Heres a few snapshots taken last weekend at the Beijing Rock Festival in Chaoyang Park. Not great quality pictures as I only had my phone with me. Still, gives you some idea of what it was like.
This photo was actually taken a few weeks ago but I have only got my hands on it recently. Everyone was rather afraid of bustling beijing and hadn’t yet ventured out of the campus so I decided to take a few people out to my favourite Beijing duck restaurant back at Xinjiekou where I was living before. A lovely meal and nice to catch up with Leeds students!
So… as most of you have probably guessed, I am now settled down at Beijing Capital Normal University and have started my studies. I moved out of the Red Lantern Hostel a couple of days after the family left home and got a bus with all my gear to the International Culture Plaza, the student residence I am now staying in.
The Residence
The residence itself is actually a lot more like a hotel than a student hall of residence. Most rooms are double rooms with two single beds although a few single bedrooms are available. The rooms are en-suite and really modern with Ikea-style fittings. They have air conditioning, a fridge, big television, phone, computer with internet, plenty of wardrope space and… they are massive! Furthermore, there is hotel cleaning service here so the rooms are cleaned every day.
Besides the rooms, if you are staying in the residences then you are entitled to use the gym and swimming pool along with the Japanese and Chinese Restaurants on site.
Swimming Pool!
The pool is just a 3 or 4 minute stroll from my room and is brand spanking new. Even better, very few people tend to use it so you pretty much always have a lane to yourself. After you’ve tired yourself out, you can also sit in the steamroom for a while or sweat off last nights meal in the sauna. All of this comes to just over one pound per session!
Canteen
If only school cantines were like this back in England… At lunchtime and dinner (and breakfast too apparently) the university canteen opens and has a massive chinese buffet menu on offer. You just go along and point at what you would like then hand over the dosh. Whats more, its unusual if the total price of the meal goes above 4 kuai (28 pence). The food is very fresh and there are lots of vegetables available (something that cannot be said about some chinese restaurants!). If you pay a little more you can also get certain dishes made to order which are even nicer.
Room Mate
I was moved into a room with a Thai room mate. Initially this was slightly daunting as he spoke no chinese and very limited English. However, it has worked out well. He’s a really friendly guy and I have been out and about quite a lot with him and his other Thai friends. Some of them can speak Chinese or English so we can translate amongst ourselves. Learnt a couple of words of Thai too…
Classes
After the initial placement test, I was moved into a lower level 2 chinese class which I found slightly too easy. I got moved up into a higher class which is a lot more demanding and I am really enjoying it. I was initially snowed under with work as the level was slightly hight but I am starting to get on top of things now. Classes are from 8:00am until 12:00 and then we are free! A big bonus is that the classrooms are only a 5 minute walk from the hotel/residence so we can get up last minute and still make it in time! There are lots of Italians in the class along with Koreans, Japanese and French students and we all get along well. The teachers are also LOVELY and can actually teach which is a pleasant surprise!! Apparently some other Leeds students have much worse teachers who make them recite entire texts off by heart each week so I consider myself to be very lucky!
Beijing Rock Festival
Last weekend I managed to get tickets to the Beijing Rock festival on both Saturday and Sunday along with some friends. The weather was brillliant, the music was brilliant and the beer was cheap… what more can be said? On Saturday night they had a free drinks tent running which was novel, far too many double whiskey + cokes consumed (or were they triples…?). Still managed to get up on Sunday in time to see the Nine Inch Nails (NIN) play, absolutely awesome. Great weekend.
Well, I don’t think that there is much more to be said for the moment. I’m just enjoying the freedom of the weekend now before the next week of hard work. From now on I’ll try and keep a more regular update going! Things to come: some photos of the university and campus, photos of friends, some photos of the music festival… keep posted 
Jono
