14 January 2011
I've got my results!
Today was the day for picking up test results. Between 9 to 10:30 am Zhao Laoshi waited for us in the teaching building with our test scores. I was excited, pretty sure that I would pass but it was thrilling to see what scores I got. The results were: Grammar 96/100 Listening 94/100 and Reading/Writing 98/100. I'm very happy about that and excited about next term.
7 January 2011
Tests are over
After three days of finals all tests are now over. I had grammar, listening and reading/writing tests, the oral test was last week. I think it went well, I felt pretty confident about all four. We will get the results back on the 14th. Until then I will enjoy being free in Beijing, I just have some things to clear up before next term. I'm looking forward to a holiday at home, but I'm happy I will return to Beijing soon again.
5 January 2011
I'm staying
Now when it is certain I will announce that I will stay in China until July. I have enjoyed my time here a lot and improved my Chinese immensely. I feel like I just start to understand China, I'm able to use the language now and I just want more, I don't want it to end so soon. Therefore, I will stay another semester.
In order to continue my studies here I have to extend my visa. To do that I have to have a valid physical examination form. I did mine in Sweden in April, and it got stamped in China in September, but it was only valid until March. My school sent me to the hospital to change the date, but that did not work. I had to do all the tests again. So I just got home from half an hour of 3 blood tests, X-ray, ECC and some other tests. Interesting China experience. Now I can finally get my visa and legally stay in China for another semester.
On the 19th of January I will come back to Sweden and stay for a month. It will be nice to have some Swedish food and enjoy the western world for a bit. I need a break!
In order to continue my studies here I have to extend my visa. To do that I have to have a valid physical examination form. I did mine in Sweden in April, and it got stamped in China in September, but it was only valid until March. My school sent me to the hospital to change the date, but that did not work. I had to do all the tests again. So I just got home from half an hour of 3 blood tests, X-ray, ECC and some other tests. Interesting China experience. Now I can finally get my visa and legally stay in China for another semester.
On the 19th of January I will come back to Sweden and stay for a month. It will be nice to have some Swedish food and enjoy the western world for a bit. I need a break!
29 December 2010
口语 and snow
When I woke up this morning and looked outside the window it was SNOWING! I was shocked and happy, I realized how much I've missed snow. This was the first precipitation in Beijing in almost two months.
Yesterday I had my oral test, and it went very well! (to quote the teacher: 很不错). The test consisted of two parts; the first was to answer a couple of questions and the second to present a topic that was assigned five minutes before the exam. I introduced my friend Sofia, and told the teacher about all our adventures in China. Sofia seemed very satisfied when I told her my exam was about her. I won't get the results until the 14th of January together with the results of my other tests that take place between the 4th and the 6th. The next couple of days will be filled with studying for the listening, reading and writing exams.
Yesterday I had my oral test, and it went very well! (to quote the teacher: 很不错). The test consisted of two parts; the first was to answer a couple of questions and the second to present a topic that was assigned five minutes before the exam. I introduced my friend Sofia, and told the teacher about all our adventures in China. Sofia seemed very satisfied when I told her my exam was about her. I won't get the results until the 14th of January together with the results of my other tests that take place between the 4th and the 6th. The next couple of days will be filled with studying for the listening, reading and writing exams.
25 December 2010
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas everyone, it is very weird to not be at home. It is not much of a Christmas feeling around, no snow and no real celebration from the Chinese people, so you just have to create the atmosphere yourself. I managed to cook some Swedish Christmas food, and that helped. I will now have to continue my studying. This is China, no rest during Christmas!
22 December 2010
After the Confucius Institute Conference
Our performance on The Confucius Institute Conference went very well. We spent about 1,5 minutes jumping around singing in jumpsuits, except for participating in singing Chinese songs in the final number. It was a very intense week where I met a lot of interesting people from all over the world, and I had a lot of fun. You can see parts of the performance on this website, the link is to our song "Gaibian Ziji" http://www.chinese.cn/conference10/article/2010-12/11/content_207380.htm
My mum and uncle came to Beijing on the 10th of December and they watched the performance live. We had a couple of days of sightseeing and I showed them my life here. It was really nice to see someone from home, and especially just before Christmas!
It's soon the end of the term, and new tests are ahead of me. Tuesday the 28th is the oral test, and the listening, reading and writing tests will take place between 4th-6th of January. I'm preparing for Christmas at the same time as I'm doing some serious studying. We will see how that works out, but hopefully well!
My mum and uncle came to Beijing on the 10th of December and they watched the performance live. We had a couple of days of sightseeing and I showed them my life here. It was really nice to see someone from home, and especially just before Christmas!
It's soon the end of the term, and new tests are ahead of me. Tuesday the 28th is the oral test, and the listening, reading and writing tests will take place between 4th-6th of January. I'm preparing for Christmas at the same time as I'm doing some serious studying. We will see how that works out, but hopefully well!
8 December 2010
Practicing for the Confucius Institute World Conference Performance
I know that I have been awfully bad at updating my blog. This is the reason:
On the 30th of November Anna and Sofia came to Beijing for the rehearsals before the World Conference performance. It started with a meeting where we had to present our program one by one. No one had told us what we were supposed to present, so in 10 minutes we prepared speeches, a tongue twister and two songs.
We were selected to perform "Gai bian Ziji", a Chinese pop song about how we can change ourselves and the world, together with an Australian girl. Every day we have practiced this number; we were taught dance moves, we recorded the song in a studio (in China everything is playback), we showed it to different directors etc. The days have been extremely long, we start around 9 am and finish around 10 pm. We have a lot of waiting in between our practices, and that's when we take the opportunity to catch up with our studies.
Last afternoon we went to Beijing University of Sports to practice on a stage the same size as the one in the real performance hall. It was a very important performance last night since the Han Ban directors of the event came to watch and speak their mind. We were informed that they might make changes or even cut some programs. This morning the atmosphere was extremely tense in the hall when the directing group announced what numbers had been changed and cut. Several people started crying and Anna, Sofia and I were really nervous about our song. But we went up and performed like never before, and just got a "非常好!" (Excellent!) from the director. YES!
We have two more days to go, and things can still be changed so I won't relax until the show is finished on Friday. It's extremely hard work but I really enjoy it, we meet a lot of people from all over the world and have a lot of fun. Today for instance, the Swedish girl trio were interviewed by Chinese TV. We improve every time, we have been interviewed together about 5 times before. We are confused every time, but we just smile, nod and pretend that we think it's completely normal to be interviewed by CCTV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Central_Television).
On the 30th of November Anna and Sofia came to Beijing for the rehearsals before the World Conference performance. It started with a meeting where we had to present our program one by one. No one had told us what we were supposed to present, so in 10 minutes we prepared speeches, a tongue twister and two songs.
We were selected to perform "Gai bian Ziji", a Chinese pop song about how we can change ourselves and the world, together with an Australian girl. Every day we have practiced this number; we were taught dance moves, we recorded the song in a studio (in China everything is playback), we showed it to different directors etc. The days have been extremely long, we start around 9 am and finish around 10 pm. We have a lot of waiting in between our practices, and that's when we take the opportunity to catch up with our studies.
Last afternoon we went to Beijing University of Sports to practice on a stage the same size as the one in the real performance hall. It was a very important performance last night since the Han Ban directors of the event came to watch and speak their mind. We were informed that they might make changes or even cut some programs. This morning the atmosphere was extremely tense in the hall when the directing group announced what numbers had been changed and cut. Several people started crying and Anna, Sofia and I were really nervous about our song. But we went up and performed like never before, and just got a "非常好!" (Excellent!) from the director. YES!
We have two more days to go, and things can still be changed so I won't relax until the show is finished on Friday. It's extremely hard work but I really enjoy it, we meet a lot of people from all over the world and have a lot of fun. Today for instance, the Swedish girl trio were interviewed by Chinese TV. We improve every time, we have been interviewed together about 5 times before. We are confused every time, but we just smile, nod and pretend that we think it's completely normal to be interviewed by CCTV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Central_Television).
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