Alright, well at this point, I certainly owe a post. Idleness only begets laziness. We had about two weeks off of class because of the H1N1 outbreak. While I had set some personal goals for myself during that time, it’s amazing how fast the time goes when there is so little to do. I got most of my homework done, saw the Siberian Tiger Park, visited the New Modern Synagogue and explored (what was once) the Jewish part of Harbin. Classes started up again on October 12 with finals scheduled to begin about a week later. So, we had one week of mostly review classes before final exams and our departure from Harbin.
The two weeks off couldn’t have come at a worse time for me psychologically. With only two weeks remaining, I got lost in half-hearted preparation for finals, spending time with friends, and packing. I wrote my final paper on the impact of social factors on languages of varying speaker populations, focusing primarily on Mandarin and Yi (the language I’ll be researching in Yunnan). My Chinese composition skills seem to have improved immensely through the CET Harbin program (as have my listening and speaking skills) and it didn’t take me long to crack out the 2500-character Chinese paper. While I was consciously unaware of how much I have improved since I got to China in July, my vocabulary, listening, speaking, pronunciation, and writing are all better now than they were three and a half months ago. Unfortunately, my tones do still have a lot of problems, which sometimes makes it difficult for people to understand me. I think that I will motivate myself to continue practicing pronunciation in Kunming.
Final exams finished on Friday, and it was an amazing feeling to be done with the last exam that I will have to take in possibly a very long time. The weekend was spent packing, celebrating, and trying to organize myself. I have obtained quite a few odds and ends while in Harbin, which made it difficult to fit everything in my bags. So, I mailed myself a package to Kunming. Since 3 of my 4 Fulbright friends in the CET program with me will be researching in Beijing, and the 4th wanted to go on a trip, we all planned to head down to Beijing together. We’d purchased 5 hard-sleeper tickets the previous week. We’d showed up 20 minutes after the tickets went on sale, and 5 of the trains had already been sold out. We ended up with a slow train, 15 hours south, arriving at 5:30am Monday. With so much luggage to move, we decided to check some bags. When you check bags on trains in China, they may or may not be sent on the same train that you’re on. You pay by weight and speed of delivery.
We got into Beijing right on time (trains in China are almost never late). It was easy to find taxis at such an early hour, and we all headed up to Wudaokou together. Two of my friends are staying in an apartment there, and my other friend and I found a hostel close by. We put our bags down (at least the ones we hadn’t checked), and then regrouped for a Western breakfast (3-egg omelet, iced coffee, and a side of sausage for me). In the afternoon, I headed over to Beiwai to say hi to some friends and teachers at IES. My friend hardly recognized me—since I last saw her in July, I grew a beard, lost 30 lbs, and improved my Chinese pronunciation. She said I was a completely different person. (I made some of my typical jokes to show her I hadn’t changed that much.)
Every time I return to Beijing, there seem to be new subway lines to explore. This time was no exception. The new Line 4 in Haidian (north-west Beijing) adds subway access to a number of the universities (including a stop near Beiwai) and Zhongguancun, the technology area. However, the system is still overcrowded and there seem to be countless new lines under or scheduled for construction. By 2015, the entire city should be reachable by subway.
It feels good to be done with the CET program and be back in Beijing, but there is still so much uncertainty about what comes next. I fly down to Kunming this Sunday. Sunday night I’ll have to find a hotel, and Monday I should probably start looking for apartments. What’s more, I’ll have to register for classes, and start the paperwork to get a residency permit (this involves time, patience, a medical exam, and a fee—from what I’ve been able to discern). In the meantime, I’m just laying low in Beijing—planning some reunions with old friends, and continuing to have fun with new ones. I know I’ll be busy over the next week or two, especially after getting to Kunming, but I’ll try to write another post. If you didn’t notice, my photos from Dandong are now available, and I have a ton of random photos to sort and upload when I get a chance.
This is a great post. Thanks so much for sharing, like always.
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