An American in China

Hello, friends and family. A happy Fourth of July to you all! It has been a very busy few days. Last Friday I officially started classes at the Beijing Language and Culture University. That means that my days of waking up late and relaxing are over. Now, I start my day at 6:30 in the morning, eat a quick breakfast, and head out by seven just in time to hit the heavy morning traffic. It's about a 30 minute commute from my apartment to the college, but it can take longer depending on whether the bus wants to be late or not. Class starts at eight and consists of two 2-hour classes. Everyday we have a speaking class, and then every other day we have either a listening or reading class. My reading class is VERY difficult. It is ruled over by a sixty year old Chinese woman who cannot speak English. This five foot two ball of terror is as intimidating as her perm is big... and it's gigantic. During the first lesson, no one understood what she was saying. This made it particularly embarrassing when she would randomly call on students to answer questions only to be met with silence and a blank stare because we did not understand the question being asked. However, I must admit, the desire not to look like an idiot in front of everyone is an excellent motivation for studying. The other classes, fortunately, are much less intimidating. One aspect I particularly like about my class is that we are an international group. I sit next to a Spaniard and a Russian. In front of me are two Koreans, and behind me is a German and another American. All together, our class has representatives from ten countries. It's always funny to hear Chinese spoken with various accents. Not surprisingly, the Koreans seem to have the easiest time with pronounciation, while the Americans seem to have the most trouble. However, not to blow my own horn, but my teacher did complement me on my pronounciation yesterday after class when everyone had lefts. So even though my grammar is often incorrect and sentences are rather simple, this American can at least be understood in China. And that's certainly a start. Afterall, Beijing wasn't built in a day.