observations and stupid exams...

hi all

a few random observations on beijing:

-there is no such thing as red or yellow lines to prohibit anyonefrom stopping or parking almost anywhere. So although most peopleare generally sensible, the typical reason for a traffic jam is ataxi blocking 2 lanes as it dashed across 3 lanes to pick up acustomer, and thus parked at an angle...causing chaos, especiallywith the long (bendy) buses trying to go around them!

-there are no trucks or lorries! there are a few..there are lots ofcoal trucks that appear after around 11pm, but during the day itsjust buses and cars mostly. Plus, of course, the many carts, cylesetc taht carry goods like vegetables, cardboard, TVs, doors..youname it!

-Having said this, all the bridges are really low in beijing, thedouble decker buses are kinda short, and only squeeze under thebridges by less than a metre (no kidding), so maybe this was a planto keep lorries away an reduce congestion/pollution?

-I've managed to read bus maps now since i know enough characers toknow where i am and where i am going. It helps no end! It also makesme realise what a superb invention the 'spider maps' are that areused in London, on each bus stop showing where the buses that stoptheir go, and their frequency.

-Noone in China uses deodarant. This is something i have known for awhile (since trying to buy it) but was reminded of again when packedvery, very, tightly onto a bus at rush hour..thankfully a fewwindows were open!

Anyway, moving on, we had our listening test today which waspointless because:
a) it was 50 times harder that what we practise in class, so we weretotally unprepared
b) nothing was repreated
c) everything was in chinese characters, including the answers..thusby the time i had understood the answers i had missed the actualconversation on the tape
d) the conversation was first, and then the question. so we had toremember the entire conversation in order to be able to answer thequestion, since we did not know which particular piece ofinformation to remember or look for in the conversation....and on and on. anyway everyone left wondering what the point ofthe test was. but since noone actually cares what the results are(its not like it matters what mark you get at the end of thecourse), it was a 'who cares' situation.

4 hours later i then had the oral test. it lasted approximately 3mintues since i was asked only 5 questions of such ease i could haveanswered most of them even before i started the course (and everyoneelse agreed). such the opposite of the listening test, everyone wasvery bewildered.

tomorrow is the written, therefore predcitably hard (but at least wehave been prepared with practise tests already)..so i'd better learnsome 'hanzi'.

just before i go, i'll mention that tomorrow night is flic andchris's leaving party :( i wont see flic again for a long time oncei go to inner mongolia (sunday) although i will see chris foranother week. kinda sad..the end of an era :( such a fun,interesting, chaotic time. even sadder than when i moved out of theoffice. oh well, better enjoy tomorrow night.

oh, and this is a great article on 'blogging'. If you dont know whatblogging is, you should know, and you should read this. and if youdo, you should read this anyway, cause its very interesting:
click here
will report back after the camping in a gurt in inner mongolia, andafter we take pictures of the north korean border from a lake on topof a (doramnt?) volcano...

adam