Study study study

The day after the registration all new students took a placement test. In Beijing, the test consisted of one listening comprehension test and one reading and writing test. Depending on your test score you were divided into a group that suited your Chinese level. At Fudan University however, the test was individual, one-on-one with a teacher. There are ten different levels at the school, and there were tests in ten classrooms, one test for each level. They just told you to take the test for the level you think suited you best. How do you measure your own Chinese skills on a scale one to ten?

 I first tried level 5, which seemed like a safe number somewhere in the middle. The teacher told me I could be in level five, but if I wanted to I could do the test for the 6th level as well. When I had lined up a second time to do the test, the teacher conducting that test told me that level 6 was "way to easy" for me. "Go to room seven." "Now?" "NOW!!"

After a third test I ended up in level seven. "Way to easy" might have been a little bit exaggerated... I have now had my first two days of class, and I have decided to stick with this level, although I yesterday was debating going down a level.  Every day we do one chapter with 50 characters to learn. Many of them are new to me, maybe 80 % , which means that every day I have 40 new words to learn. If my goal had been to get a great score on the final test, it might have been smarter to step down a level, but now I'm focusing on learning as much as possible during the short period of time I'm here. I have a lot to study, but now I have reached a level where I learn "cool" and useful words that enrich my vocabulary, so it's quite fun and motivating to study. I'm no longer only learning the names of colours and fruit (maybe I should though, just realised I don't know what pink or grapes are called any more...).

Speaking of fruit, today I found a great fruit store close to where I live. Now my mum doesn't have to worry so much about me not eating any fruit in China!

I'm back!

Yesterday I landed at Pudong International Airport, Shanghai, 2 hours later than expected. I had only 4 hours until registration at the university closed, and if you read about the registration process I had in Beijing 2010, you will understand that I felt a bit stressed.

The travel itself went smoothly, I sat next to a friendly Chinese man on the plane and that way I revived my oral Chinese just in time before arriving in China. In the airport a lady asked me if I needed a taxi, and I said yes. She said that it would take about 50 minutes to Fudan University, where I now study, which seemed reasonable. 300 kuai, she said. I just laughed and replied in Chinese "Are you kidding me?" and walked away. I'm not an easily fooled foreigner anymore!!

5 minutes later I wished I had taken the 300 kuai-cab. The legit taxi only cost me 180 yuan, but only a couple of minutes in to the ride the taxi driver told me how beautiful I was and how he wanted us to "hang out" sometime. When I said that probably wasn't a good idea, he tried to convince me that it was by telling me he had studied massage therapy. For 50 minutes I nicely tried to decline his proposals. But I got to the university. Sucess!

The registration was to take place at the Guanghua Towers, which are hard to miss. It's the massive main building of the university with two towers (photo will be uploaded shortly). The only problem was that I was carrying a 20 kg suitcase with me and to reach the entrance there were about 10 steps. Oh, and there were also about 10 different entrances to the building. On my third try I found the right one. At that point I had pulled my suitcase up and down 50 steps. In 33°C. 


When I finally found the registration place it all proceeded very smoothly. After registration a shuttle bus took me to the dorm where I'm staying. I had reserved a single room with private bathroom. Private bathroom apparently means that we're only 3 girls sharing. But that's fine, compared to what I was used to in Beijing. When I arrived all sweaty I decided to take a shower. Then I found out the shared private bathroom didn't have a lock. Oh China.

This is what my room looks like:

 

The End Is Near

I have been so busy the last couple of weeks and my vpn has decided to stop working. I have studied like crazy for the past two weeks and today I had my last exam at Beijing Language University. I have had two oral tests, one listening comprehension, grammar test, reading comprehension and essay writing. I am finally done.

It feels strange that the year is almost over, the time has passed extremely fast. What awaits now is a trip to Hainan, an island in southern China, a popular Chinese holiday resort. It's to China what Hawaii is to America. Robin and I are going together and will meet up with some friends down there. I'm looking forward to the trip very much, after the past few weeks' intense studying I feel like I deserve a week on the beach.

We are coming back on the 7th of July, the following day is our "graduation ceremony" where we will be handed our marks and a certificate. On the 9th I will celebrate my birthday and then I have three more days to enjoy China before I go back to Sweden on the 13th.

I will now enjoy a week's vacation and will write something on the blog when I get back to Beijing!

The Culture Week Performance

I have had some trouble accessing blogger.com, but now I'm finally here to tell about the culture week performance! Among the 12 programs in the show I was the opening one. My song "I Love You China" was supposed to set the theme; students performing Chinese cultural programs. I am very happy with my performance, it went well and the audience seemed pleased. I was wearing my new red qipao, and I had two background dancers from Georgia, two girls I know from class and my old dorm.

The other programs were performed by students from all over the world. There were singing, dancing, skits, Chinese traditional instruments etc. What was interesting was a skit about the Beijing Olympics 2008 that the Chinese loved. I wonder how long China will praise that event, we are reminded about it every day; commercial on television, logos all over the city and now as a play in school.

After all the performances we were called up to the stage. The headmaster and officials from the school management handed out certificates to some performers. My name was called last, and I received the "最高艺术奖", the "highest skill award", or as google translate would put it; "top art prize". It is a beautiful certificate, a silk-covered red book with the certificate on the inside describing the award. I am very honoured, this is a wonderful item to bring back home as a memory of my participation.

Now it is back to studying, next Friday is the last day of class and then the exams start. These are the final exams here in China, so I really want to perform well. On the 8th of July there will be some sort of "graduation" ceremony where we will receive our results and certificates.

The Culture Week has begun

Yesterday was the first day of the culture week and the opening show was a program of traditional Chinese performances. It was Beijing opera, acrobatics etc., and it was, as always, amazing to watch. I was nervous throughout the whole show, maybe the the guy who did a handstand on top of five chairs might fall or maybe the girl who balanced a giant urn with a man inside on her feet might collapse from the weight.

The pictures from my mobile camera are not that great but you will at least get a feeling of the performance. It was a great opening ceremony and I'm looking forward to the rest of the week!

Qipao Hunting

Suddenly it's all about the Culture Week performance and all the teachers are very enthusiastic. They asked me what I was planning on wearing, and I said that it was up to them to decide what was appropriate. Half of them thought a long dress would look nice, while the other half considered a qipao to be the only appropriate outfit for that song.

A qipao is the traditional Chinese dress that women wear at special occasions. I already have two back home, one that I purchased for my participation in the Chinese Bridge competition in 2009, and one I got in February this year when I sang the same song (I Love You China) at a Chinese Spring Festival celebration in Stockholm. None of them are really fitting or well-cut so I didn't bother to bring them with me to China. I have been planning on tailor making one here instead. The problem is that I haven't found any reasonable tailor, they are all extremely "touristy", the fabrics are of no good quality and the prices are ridiculous.

        Qipao

Anyway, today after trying on 57 different dresses (all extremely hideous) the teachers agreed that a qipao would look much better. It is only about a week until the performance and I told the teachers that I need to tailor make one if it should be worth buying one. "Okay, go to the tailor at campus" they said. I tried to inform them that I already had and that the tailor wanted 650 yuan (ca 650 SEK ca 100 USD) and I was not willing to pay that much for the fabrics he had. "No, you have to go to Mr. Lu at the West gate!" the teachers replied. I was very sceptic. However, I did as the teachers said and started walking to the opposite end of campus. There is only a fruit store there and then the gate, so I thought I would have seen it before. But behind the fruit store in a little room without windows sat Mr. Lu among half-finished garments, fabrics and sewing cotton.

Ten minutes after I entered the store Mr. Lu had taken my measurements, I had picked a fabric and told him what type of qipao I wanted. I could see a few samples of his work and the qipao:s were beautiful. Outside the door he had hung pictures of previous customers in their tailored garments, the pictures on the top were in black and white, which indicates that he has probably had his shop for many many years. The price came to 380 yuan, which seemed much more reasonable. I paid half of it and will return on Friday to try the dress. Within three days Mr. Lu finishes any garment ordered. I love you, China.

文化周 - Culture Week

The first week in June our school hosts a "Culture Week", a week where both Chinese and foreign students and some other Chinese performers show, perform and experience Chinese culture. There will be performances, exhibitions etc. My participation in the Culture Week is singing in the final show.

Every class had to present one performance of some sort for the Culture Week. Last Thursday the teachers held an audition for all the performances and chose twelve for the final show. My performance was one of them. I am going to sing "我爱你中国", "I Love You China", a famous Chinese folk song.  Today was the first rehearsal in the university auditorium where the final show is held. I am the first performance in the program and I hope I will make a good start!

The Auditorium