My B8 Class

Some of the 同学 and 王老师 from B8 class

Does time fly? It's been nearly five months since I've been back to
BLCU. The final exams are coming up in a couple of weeks….and I've
just realised I haven't written about my class yet in this blog.

So, I am in B8 class (regular 20hr/week) this semester. The class is
basically composed of mainly Koreans (possibly 13-14), two Japanese,
two Kazakhstanis and …I. So, it has been very interesting. I have
even thought of learning Korean, but didn't get around to it! The
positive thing is that I have to speak Chinese 99% of the time. I was
a bit concerned previously about the size of the class, but as the
semester progresses, so did the number of students who turned up to
class. Today we only had six! Don't take that as a norm though,
because I think other classes have better attendance, I would say
depending on the motivation of the students, or may be we are all
really tired by this time (either from studying, or partying!).

I find the teaching style a bit different from my last intensive
course, but nevertheless, I still enjoyed all my classes, even the
listening class was interesting.

The zonghe (comprehension class) took up most of the time (12 hours/
week). This time we had a young male teacher. The class turned out to
be a lot of fun and we often chat to and joke with the teacher both
during the class and during the break. I think this really helped to
improve our oral Chinese.

For the oral class (4 hours per week), we have an older teacher. She
is so lovely! We all love her! The only thing about the kouyu class is
that there is so much grammar in each lesson I hardly can remember it
all. Ok, I need to go back and revise.

For Listening (4 hours per week), we have a young female teacher. I
find her really good. She has a way of explaining new words and
grammar in a way that the meaning can be understood easily.

So, it's been interesting, very different from my A7 Intensive class
last year, where we only had 12 students (from 7 different countries)
in the class, and most were really studious, turning up to class
everyday. May be the difference is that if people sign up for the
intensive course, they are probably more studious to start off with.

China Sichuan Earthquake – A moving story

"Dear baby, if you live, please know that I love you."

A woman was found amongst the ruins of a building in a strange
position. She was on her hands and knees. When the rescuers found her
and took her out of the rubbles, she was already dead. Underneath her
was a baby, possibly only a few months old. The baby was sleeping.
Next to the baby the rescuers found a mobile phone with the message
the woman wrote for her baby, "Dear baby, if you live, please know
that I love you."

中国加油！China's Sichuan Earthquake

By now everyone would have heard about the earthquake six days ago in Sichuan province, China. Over the last few days, students in BLCU have been setting up booths around the campus collecting money. There was a fund raising event today outside of Dorm 17. Students representing various countries were giving speeches offering condolences from various countries and urging China to fight on － 加油！

The restaurant downstairs was also very kind in offering free lunches to those who donate money to the earthquake victims.

Although the earthquake is obviously devastating with so many lives lost and so many people affected, I think it also has brought the best out of the Chinese people. The Chinese Government was so quick to act this time. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was there within hours of the earthquake, and Chinese President Hu Jintao has been there for a few days. For me, really moving to see the images of Chinese leaders, soldiers and ordinary people helping in the rescue and relief effort.

Politics aside, it's also wonderful to see so many countries offering aid to China. For me, of particular note were Taiwan and North Korea. I saw an interview of a Taiwan seismologist on CCTV9 and she said that people in Taiwan are really feeling for the Chinese people. Whatever happens in the world of politics, Taiwanese are also Chinese, she said. I hope that the relations between China and Taiwan will continue to improve. It also caught my attention that France was also very quick in offering aid. I do also hope that this would help to thaw the relations between France and China after the Tibet issue! 

The Conference Centre and Building 17

The following is a YouTube video from Raymond comparing Conference Centre and Dorm 17

This is probably long overdue, seeing that I have received so many
questions about it. Therefore, I've compiled this little list.
Hopefully it's useful. If you have stayed here or have something to
add, please feel free to do so in the comment section.

Link to Conference Centre.

• Single rooms only (yes, you get your own bathroom)
  
• Rooms are small but quite comfortable and clean
  
• In the typical room, there is a bed, desk, TV, Fridge, wardrobe, kettle, phone
• Internet connection – yes! (NB. Not wireless, but there is a café on 
  
• the second floor that provides wireless internet connection)
  
• Laundry on the 4th and 6th floor. (Washing machine and dryer)
  
• Food preparation room on the 7th floor (two heating plates provided, no microwave)
• Rooms are cleaned daily (ie bathroom cleaned, rubbish removed); Vacuumed once a week and sheets changed once a week.
• The fuwuyans (the housekeeping ladies), at least mine are, are very nice.
• CC has a Chinese Restaurant, Korean/Japanese Restaurant, Café, little shop selling snacks and various supplies, and a hairdresser. The restaurants are very handy on a rainy or cold day especially if you don't want to go out.
• Can book a room about a month in advance before you come.
  
• Not a lot of storage space.
  

Comparing to Building 17 – Just from what I've seen.

• Building 17 – rooms are a lot bigger. Single/twin rooms available.
• Kitchen (and I think Laundry) on every floor. Kitchen has cooking plates and microwaves.
• Apparently the walls might be a bit thinner there.
  
• Beds not so comfortable.
  
• A lot of storage space, plus desk lamps and bookshelves.
  
• Building 17 is a little further away – might take 10-15minutes to get to classroom.

Of course, there are other places/dorms as well, but since I'm not so
familiar with them, I won't write anything about it here.

Last 电针 (“electric acupuncture”) treatment – yeah!

I finally had my last 电针 treatment! What's that? You may ask –
the photo above says it all. It's not for the faint hearted. The
needle is supposed to hurt if it goes into the right spot – a kind
of deep, aching pain. The electric part is supposed to relax the
muscles, I guess in a similar way to the TENS machines.

A friend introduced me to this Chinese Doctor after a couple of weeks
of not successful treatment at the school hospital. By that time,
I've already had the injury for about 4 weeks, and my knee was
getting worse. I could feel the difference straight away after the
first treatment, comprising of 电针，"cupping" and heat
treatment. It was probably 80% better already.

Anyway, I'm glad it's over! I guess the moral of the story is not
to leave things like this till later. If I did something about it
straight away, it wouldn't have taken me 2 months to recover!

Ghost in my room? The Conference Centre mystery.

A couple of nights last week, the TV in my room turned on by itself.
No, I did not sleep with the remote control on my bed, so I couldn't
have accidentally turned the TV on. I did turn off the TV before bed
and left the remote next to the TV. At first I thought I imagined it
(or dreamt it) until another friend told me the same thing happened
in her room!
So I told the fuwuyuans (housekeeping ladies) about it and jokingly
asked them if there was a ghost in my room. They a little seriously
told me not to worry, there are no ghosts, and I should switch off
the TV (ie don't leave it on stand by) at night. No more problems
after that, but still a little strange!

Intensive Class or Regular Class?

A few people have been asking me this question. Obviously, it all
depends on you and your circumstances, but here is my experience of
the two type of classes.

Last year (2007) I did the intensive (6 hours per day) 12 week class
at BLCU. It was challenging, but I had the best time! Having more
contact hours per day means more to revise at the end of the day.
Ideally, it would be good to preview the next day's lesson but I
found that I hardly have time to do this…but it could be because I
also had a private tutor once a week and meetings with language
partners 2-3 times a week, plus going to the gym, etc. By the end of
it all we were all really tired! Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the
course and was very happy with it. The teachers and the classmates
were wonderful.

This year I came back and decided to do the 20 weeks regular course
(4 hours/day), so did a few people I know who did the intensive
course last time. Some also came back to do the Intensive class
again. Initially I didn't know what to do with myself, but I'm
finding I'm quite enjoying the afternoon off! I go to the shops (good
chance to practice mandarin), study, go to the gym, etc. There are
also extra course that can be taken eg. Pronunciation, writing
Chinese Characters, Calligraphy, learning Chinese songs, etc, that
can be taken. I'm also having a private tutor twice a week. Some of
the other students have 2 hours of private tuition everyday.

I think having private tutors are helpful in re-enforcing what was
learnt in the lessons. With my tutor, I would prepare a topic and
write it down, then during the lesson, the tutor would check and
correct what I have written. I would then talk to her about the
topic, thereby practicing my oral/speaking skills. What you do with
the tutor would depend on your circumstances and the problem you have
with learning mandarin. Some students want to study more or have
different needs (eg studying Business Chinese) so they also go
through other text books with their tutors.

If you have been to BLCU, please tell us your thoughts/experience via
the "comment" section below.