An update on my School and Homestay in Guilin

I've been in Guilin almost a week now (well it counts as a full school week since tomorrow (Friday) is a holiday, and I get a long weekend).

The school is working out great.  I have 4 hours of 1-on-1 classes a day, and 3 different teachers, so I get to practice listening to different speaking styles and accents.  I got an assessment/test on my first day, and they decided I most needed to review and practice grammar (they thought my pronunciation was ok).  Since I'm only here for 2 weeks (and shortly afterwards leaving China) I told them I wasn't really interested in learning a lot of new words and grammar, just practicing what I'd already learned, and getting some practice speaking and listening.  So that's what we do.  we're covering grammar and some new words, but mostly we just chat, talking about the various differences between Canada and China: healthcare, public parks, restaurants, food, etc.  It's very interesting!

My school is on a little side street, here it is:

The building is very modern.  Here is the lobby:

There are a bunch of different classrooms on the first 2 floors, and above that 4 floors of dorm rooms.  There is a kitchen on each of the first 2 floors, and the school cooks a hot lunch every day.  (You can purchase meal cards for the lunches, or go out and eat on your own.)  The meals usually consist of rice plus 5 or 6 different dishes - veggies, meat, tofu, etc.  It has been quite busy this week as there are 2 groups of students from the states.  One group is leaving today and the other next week so things should quiet down a bit after that.

Most of Guilin is pretty modern (apartment blocks, shops, markets and malls, just like everywhere else).  Right out back of the school there are some dilapidated old houses and a bunch of chickens running around.  My immediate thought was bird flu!

Also yesterday morning I passed a lady carrying a dead chicken home from market.  She was holding it by the feet and it was just dangling from her hand, feathers and all.

My homestay family is amazing.  They are taking great care of me, but they are all so busy I hardly ever see them!  All three of them work dawn to dusk, and whenever Sandy (the son) is around he is practicing his saxophone or doing homework.  (Or playing video games, of course!)  Right now he's out paying badminton.  (I was hoping to go watch but I guess it didn't work out.  I'm not sure why, communication is an issue with this family!)

Here is one of the dinners they cooked for me!

Spring rolls, thousand year old eggs (duck), soup, garlic pork chops, beans, and of course bai jiu!  (Bai jiu is this foul Chinese alcohol but it grows on you.  I'm going to bring some home and force everyone to try it!)  Other nights they've cooked dumplings and other delicious meals.  A couple of mornings Sandy has taken me out for breakfast and we've had Guilin Noodles and Baozi (steamed buns).  Last night they picked me up at school and we had dinner at the grandparent's place.

I'll post some photos of the family and apartment later.  I've hardly ever seen the whole family together.  Chinese people work too hard!  (Note to Canadian kids, Don't complain about your workload!)

One evening I wandered about downtown and checked out the shops.  Here is a picture of the Sun and Moon pagodas all lit up:

The Chinese like to light things up at night, pretty much all the office buildings and hotels have some kind of light show every night (just like the Seven Star Cave).  It's like every night is Christmas!

(PS  One of the things about the Chinese is they are very modest, and one of the first things you learn to do in Chinese is to shrug off a compliment.  "Your Chinese is very good!"  "Na li na li, no it's very bad."  That kind of thing.  "Ma ma hu hu" is another thing you say when you get a compliment.  It means "horse horse tiger tiger".  You can't avoid the culture when learning the language, and that's one of the big benefits I've found from taking classes here.  However modesty aside I'm very proud that I'm able to chat for almost 4 hours per day in (mostly) Chinese in my classes.  I'm also able to communicate minimally with my Chinese family here, even though they talk very quickly and have a very strong local accent.  For example:  eat ("chi"), ten ("shi"), and four ("si") here in Guilin are all pronounced "si".  So "eat at 10 past 4" ("si dian shi chi fan") is "si dian si si fan".  I actually figured this out on my own and then confirmed with one of my teachers (and she told me a bunch of other local differences) so not bad, eh?  "Na li na li, no I just have great teachers!")