Saturday 10/4/08

Academics are going well. The difficulty of the material (36 new words every two days with a quiz to make sure we learn them) is balanced by the generosity of the grading. (Who’s ever heard of taking of .1 of a point?) My teachers are both excellent. Our class begins Monday through Friday at 8:30 (and unlike Carleton and Island School we have bells that make class actually start on time) and we start with a 2 hour Chinese language lecture. This is given for the 300 level class by Li Laoshi who is quiet, composed, on top of it, very clear, very nice, and has the exact same facial structure and smile as Zhao Laoshi. Our textbook does not have any English even for the new words, which are explained in simple Chinese that I still am unable to understand. This ends up making preparing for class a time intensive process and often frustrating futile because of how highly idiomatic many of the words/expressions are. This is actually one of my criticisms of the Chinese class. I am being taught charming idioms for love at first sight and prince charming but I often find myself unable to keep up in just normal conversation. I won’t pretend my Chinese isn’t improving and the classes are both enjoyable and useful (especially the grammar and speaking) but…. The second 2 hours (10:30 to 12:30) are taught by Ye Laoshi who is very nice, very frank, very aggressive, and very funny. It mostly consists of her reviewing information taught in the first class, forcing people to talk, and her talking about her love life and asking about ours. It’s funny, in class, she talks to someone else in the class and I think “oooh I know that” but when she talks to me the flight instinct kicks in, my brain shuts down, my eyes get really wide and I look like an idiot…oh well. I also have the bad habit of imagining the resulting battles if the Chinese Characters on the chalk board were to fight. (龙 is a vicious looking character.) It gives my face an intent expression that tends to make me get called on despite the fact that the only thing in mind is 急 getting gutted by 传。 It’s sometimes fun to try to make up an answer on the spot having no clue what the prompt is but, yes, mom, I’m working on it.

We take a couple other classes which I’ll summarize quickly and then I’ll start studying for my quiz. My study habits here have changed drastically. I go to bed at 10 and get up at 5. It’s been working so far.

Mondays: Tai Chi. Our female teacher is, I think, attractive and bends in ways that no human being was ever meant to. The class itself is remarkably difficult. My lack of coordination and muscles make things rough. Especially when moving at 1/100th of the speed you want to move at. Fun. We also have Calligraphy which is also a trial of patience and is remarkably humbling.

Tuesdays and Thursdays: Zhao Laoshi teaches his cultural history of China which seems to mostly be nice little forays into his mind and metaphors. Zhao Laoshi is, I think, at this point universally revered by the class and could (but does not) come to class and preach infanticide without damaging in the least his following. Also, today he treated us all to hot pot (which was amazing.) The class is mostly taught pictorially with very, very good sketches put on the chalk board and interesting verbal cues like “Confucius, duck, arrow.” Also last class he was talking about prehistoric man and drew literally the perfect cranial structure for a Neanderthal on the chalk board. It was more accurate than the pictures in science magazines. It was amazing.

Wednesdays: Beijing Opera. Our Prof. was an actor. If I ever have his stage presence I will be able to rule the world. He can sing, he can dance, he loves John, he shouts, he entirely makes up for the aesthetic problems of Beijing Opera.

Friday: Wushu or martial arts. I am sore in parts of my body that I did not know could be.

For the record: I am enjoying Tianjin so much that I wish I had another term here with the same routine. 5 weeks seems too short a time. As always if you have questions, comments, suggestions email me and randolpn@carleton.edu or post.