继续学习汉语－ Continuing to learn Mandarin

It's been nearly two months since I left Beijing, and it's been a nice break from studying, but my Chinese is also going downhill. I'm already starting to forget how to write Chinese. Apart from emailing or skype chatting to my BLCU friends in Chinese, and watching some Chinese DVDs that I bought, I've been too lazy!! 

So, I have decided to enroll in a local school teaching Mandarin. I went to three classes so far, and it's been interesting. The language studying environment in Beijing had made it easy to learn and become motivated in learning the language. Here, outside that environment, I have to become proactive (me, proactive??). Although the teacher here is Chinese and I think she's a fairly good teacher, the learning environment here is more relaxed - no homework. There are supposed to be six students in my class, but often only 3 or so people turn up. It's understandable, though, because people have to come three times a week after work or school, and that's not always easy. At least I'm still getting the "Chinese exposure", since we often chat to the teacher in Mandarin....but I really need to push myself a bit more. 

Incidentally, we are studying from a book from BLCU, different from the textbooks I have been using in Beijing though. This one concentrates on listening and speaking, so it's also a bit of adjusting to the new learning method. Wish me luck!