Having been in China for a grand total of two months, I feel like I am an expert. (An expert-what, I don’t know. That is yet to be determined.) A few things that I feel I’m somewhat of an expert at: I have stopped freaking out while biking between lanes of traffic, going out into traffic to go around a bus does not phase me anymore, even when the bus starts to merge back into traffic, and I’m able to communicate with many different people either in English, Chinglish, my very limited Chinese, charades, grunting, or my personal favorite, smiling and shrugging! 🙂 So maybe I’m not an expert, but I’m definitely getting more confident!
The past week was a pretty ‘normal’ week…if there is such a thing as normal in China. I taught all of my classes, had all of my B studies, met friends for supper, and went to another concert, this time at Peking University. I’ll start with Saturday of last week:
I had my regular 3rd grade/7th grade Saturday. Much like in the states, many students are sick and missing school because of it. I haven’t had a full class in a few weeks. After school on Saturday, I headed home to get ready for the concert at the Forbidden City Concert Hall. One of my friends was in this concert. A large group of foreigners and one Chinese friend–Kevin, from the train–went to the concert. The concert was awesome. This was also the first time that I was down near Tian’anmen Square 天安门广场. It was very beautiful in that part of the city. Were I live, there are many large buildings all around. This part of town seemed more open and free. In the distance, (also in the dark) I could see the Grand National Theater 国家大剧院. It is shaped like a huge egg and looks sort of mysterious in the dark. I can’t wait to come to this part of the city during the day sometime! After the concert, the group of 11 foreigners and one Chinese person went to a wine bar for some conversation. I was so happy that there were people in our group who could communicate in Chinese with Kevin. He makes fun of himself for being so bad at English. He will point at himself and say, “Chinglish” sometimes. It’s humorous but I think he is too hard on himself.
Sunday was our regular study and service in the morning with the foreigners. A distant relative of mine was here in Beijing giving a talk at a nearby university and came to our Sunday service. Afterward, the group went to our usual place for lunch. I’m starting to get tired of our usual place and kind of hope we find a new ‘usual’ place to have lunch on Sundays! During the afternoon, a few teachers and the distant relative went to the electronics market. This was my first time there. It was very overwhelming and if I never have to go back, I will not be sad.
Sunday evening, Kevin and my roommate and I had supper together. It was sort of like a little music geek night out! It was nice to have her along so that she could speak a little Chinese and add some fun to the conversation. She told him he couldn’t bring his dictionary with him anymore! 🙂 I don’t think he liked that! He told us about his English class that day and about some phrases/idioms that he was learning. One of them was ‘the kiss of Judas’. So we taught him the word betray. It was interesting to find out that the Chinese translation of that word is ‘the smile behind the knife.’ Hmmm…. I looked at my roommate and told her that this could be our ‘in’. We explained who Judas was and why that phrase means to betray. She had along her English/Chinese B BOOK so that he could read the story about Judas. It was an interesting way to introduce him to G’s WORD but it worked. Kevin said he would come to the study on Thursday night.
Monday morning, I woke up feeling pretty sick. I worked on planning a B study with a friend and planning my lessons for the coming week. Then I went back to bed. I met two of the other teachers for supper that evening and we went ‘street shopping.’ This was pretty fun and I’m sure I would have enjoyed it more if I had been feeling better. Tuesday was a very long day. I had class at Qinghua, class at Sinopec, and then B study in the evening.
Wednesday was interesting. I only teach at Qinghua on Wednesdays and afterward, Ms. Fan asked me to have lunch with her. She took me to a place on the campus and another one of her friends joined us. It was buffet-style place, which is weird to see in China. She pointed me to the western food and told me I could eat that. I then told her that I quite enjoy Chinese food, but that I would try some of both. We found a place to sit and then she brought me a pair of chopsticks and a fork and spoon. She said she didn’t know if I could eat with chopsticks. I told her that I actually kind of prefer eating with them! It must be a Chinese thing to force people to keep eating. I was stuffed and she kept saying ‘eat more.’ I told her that I had had enough and then she said ‘just exercise more!’ She then proceeded to tell me that swimming was the best form of exercise and that we could go swimming the following week! Yikes…
On Thursday, after teaching, I met with Kevin for supper before the B study he was coming to. I think he was nervous about the study because he didn’t know what to expect. I would have probably felt the same if I had been him. We got to the study and there were 12 Chinese people there! Some speak English quite well while others know barely any. It was really neat to see them help each other understand. During one of these Chinese moments, I looked across to the other teacher and just smiled! It was awesome to hear them read 1 Cor. 13 together in Chinese!
I went to another concert on Friday evening, this time at Peking University. It was a performance of Gabriel Faure’s piano trio and also Ernet Chausson’s piano quartet. It was also very well done! Afterward, the four of us met some other friends for chuar and conversation! I had to leave semi-early because I had to teach the next day! All in all, it was a great week. Besides feeling sick for most of the week, I feel like things are starting to be more routine.
On a lighter note, I’ve come to have somewhat of an obsession with photographing signs. Below is just a sampling of the many, many Chinglish signs that I have seen. Enjoy!
I had to be closer to get a picture of the awesome sign!
I didn't know which way to go...hmm...
I really have no idea on this one!
This one is actually decent English.
This one is a "stupid English" one. Why does 'inflammable' mean 'flammable'?
This one is particularly brilliant!
Unfortunately, we were unable to go inside to see this phenomenon!
I have no words for this one.
Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of it?
