This week I found my Mandarin lesson! To be fair it was very difficult to find so I didn’t feel as silly for getting lost last week, but I did feel sad that I missed last week’s lesson as it was so good! There was a group of about 5 of us which is a perfect number to learn with the opportunity to ask questions and make sure we understood the pronunciation correctly. Along with my Mandarin lesson at work, I learnt a few things this week. Firstly, Chinese characters represent the meaning of words, but can also represent their sound. For example, ‘mum’ (māma) is written with the character for ‘female’, representing the word’s meaning, followed by the character for ‘horse’, which has a similar pronunciation (mǎ). The second thing I had to get my head around was that there cannot be two verbs within the same sentence. To say “I eat a sandwich and chocolate” in the same sentence is fine, but if you wanted to say “I eat a sandwich and drink water” you would have to say “I eat a sandwich. I drink water.”
At work I have been to an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) meeting which has led to me giving a presentation on the subject on the 30th June. This is because I have a hearing impairment so as an intern with a disability I have some thoughts about what the British Council could do to improve EDI in the workplace. Although I am excited about this opportunity, I am incredibly nervous and not a very keen public speaker so I am sure I shall blog about this closer to the time. Aside from this, at work I also organised a call conference with the HR managers in the different China offices in order for us all to share input and thoughts on the documents I have drawn up so far. This call is scheduled for early next week, which will then allow me to move on to the next stage of my task, which is to make an online supporting document that is accessible to all internal British Council staff to assist the Terms and Conditions of Service.
My manager took me to the Jenny Lou store to buy some fruit washing up liquid. It is an international store selling many familiar brands. Fruit liquid is essential to be able to eat fruit without a skin and that might be harmful to eat without washing it in the correct way. In addition to including fruit into my diet, some other interns and myself found a Mexican restaurant this week. Proper burritos! It was so good I went there twice (and Lakers twice as predicted too!) To counteract all this fast food, I have managed to go swimming in the apartment a couple of times when I have had quiet week nights in. I find it really peaceful and gentle exercise which tires me out enough to sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.
At the weekend I got the bullet train to Tianjin. This trip allowed a look around the town’s Italian quarter and a tour of Nankai University. Lunch was in the university canteen and after the tour we all went for dinner in a very posh restaurant which had this beautiful chandelier on the ceiling. The day was really good as Tianjin is quieter and calmer than Beijing so there was a nice contrast to the usual hectic and noisy city centre. As dusk fell we crossed the bridge back to the train station and the city behind us lit up, it was so stunning. I had a really insightful day into postgraduate study in China, which I had been considering previously.
On Sunday we went to Beijing Huiling Centre for people with a mental disability where we were given a dance performance by ‘Michael’ (whose chose his English name based on his favourite dancer – Michael Jackson). Then we watched some other talent performances including a magic show by the students. We then proceeded to show them our talents and play games with the students, which was really fun. I really enjoyed learning more about the charity and what they do. I then went to the Temple of Heaven and the surrounding park which is another one of China’s many wonders. The whole park was buzzing with life and activity, from singers to dancers and aerobics, to kite flyers and ribbons on sticks being waved around. The Temple itself was also stunning.
Next weekend is a public holiday so I am busy planning how to spend my 3 days off. I cannot believe I have been here for one third of my stay already. I am a bit stressed because there is still so much I want to see!
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