This week has definitely been much better than last week. I am so grateful as my friend was able to fix my computer. It took him 8 hours and he had to delete the hard drive and start over, but I have all my programs like Skype loaded again, and my computer works great.
This week I had the opportunity to meet and briefly chat with the author of my Chinese textbook. Martin Symonds is a British man who wrote the five textbooks of Chinese Made Easier as well as a few other books that are intermediate to advanced level Chinese. A few months out of the year Martin travels throughout China to all the universities that use his textbooks to have an opportunity to speak with students regarding his curriculum. I enjoyed my meeting with Martin and appreciated the feedback that he gave to help me improve my learning of Chinese.
Speaking of improving my learning of Chinese......earlier this week both of my teachers meet to discuss the best plan of action to make my Chinese the best that it can be. Both of my teachers agreed with Martin that the area I need some more practice is with grammar. Most people would be able to understand what I am saying with the grammar patterns that I have been using; however, it is best to correct my mistakes with grammar now rather than later. I will be finishing book 2 in class this week, and then before starting book 3, my teachers want me to spend a week to two weeks doing exercises to improve my grammar.
I have some more cultural differences that I would like to share with you next time. Until then, hoping that you are well and that you may be filled with joyous moments and peaceful days.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
I first want to say 'Happy Easter!' As I reflect today on the meaning of Easter, I know am extremely thankful and blessed for my life and for where I am. I will share with you in a little bit about how I spent my Easter.
Well, it has definitely been a long week filled with the 'good, bad, and the ugly.' Overall things really are good, and I am still loving being here, but I wouldn't be honest if I didn't say that this week was an emotional roller coaster. I will start with the 'ugly' things of the week and end on a 'good' note.
So, the 'ugly' has been that my computer has either gotten a virus or is one step away from crashing. The first two days of the week it worked like normal, and then by Wednesday my laptop started removing a few programs such as Skype, and will not allow me to download new versions. The positive is that I can use my laptop to check email and update my blog by running it in a temporary mode, but I basically lose anything I try to save to the computer. I have a friend that said he is willing to look at it and see if he can fix it for me, and if not, then I will be waiting until this summer to get it fixed in the States. And luckily, it is still under warranty too.
Now for the 'bad' of the week. The week started out on Monday with me having an asthma attack, which I have not had in awhile, and required the use of all three of my inhalers. Unfortunately I did not make it to class that day as it happened a few hours before class and the air that day was very polluted - not the best idea to go out in when you are having trouble breathing. And apparently I was not done for the week since on Wednesday I chipped off part of a bottom molar while eating a piece of bread (I mean all those years I was told not to chew ice because it could do this, but instead it is a piece of bread? Just have to laugh). Unless something changes and I start to have problems, I plan on waiting until this summer in the States to get this fixed too - dentists here don't use anything to numb before procedures and many places still use formaldehyde for fillings (I am pretty sure the latter is forbidden in the States nowadays). Right now the inside of the tooth is not exposed and I don't feel like I am jeopardizing anything by waiting, so in the meantime I am just keeping an eye on it. Oh, and on Friday a group of us went out for dinner and we all ate cow tongue - definitely did not know it at the time. We were at a Korean restaurant and did not order it, but it was accidentally placed with the other meats we ordered, and after eating a few pieces we asked what it was since it tasted different than the rest. All I can say is green tea really does help with digestion of weird foods.
Now, for the 'good' of the week and the things that make it all worth it. On Tuesday this week I attended a Chinese corner where I had the opportunity outside of class to practice Chinese, and I actually felt comfortable in using my Chinese in a discussion. And on Thursday night I went out to dinner with one of my teachers. We had a great time and I enjoyed hearing her heart on what she feels her 'work' is to look like in the next few years. One thing that she desires is to be a mother and to have 4 children (2 of her own and 2 adopted); however, in order for that to happen she would have to move to another country and get married or marry a foreigner. When I stop to think about it, it seems like a simple thing to want to be a mother and to have children of your own or to adopt, but when you have a government that dictates you can only have 1, and you feel the passion has been put in you to be a mother, than it has got to be a challenge, but one I feel my teacher will overcome.
And finally, to conclude my week: Easter Sunday. Twice a year (for Christmas and Easter) here there is a service called citywide. All the foreigners living in the city gather at a hotel meeting room that is centrally located for everyone (about 40 minutes away for me) and have a time of fellowship and celebrating. There were about 225 people there and this morning reminded me of what many of you were experiencing at home on this day - including many people even wearing spring colors. It was also a perfect day weather wise with a temperature of 75 degrees and the sun shining. I am thankful for the sacrifice, rising, and eternal reward.
I hope that you all have a blessed week.
Well, it has definitely been a long week filled with the 'good, bad, and the ugly.' Overall things really are good, and I am still loving being here, but I wouldn't be honest if I didn't say that this week was an emotional roller coaster. I will start with the 'ugly' things of the week and end on a 'good' note.
So, the 'ugly' has been that my computer has either gotten a virus or is one step away from crashing. The first two days of the week it worked like normal, and then by Wednesday my laptop started removing a few programs such as Skype, and will not allow me to download new versions. The positive is that I can use my laptop to check email and update my blog by running it in a temporary mode, but I basically lose anything I try to save to the computer. I have a friend that said he is willing to look at it and see if he can fix it for me, and if not, then I will be waiting until this summer to get it fixed in the States. And luckily, it is still under warranty too.
Now for the 'bad' of the week. The week started out on Monday with me having an asthma attack, which I have not had in awhile, and required the use of all three of my inhalers. Unfortunately I did not make it to class that day as it happened a few hours before class and the air that day was very polluted - not the best idea to go out in when you are having trouble breathing. And apparently I was not done for the week since on Wednesday I chipped off part of a bottom molar while eating a piece of bread (I mean all those years I was told not to chew ice because it could do this, but instead it is a piece of bread? Just have to laugh). Unless something changes and I start to have problems, I plan on waiting until this summer in the States to get this fixed too - dentists here don't use anything to numb before procedures and many places still use formaldehyde for fillings (I am pretty sure the latter is forbidden in the States nowadays). Right now the inside of the tooth is not exposed and I don't feel like I am jeopardizing anything by waiting, so in the meantime I am just keeping an eye on it. Oh, and on Friday a group of us went out for dinner and we all ate cow tongue - definitely did not know it at the time. We were at a Korean restaurant and did not order it, but it was accidentally placed with the other meats we ordered, and after eating a few pieces we asked what it was since it tasted different than the rest. All I can say is green tea really does help with digestion of weird foods.
Now, for the 'good' of the week and the things that make it all worth it. On Tuesday this week I attended a Chinese corner where I had the opportunity outside of class to practice Chinese, and I actually felt comfortable in using my Chinese in a discussion. And on Thursday night I went out to dinner with one of my teachers. We had a great time and I enjoyed hearing her heart on what she feels her 'work' is to look like in the next few years. One thing that she desires is to be a mother and to have 4 children (2 of her own and 2 adopted); however, in order for that to happen she would have to move to another country and get married or marry a foreigner. When I stop to think about it, it seems like a simple thing to want to be a mother and to have children of your own or to adopt, but when you have a government that dictates you can only have 1, and you feel the passion has been put in you to be a mother, than it has got to be a challenge, but one I feel my teacher will overcome.
And finally, to conclude my week: Easter Sunday. Twice a year (for Christmas and Easter) here there is a service called citywide. All the foreigners living in the city gather at a hotel meeting room that is centrally located for everyone (about 40 minutes away for me) and have a time of fellowship and celebrating. There were about 225 people there and this morning reminded me of what many of you were experiencing at home on this day - including many people even wearing spring colors. It was also a perfect day weather wise with a temperature of 75 degrees and the sun shining. I am thankful for the sacrifice, rising, and eternal reward.
I hope that you all have a blessed week.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Busy Two Weeks
Hey! Sorry for the delay in posting a blog. It has been a busy two weeks as well as having intermittent problems with Internet service here.
My Chinese classes continue to challenge me, and require between 2-3 hours of study each day to keep up (though I am sure most Chinese would say that is still not enough time spent on studying - more about that in a few minutes). I do feel like I am still progressing with my language comprehension, though there are days that I feel like my brain is mush when class is over. At least once a week I, along with my Western friend (mentioned in last week's blog) and our teachers go to lunch after class, where my friend and I are challenged to use our Chinese to order or to ask for something. It has been good practice, but I still struggle with the Chinese concept of getting the waitress/waiter's attention to ask for something, such as the bill. In the States when you are trying to get the waitress/waiter's attention, you either make eye contact to signal that you need something, or subtly use another method. Well, here in China when you want something you literally yell for the waiter to come to your table. I feel like it sounds like you are mad at the waitress/waiter and that you are demanding that you are the only customer needing something. It may be silly, but I try to wait until the waitress/waiter comes by the table and then I ask for whatever I need. In my opinion they are still a person who deserves to be treated with respect and courtesy.
Ok, so to get to the Chinese concept of studying. Since being here, I have noticed many nights that children are out on the playground in my neighborhood playing at 9 and 10pm. I was a little baffled by this, as obviously in the States children play during daylight hours, so I asked my teacher about it. She proceeded to tell me about the typical amounts of studying for different age groups of children - I thought that you might be interested too, so here is a run down.
My Chinese classes continue to challenge me, and require between 2-3 hours of study each day to keep up (though I am sure most Chinese would say that is still not enough time spent on studying - more about that in a few minutes). I do feel like I am still progressing with my language comprehension, though there are days that I feel like my brain is mush when class is over. At least once a week I, along with my Western friend (mentioned in last week's blog) and our teachers go to lunch after class, where my friend and I are challenged to use our Chinese to order or to ask for something. It has been good practice, but I still struggle with the Chinese concept of getting the waitress/waiter's attention to ask for something, such as the bill. In the States when you are trying to get the waitress/waiter's attention, you either make eye contact to signal that you need something, or subtly use another method. Well, here in China when you want something you literally yell for the waiter to come to your table. I feel like it sounds like you are mad at the waitress/waiter and that you are demanding that you are the only customer needing something. It may be silly, but I try to wait until the waitress/waiter comes by the table and then I ask for whatever I need. In my opinion they are still a person who deserves to be treated with respect and courtesy.
Ok, so to get to the Chinese concept of studying. Since being here, I have noticed many nights that children are out on the playground in my neighborhood playing at 9 and 10pm. I was a little baffled by this, as obviously in the States children play during daylight hours, so I asked my teacher about it. She proceeded to tell me about the typical amounts of studying for different age groups of children - I thought that you might be interested too, so here is a run down.
- A 4 year old child typically has 2 tutors to teach them each week for a few hours a day.
- A 6-11 year old child studies from the time they get home from school until 9 or 10pm, plays outside for 30 minutes to an hour and then goes to bed. Sometimes the child even studies in the morning before going to school.
- A 12-13 year old child studies from the time they get home from school until midnight and then goes to bed. Sometimes the child even studies in the morning before going to school.
- A 14-18 year old child studies from the time they get home from school until midnight or 1am and then goes to bed. Sometimes the child even studies in the morning before going to school as well as during the nap time in the middle of the school day.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Cruise Control is Off
So, I have now had six days of classes, and I can tell you that we are not cruising anymore, but rather are speeding down the highway of learning Mandarin. When classes resumed last Monday I was informed by both my teachers that they would no longer use any English in class unless a new concept was being introduced. So, you can imagine how much I am being challenged with listening to Chinese being spoken, as well as having to speak it in return to answer a question. I was slightly overwhelmed the first class trying to recall everything that I have learned so far, but as time is progressing I feel like some of my language is finally coming together nicely. I even surprised myself today with a really long response to a question in Chinese. I guess all the studying over the holiday is finally starting to pay off.
For other news....I met a new Western friend last week at club (Sunday fellowship) and we immediately hit it off. She is from a village town called Pingliang where she has been an English teacher for 2 and 1/2 years. Thanks to a volunteer English teacher coming to Pingliang, my friend has finally had the opportunity to come to Xi'an begin to learn the language. While she is only here for a few months (she has to go back to Pingliang to finish the school year teaching), I am still excited to be able to hang out with her from time to time, and to have another single person to talk to who is experiencing the same things I am experiencing.
Also, my new friend is studying at my school as well, so she and I have had a few opportunities to spend some time with our Chinese teachers outside of class. One day we took our teachers and another teacher out to lunch, which was a lot of fun. And last Friday night, one of the teachers invited my friend and I to KTV (karaoke television) since I had not the privilege of experiencing it yet. The Chinese are fascinated with KTV and many people go every weekend. KTV was quite entertaining to say the least. You are given a private room that includes 2 microphones, a TV, couch, and a control panel. The control panel allows you to choose songs in about 6 different languages, and while the words are displayed on the screen to sing along to, there are also music videos playing in the background, which in my opinion were the best part of the night. Some music videos are the actual videos made with the song being sung, and other videos include a Chinese person singing the song and Chinese dancers in the background - which is funny when you are singing a Barbara Streisand song.
One thing that I have really learned in the past 7 months is that everything here in China is about guanxi (means relationship). The Chinese hold to the concept that they don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. On Saturday, as I was at my school for the grand opening of our second classroom facilities, I realized that my guanxi the past 7 months has been with my teachers as well as the other teachers at my school. All of my teachers are a part of the family, but many of them have only been in the family for a short time and still have so many questions. Many of them were supported when they joined the family, but then the support stopped immediately after that. I have been grateful that I have been allowed the opportunity to come alongside and be that support for them now because ultimately when I leave China one day, it will be my teachers that are still here supporting others in the family.
Well, I will close for now, but I hope that you all are now enjoying the longer days of sunshine since daylight savings time has come and gone. I am sure you would all love to have that extra hour of sleep back though. I am just glad to be back to exactly 12 hours difference in time between here and there, since that extra hour really made a difference some days. I'll be checking in again soon, until then have a great week.
For other news....I met a new Western friend last week at club (Sunday fellowship) and we immediately hit it off. She is from a village town called Pingliang where she has been an English teacher for 2 and 1/2 years. Thanks to a volunteer English teacher coming to Pingliang, my friend has finally had the opportunity to come to Xi'an begin to learn the language. While she is only here for a few months (she has to go back to Pingliang to finish the school year teaching), I am still excited to be able to hang out with her from time to time, and to have another single person to talk to who is experiencing the same things I am experiencing.
Also, my new friend is studying at my school as well, so she and I have had a few opportunities to spend some time with our Chinese teachers outside of class. One day we took our teachers and another teacher out to lunch, which was a lot of fun. And last Friday night, one of the teachers invited my friend and I to KTV (karaoke television) since I had not the privilege of experiencing it yet. The Chinese are fascinated with KTV and many people go every weekend. KTV was quite entertaining to say the least. You are given a private room that includes 2 microphones, a TV, couch, and a control panel. The control panel allows you to choose songs in about 6 different languages, and while the words are displayed on the screen to sing along to, there are also music videos playing in the background, which in my opinion were the best part of the night. Some music videos are the actual videos made with the song being sung, and other videos include a Chinese person singing the song and Chinese dancers in the background - which is funny when you are singing a Barbara Streisand song.
One thing that I have really learned in the past 7 months is that everything here in China is about guanxi (means relationship). The Chinese hold to the concept that they don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. On Saturday, as I was at my school for the grand opening of our second classroom facilities, I realized that my guanxi the past 7 months has been with my teachers as well as the other teachers at my school. All of my teachers are a part of the family, but many of them have only been in the family for a short time and still have so many questions. Many of them were supported when they joined the family, but then the support stopped immediately after that. I have been grateful that I have been allowed the opportunity to come alongside and be that support for them now because ultimately when I leave China one day, it will be my teachers that are still here supporting others in the family.
Well, I will close for now, but I hope that you all are now enjoying the longer days of sunshine since daylight savings time has come and gone. I am sure you would all love to have that extra hour of sleep back though. I am just glad to be back to exactly 12 hours difference in time between here and there, since that extra hour really made a difference some days. I'll be checking in again soon, until then have a great week.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Back to School
The Chinese New Year celebrations are over, and I am glad to be getting back to some sense of normalcy. It was a good break spent in fellowship with friends, but at the same time was somewhat boring with many places (other than some grocery stores) closed for the entire month. The upside to the 'downtime' was that I was able to do a lot of studying. I spent 3-4 hours per day studying by reviewing all vocabulary (from definition to correct tones), to answering all the sentence translations at the end of each chapter. The real test of how much I have learned will be determined tomorrow when classes resume.
Speaking of classes, mine will be a little different this semester. Instead of continuing with 2-to-1 like I was doing last semester, I will now be doing 1-to-1. My friend, whom I was taking classes with last semester, is farther ahead of me and it had become apparent that she felt like class was moving too fast for me to keep up with her pace of learning, and I felt like I was slowing her down. (Side note: my friend has lived here in China for 2 years, and had begun language before, but being a mother had to put language on the back burner for a short time, but by starting over with me it helped her to eventually remember things that she had learned from living here 2 years.) So, we both decided that this semester would be a great opportunity for me to do 1-to-1 in order to progress my language, but at a pace that I will continue to retain the information. I do know one thing, it will be a challenge since I don't have anyone else to rely on to help out when I don't understand, but I also know it will force me to 'step it up a notch' in my learning too. One thing that I am excited about is that I will still have two teachers this semester as well. I will have one of my teachers from last semester again, and the other teacher will be the one that went with me to help on my teaching trip to the village. I really like all the teachers from our school, and would be happy to have any of them, but feel that I have begun to build relationships with these two, so am excited to continue that this semester. I will keep you posted on how my first week in 1-to-1 goes.
Speaking of classes, mine will be a little different this semester. Instead of continuing with 2-to-1 like I was doing last semester, I will now be doing 1-to-1. My friend, whom I was taking classes with last semester, is farther ahead of me and it had become apparent that she felt like class was moving too fast for me to keep up with her pace of learning, and I felt like I was slowing her down. (Side note: my friend has lived here in China for 2 years, and had begun language before, but being a mother had to put language on the back burner for a short time, but by starting over with me it helped her to eventually remember things that she had learned from living here 2 years.) So, we both decided that this semester would be a great opportunity for me to do 1-to-1 in order to progress my language, but at a pace that I will continue to retain the information. I do know one thing, it will be a challenge since I don't have anyone else to rely on to help out when I don't understand, but I also know it will force me to 'step it up a notch' in my learning too. One thing that I am excited about is that I will still have two teachers this semester as well. I will have one of my teachers from last semester again, and the other teacher will be the one that went with me to help on my teaching trip to the village. I really like all the teachers from our school, and would be happy to have any of them, but feel that I have begun to build relationships with these two, so am excited to continue that this semester. I will keep you posted on how my first week in 1-to-1 goes.
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