Middle of the semester

Spring has gone by really quickly – it’s already the mid-point of the semester and the steamy summer weather is almost here (it’s in the 70s now). We have midterm exams this week and then a week-long spring break next week.

I feel like I should get around to talking a bit about my classes before the semester is all over – and it seems like June will come really fast. My Chinese reading/grammar and listening/speaking classes are taught by two different teachers but in the same classroom. Our class level is the third semester of a four year Chinese B.A. Our class is just over 20 students; students from South Korea make up about half, and then there are three students from Germany, two from Japan, two from France, and one each from Vietnam, Indonesia, Mongolia, Mexico, and the U.S. (me). Two are married to husbands who work in Nanjing – one is a mother of three in her 40s, the other is a newlywed 30-year old – another student is a mother of about 30 who is a Russian language teacher in Mongolia, two are older men in their 50s – one is retired, the other is a professor on sabbatical – but the majority are college students, most of whom are Chinese or Asian studies majors.

We’ve become really close after spending so much time together in class (and sometimes over lunch after class) and we’ve learned a lot from each other by communicating in Chinese (some speak little or no English) and learning about each other’s countries and cultures. The foreign student population on campus is extremely diverse; in the cafeteria you frequently hear Korean, French, German, Turkish, and Russian.

I also take a few optional classes that meet for two hours each week – newspaper reading, business Chinese, and intermediate writing. They are in a bigger classroom with a mix of students from all of the third and fourth semester classes, so the numbers and nationalities vary widely.

I have midterm exams in all but one of these classes this Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Finally, here’s the first essay I wrote for my Chinese reading and grammar class. We write a short essay each week for the writing class, but since we have to practice writing characters by hand I haven’t typed any of them.

春节旅游

去年一二月份我放假一个月，所以我趁机去旅游。江苏省的冬天又寒冷又潮湿，我感到很不舒服，所以我决定去中国南方。我计划从上海去广西与广东,最后去香港。

我先跟一个加拿大朋友去上海住了几天， 然后坐火车去杭州。那时侯–2008年一月下旬–中国东南方下大雪。天气特别冷，还有很多雪。杭州到处都是雪，显得很漂亮.可是我很不舒服因为我没带很多衣服,而且，我的鞋子与袜子已经湿了。

因为中国交通又迟缓又拥挤,还有很多人回家过春节,火车票很难买到,所以一到杭州我就去售票处买火车票.但是我只买到一张到南昌的票。

我到南昌住在车站旁边的一座大酒店。房间里很暖和，我很满意，但是到桂林的火车票最早是两天后。第二天南昌那座大酒店没有空房间，所以我住在别的酒店。大概六点半那座酒店没电了，外面已经很黑了，而且没电，没暖气所以我就在床上听mp3。第三天我在南昌转一转。四点三刻我到了火车站。我的火车五点半出发。我到了站突然发现外面有很多不高兴的人。警察不让他们进火车站去。一看我的票，他们也不让我进去。我很着急因为我的火车马上出发。我先回去我第一天住的大酒店请他们帮助我。一位接待员陪我去向警察解释情况。警察告诉我因为大雪,火车延迟八个小时。他建议我几个小时回来才能进去。

九点半我回火车站去。那时侯我能进去。里面很拥挤，连一个空坐位都没有。我站了好几个小时。半夜后我抢到一个坐位，继续等火车。我不敢睡觉因为怕错过到桂林的火车。上午我还等火车…中午还等火车…到两点多才到了。迟到了二十一个小时!我上了火车,列车员却不让我上我的卧铺车,因为前一天的火车取消了,所以那天的火车有两倍乘客。我一整夜没睡觉甚至连一个坐位也没有！我生气极了！大概一个小时后一个列车员让我躺在一个卧铺上。我睡了很长时间。南昌到桂林的火车一般花十三个小时，但是那辆火车花二十六个小时才到了桂林。

一到桂林我就去一个旅馆。我的手机和mp3都差一点没电，但是那座旅馆又没电了！我就睡觉了。在桂林我呆了三天，但是每天都下雨。参观桂林后我去阳寿。我租一辆自行车骑过农村。那天晚上我得了流感。我一点饭也不能吃，就睡了半天。起床时没有力气不过能吃吃走走。那天我打算买到深圳的票。虽然火车最快，但我觉得我的运气很不好，不敢再坐火车, 还是坐长途汽车。我买了一张卧铺汽车票。晚上十点出发，预计早上七点到达深圳。半夜后汽车在高速公路上忽然停了。不一会儿一辆拖车来拖我们的汽车。好像汽车坏了！我就又睡觉了，一起床就发现我们在一个小村子。我们的汽车修不了。司机通知我们十一点另一辆车来。十二点到了汽车还没来。最后另一辆汽车到底没来。五点一刻车才修好了。半夜我们终于到了深圳！在那里天气又暖和又晴朗，我很高兴。

之后我花了两周在香港，澳门，与广州。

Use an online translator if you don't read Chinese and you'll get a hilarious version of it in English. In fact, I should publish everything on my blog that way, it's way more entertaining to read computer-translated-Chinglish, and after all, that's the way a lot of English signs and other media is published here.