Arrival

I've been here in Beijing for about a week and am only now getting around to updating this blog. Sorry for the delay! Anyway, I'd like to recap the events of my first couple of days.

I got to Beijing safe and sound. At the Shanghai airport, I and two girls from Yale had to literally run to catch our connecting flight. It was pretty stressful but we got on the plane just in time... only to hear that due to a sandstorm, take-off would be delayed for five hours. It happens that we were able to take off after only twenty minutes. At the Beijing airport the three of us were greeted by an HBA teacher, even though it was 2:30 in the morning. It shows just how dedicated the teaching staff at HBA is. I was very impressed and grateful.

(I also want to say that in writing the above paragraph I had to stop myself from using Chinese grammar, like "就。。。了" and "才," which respectively emphasize earliness and lateness. I'm improving :) )

The next day I had to take care of some essentials like having my internet set up, buying groceries, and taking our placement exam. We also had our orientation where we signed the infamous language pledge, meaning that we can't speak anything but Chinese while we're here. (I broke the pledge just an hour later in order to have my cell phone set up for use in China, but other than that I've kept it.) I thought this program might be a repeat of my trip to Paris last summer when students left their French behind as soon as they left the classroom, but luckily the students here at HBA have been really good with keeping their promise.

I'd like to say that I'm not even sure if this post was written in correct English because 1. I'm exhausted and 2. I haven't spoken English in a week. If my sentences sound very awkward or simple I apologize.

A final thought: sometimes in my head I play a game where I'll try to say what I'm thinking in Spanish, French, and now Chinese to see if I know how. My French is starting to go.