Well- at least it worked for one day... But this morning my computer didn't start. AGAIN. so I was forced to go to the lab again- and they said it's gonna take another week - coz they're sending it to the factory. This time they said they'll bring it to my house when it's ok. I hope it will be ok.
This morning I skiped school coz I was supposed to go to "English Corner" at uni in the evening and decided that going there twice a day is really too much... "English Corner" is an activity the uni offers its students- English speakers get payed for coming for an hour and a half to speak English to some Chinese students. But for some reason they postponed it to next week. So in the end fate had plans for me anyway- going to the lab...
Anyway- I don't have anything smart to say today- just needed to let some steam out...
Gonna have dinner with Liya today - Rob's staying for dinner with his bosses and co-workers.
Oh and I bought so much wool for knitting- there's no way I'll ever nit it... LOL At least I have something to do!
Showing posts with label english corner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label english corner. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Sunday, October 22, 2006
No privacy
Literally: NO PRIVACY. There's no such word as "privacy" in Chinese. REALLY. They have no word for it.
The girlfriend of Rob's best friend is Chinese. When she went to Germany last year- the first thing she told her boyfriend was: "where are all the people in the streets?". When she showed her father the pictures from Germany the first thing he said was: "Meiyou ren!" this means in Chinese- "no people!".
When you walk in the streets of Shanghai, there's so many people around you- no matter the time of the day. Well, in the middle of the night or really early in the morning there are less, but still- there's a lot of ppl, compared to any other country I've ever been to (well... Maybe in Thailand its almost as crowded in the big cities). This is very overwhelming and energy draining. There's lots of noise and you get touched all the time- by ppl you don't know, and lots of times- by ppl you don't wanna touch... The subway is so full you hardly get a seat, and most of the time you stand between dozens of ppl in each car.
We thought about going to Suzhou today- a small city- which has lots of canals and water around- suppose to be beautiful. In the end we obviously slept in a bit, and until we actually left the house- it was 11:30. We got to the train station after 45 minutes, and found out that the next sitting tickets are at 14:00 and there are no tickets to go back from there tonight. So we decided to stay in Shanghai, and go to the Shanghai Museum. As students it cost us 5 RMB (0.50 Euro) and there are a few different galleries inside- spread out on 4 floors. It all has something to do with Chinese art and culture. The problem with Chinese museums is that they don't have a lot of information about the displays. Rob really doesn't like that- Me? I don't really care. I just like looking at the nice stuff!!! LOL!!!
after the museum we met this 14 year old Chinesee girl outside- she approached us and asked us if she can practice her English with us. We said sure- and we talked to her for 45 minutes... Apparently as a Chinese school student she studies Mondays to Fridays 7:20-16:50, then goes with her mom to her grandma- then goes home does her homework and only then she has a very short time to herself- and then to bed.On Saturdays she wakes up at 7:30 (AM!!!) cleans, has breakfast (this girl was very informative) plays on the computer for about an hour, then goes to a math class for about 2 hours (her school decided she has to take it every Saturday coz of her grades or whatever) then she goes to English class (which she actually enjoys- its in her teachers house- with anotherr 6 kids). On Sundays she would wake up at 8:00-8:30 (I already said- she's VERY informative...) go to The English Corner (apparentlyy there is one) in People's square in Shanghai (some Chinesee ppl meeting up to practice their English) and then have some Chinesee snacks for lunch and then her mom would come and encourage her to approach foreigners like us to practice her English with. She said that when her mom told her to maybe approach us she told her mom: "but they look so much in love... I don't wanna interrupt them..." LOL. Anyway- if there are any young ppl not from china reading this- how do you imagine a life like this??? This is not an exception!!!They all live like this: work work work, study study study!
I would have moved to a different country a long long time ago if I had been born in china...
The girlfriend of Rob's best friend is Chinese. When she went to Germany last year- the first thing she told her boyfriend was: "where are all the people in the streets?". When she showed her father the pictures from Germany the first thing he said was: "Meiyou ren!" this means in Chinese- "no people!".
When you walk in the streets of Shanghai, there's so many people around you- no matter the time of the day. Well, in the middle of the night or really early in the morning there are less, but still- there's a lot of ppl, compared to any other country I've ever been to (well... Maybe in Thailand its almost as crowded in the big cities). This is very overwhelming and energy draining. There's lots of noise and you get touched all the time- by ppl you don't know, and lots of times- by ppl you don't wanna touch... The subway is so full you hardly get a seat, and most of the time you stand between dozens of ppl in each car.
We thought about going to Suzhou today- a small city- which has lots of canals and water around- suppose to be beautiful. In the end we obviously slept in a bit, and until we actually left the house- it was 11:30. We got to the train station after 45 minutes, and found out that the next sitting tickets are at 14:00 and there are no tickets to go back from there tonight. So we decided to stay in Shanghai, and go to the Shanghai Museum. As students it cost us 5 RMB (0.50 Euro) and there are a few different galleries inside- spread out on 4 floors. It all has something to do with Chinese art and culture. The problem with Chinese museums is that they don't have a lot of information about the displays. Rob really doesn't like that- Me? I don't really care. I just like looking at the nice stuff!!! LOL!!!
after the museum we met this 14 year old Chinesee girl outside- she approached us and asked us if she can practice her English with us. We said sure- and we talked to her for 45 minutes... Apparently as a Chinese school student she studies Mondays to Fridays 7:20-16:50, then goes with her mom to her grandma- then goes home does her homework and only then she has a very short time to herself- and then to bed.On Saturdays she wakes up at 7:30 (AM!!!) cleans, has breakfast (this girl was very informative) plays on the computer for about an hour, then goes to a math class for about 2 hours (her school decided she has to take it every Saturday coz of her grades or whatever) then she goes to English class (which she actually enjoys- its in her teachers house- with anotherr 6 kids). On Sundays she would wake up at 8:00-8:30 (I already said- she's VERY informative...) go to The English Corner (apparentlyy there is one) in People's square in Shanghai (some Chinesee ppl meeting up to practice their English) and then have some Chinesee snacks for lunch and then her mom would come and encourage her to approach foreigners like us to practice her English with. She said that when her mom told her to maybe approach us she told her mom: "but they look so much in love... I don't wanna interrupt them..." LOL. Anyway- if there are any young ppl not from china reading this- how do you imagine a life like this??? This is not an exception!!!They all live like this: work work work, study study study!
I would have moved to a different country a long long time ago if I had been born in china...
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