The Countdown. And the Smog

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Hey everyone!

So the semester is winding down, as we only have two weeks left. TWO WEEKS!! That's insane. This Friday we are retaking the entry placement exam to see how much progress we've made, and next Friday we have our final exams. So soon! In the meantime, school has been canceled for two days this week (Tuesday and Wednesday), due to the Red Alert in Beijing. This is the first time the government has ever issued such an alert in Beijing, and although the pollution levels this week are not supposed to be as bad as they were last week, the levels are expected to stay within the dangerous zones for a few days. In response, Beijing has shut down schools and construction sites, warning people to stay inside and to definitely wear face masks when having to venture outside. While it is nice to have a few days off (and I am seriously glad I'm in the intensive language program right now as my friends taking English classes have a buttload of papers to write), it's also pretty freaky to look out the window and see only the closest buildings. Everything else has been obscured by the smog. On the one hand, it's kind of sketchy when you think about breathing in that air, but on the other, no school and gross air gives me an excuse to stay inside and be lazy.

Last Friday we visited my Chinese teacher's high school alma matter. It was a great chance to kind of talk with some Chinese high schoolers, and it was an overall pretty interesting experience. My friends were expecting that it would be a)elementary/middle schoolers and b)it would just be in one class, but it was actually with a few classes and took place in the auditorium. The high school itself was VERY nice, and you could definitely tell they have money. The library was beautiful (not huge, but with three glass walls, and a beautiful layout, and the auditorium had a wall made up of screen panelings, which was super high-tech. They began by playing us a video about the school and all of the amazing things they do (like having aviation classes. In the middle of Beijing?), and the amazing students they have (like the one who discovered a new insect species). I asked my teacher and she said that the school wasn't even the richest in Beijing, and that it was a mid-level high school, which seemed crazy to me. Anyways, we began by introducing ourselves up on stage (with a microphone, talk about scary), in Chinese, which I think impressed them a lot. Throughout the event, I had the distinct impression that they weren't expecting us to know any Chinese, so we surprised them. After introductions, they had a lot of games that they had us play. First we would play hot potato with a stuffed animal, and whoever ended up with the thing after the music stopped had to play. One of the games involved teaching one of my classmates how to write "dragon" (龙 lóng), which we all already knew and is much simpler than many of the characters we are writing on a daily basis. But my friend played along and let them "teach" him how to write it. After they taught him, they wanted him to teach one of us how to write it. Since I study traditional, and I know how to write it because it's such a fun character, I volunteered. I watched him write it once, then went ahead and wrote it my way (龍). At first they were really confused as to what I was doing, because obviously the strokes are very different, but once they figured it out, they were all very surprised/impressed. To be honest, that was probably the highlight of the entire thing for me. Learning traditional has paid off! (But seriously, one of the teachers is very insistent that I should switch to simplified. I understand why she thinks so--everyone on the mainland uses it, and it would be more useful if I plan on doing stuff within the mainland, and it's also easier--but I still think that traditional looks nicer and really like the history it carries. It's an uphill battle though.) Anyways, after playing games we got to speak with small groups for a little while, which was interesting, although my group had one girl who loved to talk and really wanted to practice her English (which was really good), while the rest of them seemed very intimidated, even when I asked them questions in Chinese. Actually, I think using Chinese made some of them more intimidated.... It also didn't help that they would answer my questions using a lot of words I didn't know. Overall, it was a good experience, and I'm really glad we had the opportunity.

That's all for now... next week I will probably talk more about the impending end, but I can't think about that now. TOO SOON!! Until next time!

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Photos

The pollution
Photo creds to Andrea, who took both of these photos from her dorm room window

Comments

[Terry May]

Leftovers and Smog
Hi Katie, Going back to a previous blog, I'd say the 'leftover women' sound like they'd be highly sought after here in the US. As for the smog, it's an issue the Party leaders are finding they can't cover up or ignore (unlike here in the US where some politicians simply choose to ignore or deny the problem). For you though, it's a real hazard - do you ever wear a mask? I sent your parents a photo of Xihu in Hangzhou where you can barely make out a walkway and bridge - ugh! Good luck with your upcoming exams - hopefully you can breath easier when they're over. We had dinner with your parents - at Rio of course. They're excited about seeing you soon! Oh yeah, Judy says, 'Hi,' also. Terry

[katiekate]

Re: Leftovers and Smog
Hey Terry! At the beginning I didn't wear masks, but of course the pollution wasn't nearly this bad. Our program director actually bought us masks to wear, so I've been wearing that recently. “Hi” to Judy, and I can't wait to see you all when I get back!