Zai Beijing [in Beijing]

Wow, it's hard to believe that I have only been here for four days. So much has happened already and I don't know where to start. I have been busy soaking in new impressions, going to my classes, studying, trying to communicate with my host mother, chatting with fellow students, finding the best way to commute, joining a gym, working, and much more. I can already say that this is an intense experience but I enjoy it very much, even though it's tiring.

When I arrived on Sunday night, I was picked up at the airport by the language school's shuttle van. The drive into the city began on a much smaller road than I had anticipated. From what I could tell in the dark, it resembled what's called an Allee in German, a tree lined street with only two lanes of traffic. I thought Beijing was supposed to be this huge metropolis!? Here we were going only about 40 mph and sharing the road not only with other cars and trucks but also with rikschas and quite a few people on bicycles. Well, eventually we reached a bigger street - one of the ring roads, which are bascially city highways. And yes, the city is pretty big.

Traffic is amazing in this city. I was amazed on that first evening that we did not run over any bicycles or hit other cars when passing or turning. I am still amazed every day that traffic flows - slow at times, and certainly in a very chaotic fashion - but nevertheless in a functioning way. Cars, taxis, buses, bicycles, even pedestrians are part of the mix and can often be found in the streets. I have this feeling that people would not understand if I told them about the Californian traffic rules of no jaywalking and of stopping for pedestrians; even if I told them in perfect Chinese.

Which brings me to the language. Pooh, the spoken language is very fast and full of words I do not know, and the written language is all in characters. Both is not really surprising, but the lack of pinyin makes reading really difficult. ;-) My Chinese book always conveniently listed this phonetic transcription next to the characters. Not so much here, though. Billboards, signs, etc. sometimes have some English writing in addition to the Chinese characters, but of course that still does not tell me how to pronounce the Chinese writing.

My host mother, Mrs. Wang, only speaks Chinese. It's excellent (hear that said with a sigh). The daughter who "speaks some English" who was promised to me, is currently studying in London. So I am stuck with only Chinese. The amazing thing is that I am surviving. Mrs Wang actually almost always understands what I say to her. I just never understand what she says back to me. LOL. We point a lot. And my two most frequent sentences to her are: Wo bu dong (I don't understand), and Qing, nin shuo yibian (Say again please). Oh well, it will get better. The apartment is small, but my room is perfectly fine. Wir wohnen im zweiten Hinterhaus und das Badezimmer ist gleichzeitig die Dusche - fragt nicht.

People always ask about first impressions. I must say that besides the crazy traffic, mine was that the city feels much less foreign to me than I expected. Especially the area in which my school is located (CBD) shows clear signs of globalization and the familiar, now world wide brands, Starbuck's, Motorola, VW, to name just a few. As far as people go, I know, of course, that I do not "blend in." However, I do not feel weird or out of place. Luckily, people are not as small as I thought. ;-) And everybody is very friendly. It's probably exactly how one of my co-workers told me - I am used to looking into Asian faces. Therefore, most of the time I do not even realize that I am the only non-Asian person around - for example on the subway. It's only when I see that one other white person getting on the train that I realize I must stand out just as much as s/he does.

My classes are challenging for sheer volume but I enjoy studying Chinese very much. It almost makes me want to forget about working and sightseeing and just dedicating my time to diving deeper and deeper into hanyu. I have three different subjects (speaking, listening and comprehension). There are five of us in the class and we meet for four hours each morning, Monday through Friday. I cannot believe I have only had three days of classes (Monday was only orientation and placement). I feel I have already covered quite a bit.

I am writing from a computer at my language school, and while I could go on writing much more, I have to leave and go home now - hui jia. Mrs Wang said she'd make baozi for me tonight. I have not had any, yet, and hope they will be delicious! :)