我饿了. wǒ è le. I am hungry.

Today was the first day of school. There are 12 people in my class. 11 nationalities. Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, France, Sweden, United States, South Africa, Canada, Denmark, England, Switzerland. The first lessons were great fun, even though we did tons of hardcore pronounciation training. This basically means repeating after the teacher, repeating after the teacher and also repeating after the teacher. We did learn a few words, sentences and some characters, too. It is hard. We also did a game: Whoever made a mistake had to sing a song. Try to find a song, which both a guy from Sweden and a girl from South Africa know! Ha. They ended up singing Happy Birthday. The international aspect of life can be confusing. Speaking lots of English, occasionally some French, Swiss German, German and a few words of Spanish, and wanting to learn Mandarin at the same time is one load.

The lessons made us all very hungry. We had some great lunch in a restaurant close to university. We paid 9 CHF for 4 big dishes and rice. It is amazing.

In the bus back to my place, there was a little kid sleeping (I have absolutely no idea how he managed to do this). His little pants showed the following slogan: “Go!!! Happy Speed. Boy’s the wear new good fahsion!” This is China.

My class is A3 and will start tomorrow in building number 3, in room 123.

The first washing day:

These are the buttons on the washing machine.

This is the back of the washing powder package.

No further comment.

Friday.
BLCU organised a trip to a KungFu Presentation in a Beijing theatre. We were brought there with a fleet of twenty some identical coaches. We spent close to two hours total in traffic. It is insane. The KungFu presentation was very impressive, maybe a bit too kitschy at times. There were loads of special effects and an elaborate set. We saw acrobatics, soap bubbles, artificial fog, light shows, musical performances and of course the KungFu; loads of fighting scenes and some breath taking acts, such as breaking wood and metal with the body and somersaults (from head to the feet to the head, to the feet, YES! they actually jumped on their head).

Beijing traffic.

The KungFu presentation.

Friday Night.
I went out with friends from every corner of the world. We went to a night club somewhere close to downtown. It was great. The people very much enjoyed themselves. They partied as if it was their last chance to do so. The club was packed, people were dancing on the tables.

Saturday.
I slept in. In the afternoon, I took the subway line 13, which goes up north from WuDaoKou. Again, there are many contrasts: On the one hand, you can see areas with shabby houses, narrow dirt roads and mountains of trash next to them. On the other hand, there are very modern residential towns, with dozens of newly built huge apartment buildings. Back in Haidian district, I went to buy a few things and walked back home. Crossing streets here in WuDaoKou and practically everywhere and anytime in Beijing is a suicide mission. The roads are wide with a total of four to six lanes for cars and separate lanes for bicycles. There are traffic lights, but no one really pays attention to them, because you cannot rely on them. Vehicles and bicycles will hardly ever slow down, when they see pedestrians. You just have to somehow find your way to the other side.

Sunday.
I got to meet my language partners. Xiao Ying and Yang Xiao Chen took me and a Japanese guy to downtown. We saw Tian’anmen square and went to the famous shopping street WangFuJing, next to the Forbidden City. Both girls study Business at a Beijing university and want to improve their English skills. They are willing to share Chinese language and culture. Even though we had difficulties understanding each other at times, it was great fun. I learnt quite a few words and practised pronounciation. By the way: Sunday does not feel like Sunday. The people work everywhere, the shops are open. Also, night does not feel like night. This city never sleeps, never rests.

Tian’anmen square.

Yang Xiao Chen, Xiao Ying and myself. Yes, I am trying to bend down a bit.

WangFuJing - the bis street.

WangFuJing - a smaller market. Down below, Yang Xiao Chen and Xiao Ying.

No money withdrawals with an international VISA credit card, no money withdrawals with a debit ATM card from a Chinese bank. But, guess what. Yes, the SWISS debit ATM PostCard works here in Beijing. One of these apparently insignificant, yet very stable values.

我不会汉语. wǒ bù huì hàn yǔ. I do not speak Chinese.

Yesterday night, I went out to eat with an Australian friend. The menu in the restaraunt was all Chinese. So we decided to randomly pick something! It was great fun. In the end we had some yet undefined, deep fried, veeeery hot little objects with a looooot of chili and a sort of soup with chicken, mushrooms, spices and vegetables in it. We ate rice and drank tea along with it. On the tables in the restaurant, they have very many thin plastic sheets. When a party is done eating and leaves, they clear the dishes away, take off the top plastic sheet and throw it away. That way, you have the table clean in seconds.

Yesterday, during the WuDaoKou tour, we visited a very nice, modern gym with a swimming pool under a coppula on top of the building. It felt like being somewhere totally different. I also found out that on the other side of the subwayline, which runs south-north, everything is a lot busier and more modern. Rush hour traffic is crazy. At one point, it took us almost half an hour for 500 meters.

Juhei! I managed uploading.

So here are some of my first snap shots. See post “First Impressions.” for more details.

Sunrise over the Gobi desert in Mongolia.

High voltage power line over the walkway.

“The College for Intensive Chinese Language Studies” at BLCU. My school.

Just another Beijing street scene, very close to where I live.

This is where I live.

Enjoy.