The first week of my two month internship with the British Council is coming to an end and I am feeling really positive for the next week of work. My internship has already been very interesting and I have settled in really quickly, with my supervisor and department manager within the human resources department both being very approachable and easy to talk to. My work this week started with mandatory training including health and safety, child protection and information sharing tutorials amongst others; upon completion of which I received certificates for. After the first couple of days I was given my task for the majority of the internship, consisting of comparing the Terms and Conditions of Service (TACOS) for the British Council with the guide for Mainland China specifically. This means I find discrepancies between the two documents and make the Mainland China guide coincide and support the TACOS. Having a legal background this has been engaging as there is an overlap with my developed skills of policy analysis and there is a big input from Chinese Labour Law, which has been a great insight and introduction into the Chinese culture for me in relation to my degree. I am extremely happy with my placement and I have even made friends from the education department already that I go to lunch with.
As I have a hearing disability I feel that my first week has challenged me more than some of the other interns, as it does generally with whatever I do. For example, learning Mandarin is near impossible for me as I have never been able to learn another language apart from British sign language. I find it hard to hear the words and having not studied any Mandarin previously, as most of the American interns here have, I find the prospect of learning another language quite intimidating. However, that being said I have extra lessons from the British Council twice weekly as well as the class with the other interns weekly. What is more, because these additional lessons are one-on-one, my teacher really pays attention to my abilities and repeats herself as many times as needed, as well as spelling out the sounds on paper. In my first lesson I learnt how to order a bottle of water, probably the most useful out here with the hot temperature.
Another observation is that when Chinese people are wearing the pollution masks over their lips I cannot lip read them and the sound gets blocked so I struggle a lot to communicate, even with my hearing aids. Luckily there have not been high pollution levels so this has not been a major problem for me so far, but I have just managed to be honest with the other interns that I am communicating with, and the response is overwhelmingly positive. I have made more friends here in a week from across the globe than I did from across the country with 3 years at university I feel included with all the activities and the cultural language barrier actually works in my favour as everyone has different accents so nobody minds repeating themselves.
The highs this week have been going to the Summer Palace and finding Lakers (a Western restaurant). The Summer Palace was absolutely incredible. I turned up in hiking boots and a raincoat whilst the other interns were wearing shorts and vest tops, but my choice of attire actually paid off with the intermittent rainstorms. Regardless to the lack of sunshine, this was without a doubt the best day I have had here so far. The palace is just stunning and Kunming Lake which you can walk around is the most scenic picturesque image. The range of temples and bridges comprising the Summer Palace was created by Emperor Qianlong to extend the royal gardens. I have attached a photo and also one of the dinner which after the amount of walking and steps was much needed. The food pictured is chicken, rice and broccoli. It really felt like you were so far from the busy roads and traffic of Beijing and just relaxing at the Summer Palace was the perfect way to spend my Saturday.
I do not, however, actually like Chinese food. Therefore another highlight for me was finding Lakers which is a restaurant that makes pizza, steaks and burgers. I have been there twice in one week, and I can foresee this being a regular occurrence. The best thing is that all the portions are oversized too! Even though Western food here is more expensive, I don’t mind paying it as I was just so relieved to find my favourite food as finding some simple things as a self-proclaimed fussy eater such as semi-skimmed fresh milk and wholemeal bread have already proved difficult.
The lows have been getting completely lost trying to find my Mandarin class. This is not as bad as it sounds, but I did genuinely have no idea I was at one point. Each time I approached a corner when trying to retrace my steps and I thought I knew what was around it, it was completely different. Although I did not make it to my Mandarin lesson, I found my way home relatively easily in the end because I came across a big plaza which had a tourist information section that ordered me a taxi home, after finally admitting defeat. Beijing is reasonably safe as well. Although I get stared at by everyone everywhere that I go, I feel safer than I do back in some areas of London.
The other negative was the bus ride home. From my work there is one direct bus but the traffic is absolutely diabolical. On one particular day the bus driver, after not moving for over 15 minutes in the same spot gave in and opened the doors to the people on the bus and let them off which he was not supposed to do. I was unable to get off the bus with the rest of the commuters as I was not familiar enough with my route home to walk, so I stayed on the bus. Rush hour took what could have been a 20 minute bus journey 1 hour 25. It is really frustrating but I am analysing the directions each day so in a few weeks I should be able to walk it if this happens again. What is more, I have finally put my Chinese SIM card into my phone as my phone is unlocked after having to wait 10 days. This has given me much more confidence to travel on my own.
The post My First Week in Beijing appeared first on CRCC Asia.
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