But not all is gloom and doom.  After a few weeks of looking awkwardly at my classmates and saying, “Wo… yao… chi…fan” and having them respend, “Wo… ye… yao… chi… fan”, I think we’ve finally gotten the hang of things.  Everyone is here to learn Chinese, and we there is no shame is asking questions to teachers, the Chinese roommates, or even other more experienced IES students.  As much as we dread the inconvenience of the language pledge, we somehow get through the day with a combination of our oh-so-limited Chinese, wild hand gestures, facial expressions, nudges, winks, sign language, and ever useful “INSERT ENGLISH HERE zenme shuo?” (How do you say ______ in English?”.  As my Chinese roommate once said, “If you don’t learn to fail, you will fail to learn”.  Is this the famous Confucius wisdom that is innate to the people of China?  

It amazes me how quickly people pick up on the language while here.  Half the students right now are new students to this program, but the other half are continuing students from last semester.  Most of them didn’t intend on doing it again at first, but it seems that they just loved the study abroad experience so much they extended it to a full year at the last minute.  I feel thats a good thing.  I was once sharing a cab with a bunch of classmates, and one of the returning students was able to pick up a conversation with the cab driver very well.  I was shocked and amazed.  And I though to myself, maybe by the end of the semester I can do that too.  And maybe thats not such a long shot goal; last semester she was in the level I am in currently. 

I always just thought the tongue would come naturally, and I realize that maybe not.  I need to put a lot of work into this semester if I want to improve my Chinese.  Talking with cab drivers, picking up new phrases and increasing fluency with my Chinese roommate, learning from other students, going out there and exploring Beijing with no inhibitions and delving into the culture.  This is the kind of mindset one needs.  

Oh and FYE, some photos

My Chinese Class.  From left to right: Kaili, Lide, Jieke (Kelly, Cliff, and Jack, respectively).  Why are there only 6 desks in the shot?  Well, you guessed it.  Only 6 students in the class, which seems to be the average for all the classes.  

Just another manic monday.

Calligraphy Class!  Don’t be fooled, harder than it looks.  

And don’t forget about…

THE PANDAS!!!  It doesn’t really fit with the class theme, but it had to be done.  This one might know kung-fu.

Will update soon, with Chunjie adventures.  Chunjie is Chinese new years/spring festival, btw.  

Till next time!