Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Escape

One of the main goals of being here is to completely emerge myself in Chinese. And I often do. I've often try my best to eliminate English from my life. My roommate gave me about 100 of his favorite songs, so I can listen to Chinese music. I've started to take notes in Chinese (no always possible, but getting there). I try to avoid my computer as much as possible (sometimes failing, but I try).

The language pledge truly helps. Take today as an example. I woke up at 8 and spent two hours preparing for my business Chinese class test. Newspaper class. Then lunch while continuing to prepare. Test. Office hours (I just go and chat with the teachers to practice my Chinese). 3 hours of basketball. By now I actually recognize a bunch of guys at the court, so I talk to them a lot. Dinner, still speaking Chinese. And finally, I'm writing my blog, the first time all day that I'm even thinking in English. Every day, Chinese all the time.

But has anyone else ever been in a foreign country and just felt like they needed to feel a little more at home for a bit? Needed to escape from the foreign atmosphere? Chinese - both the language and the culture - all the time is great, but sometimes I just need to feel like I am back in America. So, yesterday, while starting to prepare for my test, I spent 5 hours at the coffee shop I sometimes go to to do homework. Two cups of coffee. Dinner - a ham, egg, and cheese sandwich. English music. For those five hours, despite the fact I was preparing for a 20 minute oral presentation on the Chinese stock market, Chinese currency policy issues, and the challenges facing China's exports (thrilling), I kind of felt like I was back at home. Kind of. Not completely, but somewhat. Probably as close as possible.

Ideally, while in China, I would not speak or even read a word of English. I wouldn't listen to English music. But I don't really think that's possible. I think I'd go insane. Sometimes it's important just to feel at home, even if it's just for a few minutes. Whether it's listening to music, talking to family or friends, or buying bread and peanut butter and jelly and making sandwiches in my room, small breaks from complete emersion keep me going. Now, unfortunately, back to the grind. It's late, and I haven't started my homework.

Here are the pictures from our trip to Fenghuangshan (Fenghuang mountain) last weekend:

http://picasaweb.google.com/LouisGilbert15/FenghuangShan#

2 comments:

  1. You would go insane! Blogging, I hope, is one small way to get a dose of home/English. Anyway, sounds like you're doing great!

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  2. That's serious dedication. And yes, it's great for learning the language. But as someone who lives in a "foreign country" [Israel], I thought it was funny because I really do conduct 90% of my life in English. And the truth is, I'm definitely not as incorporated as I could be, but it works!

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