First Week of Classes

Well the first week of class has come and gone! Its amazing how much you learn in one week of studying a foreign language! My classroom is pretty amazing though and puts most American College classrooms to shame. At each desk we have a sound system and a computer. I think that I am in some sort of advanced class because most of the kids in World Link do not have computers and head sets like we do and they are all beginners. In my class there are people from Denmark, the US, Hong Kong, France, UK, Sweden, Switzerland, and Ecuador. The campus has about 10000 students with about 70% of them Korean!

The sound system is used so we can listen to the tones and pronunciation of words, an ever so important aspect of Mandarin. There are 5 tones in mandarin each changing the meaning of the word. For example ma with the 1st tone witch is just a flat tone is mother, however ma with the 4th tone dropping means horse. There are other similar words that if you mis pronounce them one means Miss and the other means prostitute, another that means bitch or noodles. Its really complicated but once you practice it enough you get it down.

We spend a lot of time repeating the pronunciation of tones and key formations in mandarin. We are also working on several characters in Chinese. We actually have three teachers our main one we see is a pretty young male but is a very unique person and very encouraging. Our other two teachers are a man and a woman. The woman speaks absolutely no English!

So far I can order rice, noodles, stuffed dumpling, bread, water, beer, wine, liquor, vegetables, meat, and fish at a restaurant. I can also introduce myself and tell people where I am from. These are pretty basic but is a huge achievement from just a few days ago.

I have been studying a lot to get the foundation of the language down. I have been seeing a private tutor that world link provides for us from either one to two hours each day since Tuesday. He helps to review, preview, and advance my skills. Its been great so far! I also go home and practice with my host family. I found out that my host family is retired my uncle was a manager for a school and my aunt was a teacher. This explains why she has been willing to teach me each night!

This weekend I am meeting up with some students for a birthday party, going to practice my mandarin, and gonna chill out.

I have been doing my best to keep up with Lent, by not eating meat at the meals I eat outside of the home. It is hard to tell that to my family since I can not fully communicate with them. Hope everyone is having a great time in Texas and around thed world.

God Bless. If you are wanting to send me messages please do so by email at bhollas@hotmail.com because I can not view my blog. Blogs are considered a form of free speech and since that is banned in China I can not view my blog, but only update.