bikes, studying, jobs...

hey'all

so what's news? 3 classes are done (80 odd more to go!), and I feelok -my tones are not
good still, but my vocab feels quite good(well, i have been here 6 months longer than the rest of the class!)and i now think i know maybe 5 characters. I have realised I have tospend a lot of time writing characters in order to learn to bothwrite and read them, and I also need to up the revision on thevocab :((

and i was just starting to enjoy the DVD player/TV too! I willprobably have a job lined up by next week, teaching english to some6 or 8 year old kids for 4 hours a week (earning about 8-10 poundsan hour) -it seems like the perfect job, close by, well paid andlots of fun just talking to kids, so no preparation really required.

today i finally joined the ranks of the 'cyclist' in Beijing. Ittook a while; as i finally bothered to ask Flic for her bike, andthen get both puntures fixed. Then on a ride home, at 11.45pm, theback tyre went flat again -i guess the guy had not removed the thingthat caused the puncture in the first place :( Then i got anotherguy to fix it, but he only pumped it up, thinking that would fixit..? anyway, it didn't, cause it promptly went flat again, so theni forced him to fix the puncture and check the tyre to removeanything in it....and now it works :)

I must look an idiot by western standards -but typical by chinesestandards. why? the bike is a) female, b) too small for me c) almostprehistoric (no gears, but there are 2 brakes thankfully!). its notmade my life much faster (1 gear, lots of traffic and a need to beVERY careful when cycling = not very fast), but its fun and relaxingand some kind of exercise, and i feel more chinese...thanks Flic :D

The food in the canteen here is great; i normally splash out for 50pence for a cooked meal of 2 dishes + rice. i have a routine now andeverything (including breakfast on the way to uni for 15 pence) asuni is all morning, afternoons is revision and/or aiesec work andevneings will be working (paid) or revision or DVD or party. Its anice life and there are millions of people who i'm befriending in myclass (of 13-16 people) and all the other classes, and all thefriends/roommates of everyone else.

Tell you what, I do feel poor, now all the students have descendedflashing their euros and dollars around (canadian, aussie and US);but after 6 months, you learn to live with being thrifty...althoughits kinda pathetic hunting down cheaper food brands or supermarketsfor the sake of a few pennies. most of the non-asian students havefound accommodation such as: a cheap hotel for the whole semester,an appartment similar to those the expats live in, homestays or ifthey live in the dorms, they have gone for the expensive rooms andoccasionally paid for both people! yikes, we are all so spoilt!

today i realised that in the best University in China they sell beerin the canteens -and that the big 600ml bottles are cheaper than the330ml cans (?? -it might be because the uni can get money bacm fromrecylcing the bottles, whereas noone recycles cans as much). I alsorealised that me being tone deaf (as you all very well know) is nothelping me pronounce my tones. I learned that some of theuniversities here are fantastic, with facilities and the right kindof attitude that puts my (ex-) university to shame. I also askedwhat the chinese version of my surname is (my first name is thesame -adam, but said ya(3rd tone)dam(1st tone)). It seems it is Lay-en (phonetics) which might mean thunderstorms (first word) and aperson who is kind and give things to other people (second word).Not too bad, I think. So I'm getting some new name cards made upwith my chinese name on too (i need more).

that's almost it for now, except for a comment on Gordon Brown'svisit to China..although it seems he was praised for realisingChina's economic importance, I still totally think that the westunderestimates China, and really has no clue about China; so littleabout it is known, and that which is seems to be from some oldhistory class, or to be related to words like communism whichprovoke images of china that are inaccurate. This is summed up bythe fact I am yet to meet a bitish person studying at my Uni (theremust be some!) but plenty from most other countries. anyway, i guessjust me being in china makes you a bit more aware of anything in thenews that cops up about it, so keep on reading (especially about thenew issue of the Hong Kong governor being replaced and the reasonsabout this...which also leads to discussions in the papers aboutdemocracy in hong kong).

enjoy your weekend -I will be off to a party in my old appartment -the office! yay where I will also meet the new German guy who is SOfortunate to have my bed in the corner of the office, he he.

Adam