Moved in now!!!! (Beijing!!)

Hey guys,

Sorry for the late reply. Hope you are all well, carry on writing, still like to know what is happening back home! I've already been in Beijing for almost 3 weeks, and have finally moved into the place that I am staying at. And also very happy about it!! This place is definately a lot better than before in terms of cleanliness and also cockroaches and mosquitoes. (Well it is a hotel, I also have someone which comes in everyday to empty the rubbish and sweep the floors etc..) but the annoying thing is that compared to everyone else, I have to pay for a lot of things such as the phone calls, internet, the washing. Plus its charged at hotel rates. The kitchen is also not that great, I have to share it with everyone on the floor, which is at least 40 people, and its not really much of a kitchen either, it has a microwave and electromagnetic stoves (of which I haven't used, as I have not gotten around to buying the correct kitchenware to cook with).

Previously I was staying at the actual kindergarten, which wasn't ideal. I would get woken up at around 6.00am by the cooks, who prepared it for the children. Also people would be speaking really loudly and waking me up, because they didn't realise that I was there, noone knew, because I scared the security guard one day when I was getting some hot water. Also some people came and knocked on the door because they saw the lights on in my room. I had to try to explain that my mentor teacher had put me their temporarily. The room when I first arrived was really dusty, and the bathroom was too dirty so I didn't use it. Plus after a few days, the taps didn't have running water. I also didn't have internet, and the tv didn't work. I was told by my mentor teacher that I would only be there for three days, but it ended up almost being two weeks. Wasn't happy about that, seeing as everyone else was settling in a getting a better welcoming than me. A lot of them were taken out to dinner and got lots of gifts and help, but I now know from last year's ELA that she also was treated the same, and even worse was that she lived in the place I was staying at for the whole year. She didn't even realise that she could have complained.

I ended up not staying there most nights, and going to stay over (plus shower) at other people's. I had to buy a bowl to wash my hair in!! And as I mentioned before there were cockroaches and mosquitoes flying around which kept me awake too! The only good thing about that place was that phone calls to Beijing landlines and mobiles were free, and also I could sleep in for a bit longer, as I was actually living in the kindergarten. But it's not too bad from the place I am living at now as I am only at most 10mins walk away.

Hm... how should I do this best? Firstly, I'll answer Julie's questions..
My room mate was Farah, I met her at Munich as we were travelling the same day (she travelled up from Birmingham). She has also just graduated from Uni.. I think most of the people here have, there are only a few which are middle aged and two people over 60. Farah graduated from Reading University, in some English Language and something else degree... In the room next door is Lorraine and Sarah. Lorriane has also recently graduated and Sarah used to be a magazine editor, she wanted a change of scene and also to restart her writing.

It's very strange to be left by myself in Beijing, because after the two weeks in Shanghai you get used to being constantly surrounded by people and having things to do. There were over 80 of us who had come to China, although I still can't remember everyone's names! Being taken to Beijing and more or less left to my own devices by the mentor teacher was really strange, and took a while to get used to. People in China aren't very good with organisation and telling you where you should be when. They use maybe a lot (in the wrong context), and sometimes when they arrange things with you they forget, or they expect you to be able to be at their beck and call within 5minutes. Very annoying!!!

In Beijing, there are in total 9 of us, Jenny (who is about an hour's walk from mine), Dave & John (at the same Uni, also about an hour's walk from mine) - I have yet to find a bus route to their's, the only other option is via taxi, which is cheap compared to UK standards, but if you indulge too much then you could end up spending a lot more than you realise!! There is also Emily, who is on the other side of central Beijing; Josh, who is near tiannamen square, Bells (short for annabelle), Ben and Mark are all in different schools in Fengtai which is quite a way out from the centre of Beijing. It takes them about 2hours sometimes to meet everyone, everyone else it takes at most an hour. Thus far, we have met up most weekends, to go out and have dinner. I'm supposed to be out with them today, but decided to stay in because I'm not feeling too well. Got myself a cold!

The nightclubs I think mainly depend on which ones you go to, the Western ones are obvoiusly much better in terms of music. The older chinese ones tend to be more er... how would you call it? Old-fashioned and out-dated in terms of the type of music from the 60/70s. I think most of the English songs in karaoke are ones from that period.. and the more recent ones tend to be Britney Spears etc... The clubs depending on which ones you go to sometimes have very good deals.. The one in Shanghai that I went to was called cloud nine, the drinks in there are quite expensive, but that was because people mainly pay for the view at the top of the Jin Mao tower, I think it was like the 87th floor or something like that. The lifts were really quick and made your ears pop! In Beijing there are a lot more places to go to, we (myself and the other English Language Assistants or ELAs) decided that we would work our way through the That's Beijing Guide (like timeout in the UK and written for foreigners). So far we have been to a few of the places there. The drinks are more reasonably priced and they sometimes have all you can drink days, but you pay entry, or they have free entry. Sometimes there are specials, such as buy 1 get 1 free, or ladies nights which are the best!!! Free entry and free drinks!!! There is one place that even gives out free champagne! (We decided to go just for 1 drink or something as this is on a Wednesday night!)

The guide also has restuarant listings, so we are slowing working our way through that too... One of the first ones I went to was a yoghurt/ice cream place!!! It was sooo nice, it was 29Y (almost £1.40) for a small. But the small one was really really BIG!! They even had a medium and large one!! I wonder what the large one is like, maybe need to find out later with a bigger group of people!! The service in there was really really good, the best I've had so far I think. The provided cold lemon water (the only place I've found safe to drink the water they provide) and other free things, refilling each time we finished! They really dont make money from this place!! They had a set dinner offer (including a coffee, sandwich and icecream) which was even cheaper than the icecream by itself! Must send you guys a picture of it!! YUMMMY!!!!

There are also music events, several people went to a rock festival this weekend, but really not my thing. Also Art exhibitions and cinema/theatre events that go on. I think we will also work through these ones, especially the free events. The others say that they will come to an exhibition opening with me, well the main reason was the free wine and food!!! But it should be interesting to see what is going on. Oh, not really had much chance to take that many pictures, my manual camera is a bit too big to carry around and the digital one that I took with me doesnt have a flash, because its broken. But I've got a lot of day time pictures. I tried taking some of the night market in Wangfujing (Beijing) where they have all strange foods, but they are a bit blurry. The night market had a lot of interesting things to see.. erm... but I didn't eat anything there.. Let's just say that some things put me off, such as the scorpians, crickets, dung bettles, silk worms, sea horses, other random seafood such as I think... baby sharks!! All on a stick! Obviously this was mixed in between other things which were not as bad, such as the glazed fruits, random desserts, noddles and normal meat on sticks etc..... The smelly tofu was nasty.

Shoes.. hehe, they were a new pair. In England they fit perfectly, but because of the weather here etc.. my feet had swelled so didnt fit. Also I put on loads of weight in Shanghai, slowly losing it now. Don't know why, maybe because they provided breakfast and lunch, and then we went out for dinner. Seem to have spent soo much more since coming to Beijing.. everything is a lot more expensive than in Shanghai too!!

I've only had one massage, and that was really nice. In Shanghai, it is a lot cheaper than in Beijing (although we found one which is 100Yuan or about £7 for a foot massage, you can also stay there as long as you want watching DvDs and eating as much as you want. I think it is best to go just before lunch and stay there until dinner :) hehe...) But anyways, the one in Shanghai, was 1 hour long and the 8 of us filled up their entire shop!! Dave had already been there a few times, so he took us there, it was very cheap too only 25yuan. Although some of the guys when they went got more than they asked for. But we went to a safe family owned one. In Beijing, I have yet to have one, the prices seem a bit more expensive than in Shanghai, plus, I would rather wait until I get paid first before I spend too much!

In Beijing, I find that I have been talked at a lot. I really don't understand what people are saying, although now it's getting better. It's funny how the Chinese, just seem to expect one thing and if it is different they just ignore it and carry on thinking what they always thought. For example, when I was in Shanghai, I find that they would always talk to (well more like at) me, and obviously I don't understand at the speed they talk to me at!! My friend Steve (who is half Taiwanese and half white, can speak it as his mum speaks to him in mandarin, but he doesnt look chinese) says to the man that I don't understand and speaks to him instead, (I found this a lot) but the man just carries on looking at me and talking, even though it is Steven who is talking to him, so we have a conversation where I am the one he is looking at and talking at, even though he hears Steven and is actually talking to him.... Hm.. does that make sense? A lot of people have experienced this too, even the white people, with their overseas chinese friends, and they speak better mandarin than them.

I was told by my mentor teacher that I could attend a mandarin lesson at the University for free. The other day, I had my first mandarin lesson with last year's language assistant Chitra, and I must say it was the worst lesson ever!!! I told the lady who was in charge of the programme that I had studied mandarin for 5 years, and wanted to practice my speaking as I wasn't very good at it. I was told to attend any of the classes for 202, which I found out later that this class was for students who had been studying mandarin for almost 3 years (bearing in mind that I studied it for 5years part time and wasn't surrounded by the language everyday). At first this class wasn't too bad, I could get the gist of what the teacher was saying, but then when she actually started the speaking class, we were told to read from a book!! The chinese words I could pick out some and others I didn't know. The teacher proceeded to go round the class and make everyone read from the book, Chitra and I were dreading our turns. She then asked us questions, about the dialogue that the others had just read, obviously we both didn't understand it!! Somehow we both managed to get through that class, after much hints from the guys sitting next to us about what the answers should be!

Yesterday, I had my first lesson in listening class, and that was a lot better!!! I could understand the majority of the words and what the teacher was saying!! Thank goodness, but I think that I should also try to get some tuition or something, as I really don't understand what people say to me sometimes. Today, I also spoke to the calligraphy teacher at the kindergarten to ask if I could attend the classes where she was teaching the children. She said she would ask someone about it, so hopefully, I can attend that class! Still looking around for dance classes, although it is a bit difficult to find out about things like that without the mandarin. Although I did find out that in the staff canteen on campus they have ballroom dancing classes (mainly for the elderly people) on Friday and Saturday nights for 3 hours. Wish you guys were here to come with me!

I am still at the moment being trained by the kindergarten. The training in Shanghai wasn't really much use to me (as the only one teaching 2-6 year olds), but at least it was like a free holiday!! Plus lots of fun :D I had my first practice lesson on Tuesday, which was quite disasterous, I am to teach the lower classes who are 3-4years old and have never learnt english before. Let's just say, they really haven't learnt english before and know absolutely nothing, it's like you are talking to yourself and having a conversation by yourself, where you ask a question and have to answer it, because they weren't very responsive! I think the main thing is lots of games for them! Although I have been observing the older classes and they seem a lot better! I think I just need to practice more, and the more I do it, they better it will be. The whole of last week I was observing the children with their mandarin teachers and helping them out. They call me "a yee" (or auntie) which I find really strange as I don't feel that old.

Would rather be called laoshi or teacher. The kids are sooooooooo sweet and cute, will let you know more about them later. So far when I was helping the classes a kid almost puked on me, had to clean up pee and also the food they dropped. Lots of ups and downs I also.

Sorry, everything is muddled up between Shanghai and Beijing, just jumping from one thing to the next :s But yeah enough for now, this is too long. Hope you aren't too bored by this!

BYW My landline is 01058802295, and my mobile is 13240212237. From the UK the country code is 0086.

Also from the UK is a cheap call line to call to china, calls from British landlines to Chinese mobiles/landlines are at 1p/min, the prefix is 0844 861 9090 followed by 0086 and then the number you want to call. This is with telediscount.co.uk and according to their website there is no off/on-peak times.

The address I am living at is:-
Room 4007, Liyun Apartotel
Beijing Normal University
Service Centre for External Exchange and Logistics Department
19 Xinjiekouwai Street,
Beijing, China
Post code: 100875

or at the kindergarten
Experimental Kindergarten of Beijing Normal University
19 Xinjiekouwai Street,
Beijing, China
Post code: 100875

Hope to hear from you all soon,
Love Jackie

P.s is anyone on skype? My username is karman_j