Kuai diar! (Faster!)

Hi, everybody!

Today was the first official day of classes, and as panicked as I probably sounded in my last post, I am really happy and relieved that we finally have structure to our days. This doesn't mean that the structure isn't extremely demanding, though. Last night, after writing to all of you, I had to go and learn those 60 new words. After I learned all the pinyin, it was about midnight and I physically could not keep my eyes open any longer. I took a nice hot shower and went to bed. I set my alarm early, though, and woke up at 5:30 to learn all the characters. I'm surprised that I'm not more tired than I am -- especially since I haven't had any coffee!! So, I learned everything I was supposed to, went to my lecture and had a dictation. One thing I have found is that all the teachers (including the ones who spoke slowly to us at Harvard) speak much more quickly than what I'm used to. So, at the beginning of our 75 minute lecture, when Wang laoshi (our unbelievably adorable and maternal teacher) began saying the dictation, we all froze as though she had just thrown a bucket of cold water on us. She might as well have. We couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't write. She enjoyed every minute of it and finally relented and pronounced each phrase more slowly, enunciating so that we could catch the words we had barely learned last night.

Next was small break, signaled by the shrill blast of a plastic whistle. I haven't had a bell announce the beginning and end of each class since high school ... and even then, it was a bell -- not what you would expect to hear if you were in trouble with an old-school policeman. Anyway, we took our break and then went to a new room to have "Reading Class." Each lesson has a 2 - 3 page dialogue and we have to make sure to have read it, to internalize details of the plot, and to read the text or answer questions about it in class the next day. So, with our small class teacher, Fu Qiuyu laoshi (her name means autumn rain -- very pretty!), we went sentence by sentence. Fu laoshi pressed us to read as quickly as possible, more often than not, pausing to correct a tonal mistake or to say "kuai diar!" (faster!) She became especially strict whenever Feng laoshi (the program head) would come in to watch or take notes. Sometimes Timo, the program secretary would come in and video tape us too, which was especially distracting. We tried very hard, but this text is unlike our previous text in that it does not have any pinyin (the romanized system for writing the sounds of Chinese words). We are unaccustomed to reading characters quickly, so it was difficult at first, but by the end, we were doing a little better.

After Reading Class, we had another break. I was so hungry that I had to buy a little roll, which was warm and delicious. That was probably an unnecessary detail, but let me tell you, it definitely makes Top 3 best moments of the experience so far. Next we had Drill Class for 2 hours, during which we practiced all the grammar we had learned today. That was more fun and very interesting -- the teachers and the Yale students say certain things that we have learned using different words or little twists. So, it's been a little disorienting, but very stimulating. Oh! Another thing I forgot to mention is that there are 97 students total at HBA and 49 teachers! I can't believe how many teachers there are -- so, we're getting a lot of attention. My "big" lecture class had maybe 10 people in it. My Drill Class had 4 including me. Such small class size is great because you actually get to practice a lot, whereas during the school year, even with 8 people in my drill class (which, by any other class' standards is very small), I felt like I had to wait my turn to try out the grammar pattern of the moment. Here, I can't escape the classroom spotlight even if I want to.

After those 4 hrs of class, we went back to the dorm, got sandwiches at the internet cafe and checked some email. A lot of email. It was a nice break before going back to the classroom to have my individual session. Each day we also have one-on-one 1 hr session with a teacher. This is also really nice because it gives us a real chance to nail some sentences fluently. My teacher for this session was Yan laoshi (yan means strict!). She was very very nice and loves Grey's Anatomy. She told me that, if I want to be a doctor, I should definitely watch the show to see if medicine is really for me! I think she might have only been half joking, though -- she really takes it seriously and analyzed the philosophical dichotomy between two of the show's main characters. She was really cute; I like her a lot.

When I came back to the dorm, I planned to just change my clothes and rush off to Martial Arts class, but the internet people needed to get me set up to have internet in my room, so I did not have time to go, unfortunately. Now, I feel very full and a little nervous about how many words I have to learn tonight (87!) in addition to doing a homework assignment on today's material. I think that I am going to get some food from the Muslim restaurant tonight and just study for the rest. A word about food: I am quickly mastering the art of the all-carbs diet. I have had very little besides bread, potatoes, noodles, and rice. It's delicious. But, I am starting to really want some fruit...

Anyway, that's pretty much all there is for today. Getting started has been very uplifting and stimulating. Keep letting me know what is going on with you -- I love hearing from all of you. I'll write more tomorrow, but in the meantime, by the time (most of) you read this, good morning and have a great day!


Oh and by the way, I am posting some pictures from the trip so far ...

Our Convocation panel. The first three men on the left are
representatives of Beijing Language and Culture University,
our host institution. The man in the blue shirt is Feng laoshi
and the woman next to him is Wang lao shi, both of whom
are our directors.

Feng laoshi.


A small park on our campus.


Another picture of the park.


A wall in the park that has the names of all the countries
in which BCLU has had relationships with other schools.


Weird cucumbers!

Big cucumbers!


China doesn't mess around when it comes
to sweet things.