the database. It took her under 10 minutes to process the 4 people in front of me; surely it can’t take 15 minutes to process one more. The Chinese-Canadian guy in front of me warned me that she was grouchy. She ignored people’s questions and when she did answer, she spoke and looked as if we were bothering her. Just like many of the people I’ve come across so far. And I've seen very few smiling faces.

Main Building
Since I was on the southern end of campus, I thought I’d check out the "shopping centre" there. There was a fresh produce market, small variety stores and a big supermarket. Bought some fruit…so cheap! Ooh, and a bought a bike…235 RMB inclusive of basket and lock. That’s about $40 Australian (3500 yen)...not bad. At least the bike people were friendly. :)

Memorial gate
At 8:30am this morning, all the language students were required to sit the written placement test. There was a listening section and a reading/grammar section. I had to skip a few questions toward the end coz I had absolutely no idea, and I guessed a few, but I think I did ok overall. Speaking test tomorrow…ahhhhh!

In transit

Soooooo sleeeeeepy...I'm now at Incheon International airport awaiting my flight to Beijing. Arrived at 4:30am from HK. I stretched out across some seats and slept for a couple of hours, awaking to pangs of hunger. I still had some Korean won left from the last time I was here so I went to find something to eat. Come to think of it, I'm carrying 4 currencies on me - won, HKD, AUD & JPY! Anyway, I had spicy Korean noodles...maybe a little too spicy for me. Or maybe not a good choice for an early breakfast. Turned my stomach upside down. Yesterday, I went to yum cha in Nth. Point with the grandparents, Aunty Y. and Linda. In the afternoon, I went to exchange some CNY, did some last minute shopping, visited Chairman Chan at her cafe ("eat right - HK's healthiest cafe" on Shelley St. next to the Central escalators^^) for arvo tea, then went back up to 13E to finish packing. Just me and the grandparents at dinner...not much conversation, but I wish I could say more. I must brush up on my Cantonese.^^ On a different note, I've heard lots of stories about Beijing...mostly bad. People say that the weather is extreme, pollution is bad, the people are no good, everything is fake...should I perhaps have packed my own little supermarket? Oh well, I guess I'll just have to live with it. There's gotta be something good about the place, right? I've always considered myself a careful person, but I promise to be extra extra careful. To all those who gave me numbers of acquaintances in Beijing/China, masks, etc., thank you thank you thank you! Thanks also for everyone's kind concern and advice.^_^ Ahhh! Gotta go. Now boarding. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ねむい～！今、韓国の仁川国際空港で北京行きの便を待っている。香港からの飛行機は４：３０AMに着いた。ベンチに横になって、数時間寝ていたら、おなかがすいていて目が覚めた。前回韓国に来たときに使い残したお金を持ってきたので、食べ物を買いに行った。（考えたら、貨幣（？）を4種類持っているの‐ウオン、香港ドル、オーストラリアドルと日本円！）辛い麺を食べて、おなかがおかしくなった。ちょっと辛い過ぎたかな。または、朝に食べるのが良くないもの... 昨日、祖父母とおばとLindaと飲茶を食べに行った。午後、銀行で両替して、買い物して、いとこの喫茶店でお茶して、祖父母のところに戻って、荷造りを終わった。晩御飯は祖父母と私、3人で食べた。会話が少なくて、ちょっと緊張した雰囲気だった。もっとしゃべれるようになりたいね。広東語を勉強しないと！^^ 話は変わるが、北京について色々聞いたけど、ほとんどは良くない話:「気候が良くない」「公害がひどい」「治安が良くない」「偽者が多い」などなど。。。抱えて生きるしかないね。でも、良い点はきっとあるでしょう。とにかく気をつけます！^^ 友達や、親戚の親戚や、知り合いなどの連絡先をくれた方、色々手伝ってくれた方、ありがとう！心配してくれた方、アドバイスをくれた方もありがとう！ ああ～～～行かなきゃ！搭乗中！ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Take-off

My journey began with a 4:45 AM wake-up call yesterday morning. By 5:15 AM we were out of the house and on our way to the airport for the 8:05 Singapore Airlines flight to...Singapore! Well, for about an hour. Next stop Hong Kong.

I love Singapore Airlines! The food was great...well, mostly. It was corn fritters for brekky, spinach and tomato penne for lunch, and saffron rice vegies for dinner. Dinner wasn't so good, but they warmed up the bread roll properly.^^

They have a library of about 80 international films that anyone can watch at their own leisure on their own personal monitor. You can even use the remote control to pause, fast forward, rewind, etc.!! I watched 3 French films...not because I particularly like French films; I just felt like watching something different. I also watched a Singaporean movie about a young boy who is living on instant noodles while his mother is away overseas and is fascinated by the sad and lonely Korean man living in the same apartment block. The poor kid. I guess the loneliness of the 2 main characters kinda rubbed off on me. The French films I watched were more light-hearted though, and Over the Hedge was cute!

Lunch with the Hungs today. Dinner with the HK COCs and my German buddy (+1) tonight.

Til next time, folks! (^o^)/

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（変な日本語ですみませんが、良かったら読んでみてください。^^；）

昨日、4：４５AMに起きて、５：１５AMまでに家を出て、空港に向かいました。シンガポール行きの８：０５AM便に乗りました。シンガポールで1時間待ち、次は香港。

Singapore Airlinesはすごく良かった！食事はほとんどおいしかった。朝ごはんはスイートコーンのお好み焼きみたいなもの（？）、昼はほうれん草とトマトのペンネ、夜は蒸し野菜とご飯。晩御飯はあまり美味しくなかったけれど、パンはちゃんと温めてくれた。^^

映画も沢山あって、個人のモニターで、好きな時間に、見ることができる。ポーズ、早送りなども自由にできる！私が見たのはほとんどフランス映画だったが、悲しいシンガポール映画も一本見た。そして、Over the Hedgeというアニメーションも見た。とてもかわいかった。^^

今日の昼は親戚と一緒に食べる予定で、夜は香港で働いているいとこ達とドイツ人の友達2人と一緒に。

では、また。^o^
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