Hey friends,
It’s been a while. I am now officially out of seclusion and can resume contact with the world now. The proficiency exam is over, and for the most part, I have finished my junior year. But before I go on and talk about the, let me talk about the past for a little bit.
In the months leading up to the proficiency exam. I didn’t really do much other than study things that I would hope would show up on the exam. Though, the week before my boy friend did take me on a very relaxing vacation to go explore the city of Dalian.
Dalian is a small city of only 6 million or so people located on the Chinese peninsula bordering North Korea. Unfortunately, during our visit we weren’t able to make the 4 hour bus to the city on the border of North Korea. Instead, we spent our time strolling along the Dalian boardwalk and riding rollercoasters at this ridiculous rip-off of Disneyland. It was this giant park called “Discovering Wang Land,” and despite my original skepticism of the safety of Chinese roller coasters, Rocky convinced me to go for a few rides. Rocky really likes roller coasters, and being able to fly through clean (relatively unpolluted air) was something that he was really excited to do. I, on the other hand, clenched the handlebars and screamed for dear life as I was shot and spun around on these crazy new fangled magnetic slingshot roller coasters that left me dizzy for hours afterwards.
I really enjoyed the boardwalk. It wasn’t nearly as crowded as Beijing, and there were many little stands selling various seafood snacks. Everything was so fresh. As we walked along the beach we even saw people combing the rocks for oysters that had recently made their way to the beach. Most of them were older women wielding a hammer in one hand and a plastic bag in the other, wobbling along the coast rocks putting the larger oysters into their bag and popping the smaller ones into their mouths as they gathered.
I think even had more fun renting a tandem and cheesily riding up the BinHai road that follows the costal mountains of Dalian. Most of the locals thought we were crazy for even trying, and riding a bulky heavy tandem uphill is a lot more challenging than I imagined it would be.
At any rate, after a weekend of riding roller coasters and eating seafood, I returned to Beijing to study some more, and the week after I took the exam.
The exam went alright. Heh. I wish I could have passed with flying colors, but due to the prevalence of some northern Chinese idiomatic expressions, an unfamiliar scantron format, and a few hundred characters I did not recognize, I think I got a 6/8 on the exam. This is the basic score for going to a graduate school in a Chinese college. But, if I’m lucky, and most of the other students thought the exam was harder than expected, then maybe the curve will bump me up to a 7 or an 8. But even if my score isn’t that good this time, I can take the exam again in June/October/November. So there are plenty of chances for me to do well.
Though, not that this exam is over. I am more or less finished with my Junior year. With an exception of taking a final and writing a paper for my internship, I am done.
In the next couple weeks, my parents will visit and Rocky and I will take a vacation to Kashgar for the Labor Week holiday.
I’m really really really excited to go to Kashgar. Really really. Really. It’s a really culturally diverse part of China in the Xinjiang Autonomous region. Xinjiang literally means, “the frontier,” and has been the center of Han Chinese, Middle Eastern, and European exchange for more than 1000 years. It’s the last surviving city on the Ancient Silk Road in China! The culture is a pluralistic mix of Turkic peoples, Pakistani people, Kyrgyz peoples, and the blue-eyed, blonde haired Chinese descended from Romans captured by the Mongol empire.
And! Have have delicious food! I’ve been to a few Xinjiang restaurants in Beijing, and am itching for some whole roasted lamb, organic grapes, and spicy spicy meat on a stick.
Then, after enjoying a few weeks of break, I start class again on June 25th— getting back into the rhythm of having an actual classroom rather than 1 on 1 tutoring and interning 3 days a week. I’ll by studying full time from June 25-Aug 17, coming back to the US to see my family and see you all on the retreat, and then going back to China from Sept 15-Dec 9 for another term of study. Hopefully these next few terms will be able to push me one level higher in my Chinese.
On the side, I’ll be doing some part time work with the Peking University Women’s Legal Center. I’ll be acting as a consultant and translator, helping them with their English publications. I haven’t started with them yet, but I’ll be sure to let you all know once I do.
Anyway, I hope you’re all doing well. Have a great spring quarter!
