This post is basically going to be about my weekend activities, aka the Olympics -- not that I don't do work (trust me, my eyes are about to shut on me involuntarily since I didn't sleep much last night), but rather that the saga of my memorizing vocabulary words is not the most thrilling material to read ever.
08.08.08
So this was probably one of the more interesting days that I have spent in Beijing. That Friday morning was the normal routine (two-hour weekly exam, followed by a workshop and then a debate in which all the students are basically waiting for Chinese table 中文桌子 to get here so we can get free food). Friday Chinese table, at a Korean restaurant in Wudaokou 五道口, was fun as always.
At 3, however, we had to take the HSK (汉语水平考试), or the Chinese Proficiency Test. It’s a test organized, I think, by the Chinese government designed to test foreigners’ and Chinese minorities’ 少数民族 command of Chinese, and is commonly used within China as a standardized yardstick for proficiency, particularly when you apply for university admission or jobs or whatever that would require a certain level of Chinese proficiency. Final scores range from 1 to 11 or 12, with higher scores meaning higher proficiency. When I got here, I took the intermediate-level test, which goes from level 4 to level 8, and scored a 7. At the time, I found some parts of the test fairly difficult. I almost even didn’t take the test last Friday, just because (1) I was positive that I wasn’t going to pass and (2) it was conveniently scheduled on the day of the Opening Ceremonies and that was something that I didn’t want to miss. However, I’m glad I took the HSK, because in the end I scored level 9, which is the lowest level on the advanced test and means that I can technically enroll at a Chinese university, although realistically that’s not going to happen anytime soon. Still, though, it’s nice to know that I have some quantifiable, physical evidence of my improvement in Chinese this summer.
That’s when the fun really began. After heading back to the Conference Center 会议中心 to rest for a bit, me and a couple of my 5th-year classmates (Joan, Charles, Lena and Timo, the HBA secretary) headed out to try to find a place to watch the Opening Ceremonies. After some discussion which would be kind of tedious to fully recount, we then headed out, determined to watch a giant screen on the Torch Tower (I think it might actually be called that) which is really close to the Birds’ Nest 鸟巢 (aka the National Stadium 国家体育场) and to watch the ensuing fireworks.
It turned out to be a ridiculous night. First, we get on a bus that is heading over to the Olympics area, since the subway will take too long and it’s nearly impossible to hail a cab. The bus is packed to the gills – we could barely squeeze on, and at this point I think I finally understand what 人满为患 really means. I didn’t even have to hold onto the handles in order to stay upright, which tells you a lot about how crowded the bus really was. Then, when we finally got off, we basically spent close to 40 minutes or so running around trying to get closer to the Stadium than we were, since like in any other crowded event the police were giving contradictory and conflicting instructions, what seemed like the entire population of China was running through the streets and all the while the clock kept ticking down.
This was actually taken by Shan. 中国加油!
I can't tell if those lights in the back are fireworks or not.
Security. This is China, after all.Eventually what ended up happening was that we were on a huge bridge – which I nearly pushed someone off of in order to get on – and we saw the first set of fireworks, which was pretty cool. This was then followed by the sinking realization that the screen on the Torch Tower was not going to show the Opening Ceremonies (doesn’t it seem logical though?), so we headed back to Wudaokou. Joan, Lena, Shan and I eventually ended up watching it at Lush at Wudaokou, which was actually a really enjoyable experience although by the time we got there the parade of nations was starting and so I actually missed most of the cool – and apparently computer-enhanced – beginning parts of the ceremony.
After the ceremony per se ended, they started setting off fireworks above the National Stadium and so we basically flew down the stairs and outside trying to see if we could get to a high enough building and watch the fireworks. Although we didn’t succeed, I did see part of the fireworks above one of the shorter buildings on Chengfu Lu 成府路, which basically made my night.
It was really easy to get caught up in the fervor of the night – when the fireworks went off, when the Taiwanese/Hong Kong/Chinese Olympic teams marched into the stadium and when the torch was lifted, the crowds basically went crazy with excitement. It’s probably then that I understood how important these Olympics are to most of China, and while I don’t think I can ever really fully understand the way that Chinese people (aka, those who live in China) think, I feel like I have a more nuanced understanding now. Aside from that that night was also simply a blast, since the exhilaration of running around northern Beijing didn’t really wear off until the next morning.
Not exactly a birds’ eye view
Then the next day, continuing the Olympics bonanza, Shan and I skipped out on HBA’s Beijing Night 北京之夜 in order to go watch mens' gymnastics preliminaries! Beijing Night was the program-organized talent show, and while I vaguely regret not participating in it, I think the choice between that and gymnastics is clear…and it became even clearer once we got there and realized that because gymnastics are at the National Indoor Stadium 国家体育馆 in the Olympic Green, we were able to get ridiculously close to the Birds’ Nest and National Aquatics Center 国家游泳中心, which then replaced watching Opening Ceremony fireworks as the highlight of my weekend.
Gymnastics itself was a lot of fun as well – I’ve only ever seen it on TV and it’s something else entirely to watch it in person. Those guys made most of the exercises look really easy, even though you know it’s really difficult. (I’d say rings is the most prominent exception since watching that in person only impressed on me how difficult that actually is.)
Pictures can probably tell the rest of the story better, so:
We're off to the stadiums, on line 8 (what else would it be numbered)?
Gymnastics.
Outside the Indoor Stadium of the Games (where gymnastics was).
We got this close!
National Stadium.
National Aquatics Stadium.Playing in the rain
The weather kind of took a turn for the worse on Sunday – it rained like it did the very first day that I arrived in Beijing – but we headed out to watch field hockey against the USA anyway. It was one of those experiences that’s fun in the retelling but miserable while you’re actually living it. Security at the north zone of the Olympic arena was absolutely ridiculous -- in the sense that it was really poorly organized and we basically didn't get to the match until the end of the first half. The Americans and the Argentineans tied, 2-2.
Red (well, pink), white and blue!
More fifth-years.Miscellanea
- On Monday, I had dinner at Bellagio in Sanlitun with My Khanh and I had 滷肉飯, which I don’t know how to translate but made me want to get out of here even faster. It’s a kind of pork dish that my mom makes all the time and which I had never up until Monday found in Beijing.
- I’ve had this persistent cough for at least a week and half now that hasn’t gone away, which I’m going to attribute to the air pollution here.
- Foreigners (non-Chinese) clearly get a lot of attention here. But what’s even more interesting to your local average Chinese citizen is Chinese-looking people speaking English (aka, me). Their heads swivel around, particularly on the subway, and you can almost see the thoughts running through the head: who’s speaking English? He’s speaking English? But he’s Chinese! Etc, etc.
- Joan, 骆老师 and I went to this place in Wudaokou where I finally found my 飯團! Although it's square, which is kind of odd, I was unbelievably excited to see this. Two months of eating baozi 包子 and youtiao 油条 gets to you after a while.
- Finally, as you can probably tell from this post, my concentration for HBA and Chinese-related things is at an all-time low. At this point I'm basically going through the motions to crank out the work -- we've got an oral and a written final separating us from freedom, and from officially allowed English. Hurray!
I may or may not post again from Beijing – our final/graduation ceremony/English table (post-language pledge!) is Friday morning, Friday afternoon I need to run some errands at Wangfujing and definitely pack and clean and Friday night I’m planning to head out to dinner and enjoy my last night here. I think I'll close out here -- most likely the next time I post will be from Hong Kong or Taichung.
wait. you're allowed to speak chinese on the subway, andrew?
ReplyDeletejk. just giving you a hard time.