So I am in the University computer lab writing this email! wow, itsbeen a while since i was here. I've paid my tuition fees, got mystudent card and therefore enrolled as Adam Lane, Chiense name isjust 'yadam'. fortunately there are few translation issues for myname, as I can just use the chinese translation of Adam (from Adamand Eve). Other people have more issues. For example, if i had triedto translate my surname i either have to find something in chinesethat sounds similar, and then it could mean anything, or translateinto 'little street'(=xiao lu) or something.
I am moving tonight :), I have a Chinese test on thursday morning(8am!!) so they can decide exactly what class to put me in (beginnersfor sure, despite my few hundred words) and then start classesproperly next tuesday.
Actually AIESEC work has been a bit slow since the new year festival,but it gets more exciting now I will just arrange and go to importantmeetings, whilst coordinating my team of 6 local AIESEC students. Sotomorrow we will get confirmation from Shell on how they want tosponsor us, next week I meet the head of something similar to the IODI think (Insitute of Directors), and will also be meeting a goodfriend from the IBLF -International Business Leaders Forum (he isinviting us to the launch of the China BLF, which is very exciting).So I am looking forward to my part-time AIESEC work.
New Year is almost over; and it was maybe a little less exciting thani anticipated because so many people all go home to spend time withtheir families. Whereas in New York or London Chinatowns, there is ahigh concentration of chinese people with lots of festivities and notflying home to be with their families. I also don't think that newyear here is that commercial. There is the market for decorations andthings, but nothing really around presents (kids, and sometimes otherfriends/family tend to get the little red envelopes with money insometimes), no expensive restaurant packages for new year (orclubbing nights for that matter)- apart from those for expats, and soon. In Beijing anyway, most of the festivities took place in thesetemple fairs, which are great, but its not quite street paradeseveryday or anything (for some reason i had this idea in my mind fromsome movies...maybe its different in hong kong or other cities).
On another of my rare runs i discovered this amazing park that is notin the tourist guides (but is on the map, thankfully!) with lots ofbamboo, rock gardens -as in gardens with carved rock formations andso on (seems to be a chinese/japanese thing), and it was just verypretty all covered in snow.
Still not been to KTV yet (maybe this weekend), but instead ahve beento Banana, a club where western women get surrounded by chinese menwithin seconds, and where westerners generally don't seem to frequentmuch. Its kinda upmarket, with rich kids boozing bottles of whiskeyor renting private rooms. It had a very cool dance floor that bouncedthough. Strangely at 1.30am, they stopped the music and on the 1stfloor, a lady popped onto a stage/balcony to sing ballads/opera for20 minutes -I've never seen that before.
I also forgot to mention how drunk i got on something similar tomulled wine on friday night, which led to some strange pictures andsome strange memories or trapsing around sanlitun for a long timeacting like drunk idiots with Sam (well we were both drunk idiots tobe fair). I do remember the restaurant staff staring at us a lot, andi do think we were the last in the restaurant. anyway, it was greatfun :))
better run,
Adios
Adam
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