Wow! It has been a long time since my last entry. It is a little hard to believe how quickly the time is going by here in Beijing. I have been studying Chinese at my school for almost 1 month now and am about to finish the 2nd of 4 books. I feel that my progress is not too bad so far. We cover a lesson every other day which inclues about 25-30 new words, 8 Chinese characters, some basic grammar, translation, and much oral practice. I think that my confidence had increased alot too.

The biggest news for me is that I have located a place to stay here in Beijing. this was a major concern of mine. This past weekend I moved into my apartment. It is a 3 bedroom unit located about 20-30 by bus from my school. I am living with another student from my school as well as two Chinese guys. This will be a great way to improve my Chinese as well as learn more about Chinese culture.

I will try to put some pictures and other information on my blog later.

I have met with several of my former students who are currently living in Beijing. Normally they are not available until the weekend, so we meet for lunch. I think that there are about 20 or so ex-students here. So this is a good way to reconnect with them and build a relationship as well.

For all of you who are thinking about my . . . especially with the housing . . . thanks so much. I am really excited at the possibilities . . . so your thoughts have been answered . . . .

My Daily Schedule

It has been quite some time since my last entry. I have begun my classes - 3 hours each day, Monday through Friday. I find that it is quite challenging for me. I am learning some basic vocabulary for daily life, grammar, listening & oral skils, in addition to learning to write & read characters. I find that I can study something, but that it seems like an eraser just wipes it from my brain. So this time is really challenging for me.

I have one hour of 1-on-1 instruction, one hour of 1-on-2 instruction, and one hour of tutoring each day. We cover a chapter about every 2-3 days which includes about 25 new words. I try to learn 6-8 characters each day. Overall, I am quite pleaased with my progress. I find that I can understand more conversational Chinese and I am slowly developing more confidence in my speaking too. But I still need to practice the tones. It is very easy to have a lazy tongue and incorrectly pronounce a character.

My basic schedule is to get up about 6:45 and commute to the school arriving about 7:45 or so. I finish by 11:30, then I take my lunch near the school before returning to Ben & Patrick's apartment for a short rest. I study then for several hours.

I have not yet located a place to stay. Right now it is the sofa, and I want to find a more permament location. This is causing some anxiety for me. It is hard to get into a groove until I feel more settled. Otherwise it is just transition. So this is still something you can be thinking about for me.

Otherwise, I am slowly adjusting to Beijing life. It is quite different than Xiamen life. I miss very much seeing some of my students in Xiamen, so I try to say connected either by chatting on MSN or QQ or by SMS on my mobile. I have met with some former students who live here which I have found to be quite good.

Liu Fei(Nalson) & Wu Fei (Mike)

Two of my students who are studying in Beijing during their winter holiday to prepare for the GRE exam. We are at the entrance to China Agriculture University

Making the Transistion in Beijing

Today I will go to my language school to register and start what should be an interesting chapter for me. I think gaining more language ability will not only be exciting and challenging, but ultimately will open more doors and opportunities. I should find my schedule ... the timesof my lessons, my teachers, and meet some classmates too.

So far the transistion is progressing smoothly. I am finding my way around this part of Beijing which is a HUGE city. I am in the northwest corner near the 4th ring road in an area called Zhongguancun. there are many universities located nearby and this is also the site of China's silicon valley with many technology companies nearby.

I still need to find a place to live . . . so that is something you can continue to think about. While I am not anxious about this, it still causes me some concern. So far there are not many open doors.

Saturday, I met two of my students from last term . . .they are in Beijing completeing a GRE prep course during their winter vacation. We met for some coffee and then lunch later... and had a great time talking. The remainder of my time has been to overcome a severe case of jet lag, continue with all the details of relocating to another city, and exploring this massive city. I have been waking up around 4 or 5 am and find that i am ready to crash by 9 at night.

Please add your comments or send me an email. I think this will be a good way to stay connected.

Return to China

I am trying something new . . . a blog . . . . to record my experiences here in China. I hope this will serve as a better communication tool to all my family nd friends about what I am doing here in China. I think that it will take a little time to figure all of the bells and whistles about blogging. Additionally, I hope to post some photos so you can have a glimpse as to some of the people, places, and things that I encounter in my daily life.

I will welcome your comments and feedbck too. I think this can be a great way to stay in touch with each other.

I arrived in Beijing thursday evening after a very long and tiring flight from the US. On left Indianapolis and fly to Chicago, but it was very stressful. Thata more there was very heavy fog making the drive difficult and slow. I arived at the airport with only one hour to spare and then the check-in line was very long. Soemhow 'customer service' did not mean much as there was only one agent who only dealt with one of 15-20 passengers in 30 minutes. I had doubts i would make the flight.

But thankfully, I did and the connection also went smoothly too. I was fortune to have an entire row to myself, but the bad news was that i could not sleep. So the journey seemed to go on and on. After my arrival in Beijing, I took the Airport Bus and Ben met me. I am staying with him temporaily till i can find a place.

Yesterday (Friday), we began taking care of the many details required to make a smooth tranisition.... buying a bus pass, securing a SIM card and local number,etc.

So far everything seems to be going well. Monday is registration and classes gefin on Wednesday