25th September: Celebrating the Day of German Unity

Although it’s actually on 3rd October the German embassy decided to celebrate it on 25th September. Anyway, all the Germans were invited and since we heard that all the food and drinks were for free… (and yep we stole this balloons and brought them back to our dorm but the security didn’t stop us, so I guess it was ok?)

It was just quite sad that everything was in white and blue and it seemed more like the bavarian embassy than the German embassy but oh well… It took us around 50 minutes to get there and Lukas, the blonde guy, didn’t have his passport (because we all had to hand ours over to the oversea students affair office) and didn’t bring any other official documents stating that he’s German, so he brought the only thing he had with him: his Chinese student ID “booklet”. The security wasn’t really satisfied and made him sing the German national anthem xD And he did it, so we all got in!

Anyway, after we made it inside it was just… incredible, you could see soo many Germans and people talking in German but we were all hungry so we tried to figure out where the food was. When we finally saw the line, we were a bit shocked to see that many people lining up to get food. But somehow we were more impressed by the fact that people were in fact queueing (because Chinese people don’t really queue…) After a short amount of time we could already see the food and we were about to go crazy because of the familiar smell. We couldn’t wait to get some food in our stomachs! Finally salad, potatoes and it really did taste German (except for that Schnitzel because… seriously was what that piece of crap… Unfortunately I was too busy eating, so I didn’t take any photos and these were all taken by Nina).

Seriously, I didn’t know that I would miss having salads and potatoes that much! We were putting food on our plates and while we were waiting for the line to continue we were already eating in order to make space for more food… Julia even cried a bit because she was just so happy… They even had pretzels! You guys have no idea how awesome German food can be. Honestly, I’ve never been a big fan of German food but I did kind of miss it and after being able to get so much food for free I know what bliss is.

24th September: Concert Organized by Students

Students organized it themselves and whoever wanted could perform and show off their talent. It was pretty cool! It looked quite professional and I think it was even broadcasted!

22nd September: Introducing My Class

We’re 10 people, so it’s a rather small class but I like it that way  It’s really interesting talking to people from other countries (South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Portugal, Poland, Russia).

Just the other day our class monitor suggested that we should have a meal together once in a while, in order to get to know each other a bit better.

Here a short introduction, sometimes there’s only a Chinese name, that just means that I forgot their ‘real’ name…

仁炯 Inhyeong: Korean, class monitor, the youngest and she’s so optimistic, bubbly and just happy all the time

实梨 Minori: Japanese, rather quite but really nice and tries to talk to you

韩旭 Han Wook: Korean, tells really funny stories and loves alcohol

洋祐 Yosuke: Japanese, rather quite and we like to call him Yakuza or mutton because his Chinese name kind of sounds like it (actual name in Mandarin: yang you; mutton in Mandarin: 羊肉 yang rou)

玉泰 Yu Tai: Vietnamese, calm, haven’t talked to her that much but her Chinese is quite good

Viktoria: Russian, rather quite, haven’t talked to her that much

Anthony: Polish, we call him grandpa, knows a lot of random things and likes to poke fun at others

Harald: German, don’t know him that well

Antonio: actually Chinese but grew up in Portugal, incredibly good at talking

Classes

Before I start talking about my classes and my classmates: The result of watching "Trainspotting" with Nina was that she had to go after half an hour and went to the library…

I'm in F2 and that’s my timetable (汉语＝Mandarin，口语＝spoken language，读写＝reading and writing) and I chose a few selective classes (习惯用语 = idiomatic expressions, and calligraphy, although I might drop calligraphy and go to a class about traditional and modern China). Teachers here are incredibly nice and the female teachers all have this motherly vibe…

So Much Food

I seriously enjoy eating in China so much! There are so many delicious dishes here! Tofu with aubergine, something I don’t even know what it is, a menu consisting of a bowl of rice with some pork and a dessert made with red bean and Chinese mochis, another rice dish with chicken, pan-fried bun filled with soup and meat, Cantonese pork bun, egg tarts, a rice dish with veggies, noodles, coffee and dumplings.

20th September: I STILL DON'T HAVE INTERNET ACCESS IN MY ROOM + An Introduction to a Few Friends

Yep, title says it all. I don’t think I’ve ever been so upset over not being able to surf the world wide web. Seriously, I was so frustrated that I had to close the window and just scream while hitting my bed with a pillow. For the people who know me: That’s not how I usually act… And I think I scared Nina a bit/lot. Sorry… I swear, I'm usually a calm person but not having internet access for 10 days just drove me over the edge.

That’s the reason why I haven’t been able to update my blog etc.

Anyway, on to the introduction of a few friends because honestly, nothing really interesting happend. I just ate a lot and everything’s super cheap :D

Su Junhong: Chinese, the guy who showed us around on our 2nd day here in Beijing. Really nice and helped us so much!

Lukas: German, lives in the same floor as we do. Incredibly nice and didn’t run away when I started talking about cannibalism and pedophilia :D

Seo Ilsoon: Korean, met him before taking my 2nd exam. Nina apparently doesn’t trust guys she hasn’t met and wants me to tell him that I’m more asexual than anything else… Seems like wie like the same kind of movies.

Miguel: Spanish, was a classmate, when I was still in class E. Nice.

Today, I’ll watch “Trainspotting” with Nina, Lukas and Su Junhong ^_^

12th September: Placement Test

When I took the placement test I was told that I should go to the E class. After going to that class for a few days I figured that it was too easy and on the 12th I took another test and they put me in the F class.

In the evening Nina an I went to a meeting organized by the anime and manga club. We finally managed to meet a few Chinese on our own :D But it was super awkward for me because, even though I am an anime and manga fan, I had no idea what the names of all the things I liked were in Mandarin *sigh*

Part of the University Campus of Beijing Foreig Studies University 北京外国语大学

Visiting a Poop Restaurant

I went to a themed restaurant and the theme was obvisouly “poop”  I don’t remember why I didn’t take a photo of my food but here’s a photo of the ambiente of the restaurant and the menu. The food was delivered in a mini-toilet 

 

Roommate Agreement

Nina and I (aka Wolky) decided to have a roommate agreement to make sure that we minimize the problems we could have by living together and to motivate each other to study Mandarin.

• Nina disposes of any insects if possible
• Wolky carries heavy purchases if possible
• shoes have to be taken off at the entrance
• visitors (if we have any) have to be announced before arrival
• no usage of deodorants in the room
• always have at least two cup noodles in stock
• allowed to sit on each other's beds
• organic west should not be disposed of in the room
• every 2 weeks: tidy up + mop

8th September: Mid-Autumn Festival

Today, Nina and I finally managed to go to Xidan, a huge place for buying clothes, stationary and weird Chinese stuff. We spent quite a lot of time there but nothing could possibly fit me because I’m just way too big for Chinese standards… I basically need XL in China D: At least everything fits Nina perfectly fine…

Anyway, afterwards we went into this humongous book store. It has 4 floors and it’s just incredible! I've only bought a few books, and I would have bought a lot more but I didn’t bring that much money…

In the evening, we met up with a few Chinese friends and spent the mid-autumn festival with them and ate way too many moon cakes! But it was really fun getting to know more Chinese, especially when we get introduced to new people because the first question would always be “guess where they’re from”.

That day the sky was wonderfully clear and we could enjoy the sight of the moon during the festival ^ _ ^

Posters teaching you how to be a civilized human being…

Pictures of cute little shops in China