Trek to China: Part 2
by Jonathan Gregg

Have you ever watched one of those pirate movies where the dude is just about to walk off the plank, and you can just see the look of dread and panic on his face for he knows he’s not going to like what’s coming. Well, that’s what I felt like thinking about the prospect of flying across the world’s largest ocean with a not quite 2 year old. The horror! It actually ended up not being as bad as it could have been because we broke it up a bit, stopping for the night in both Seattle and Vancouver on our way to Beijing. (Much like a root canal “isn’t as bad as it could have been” if the dentist stops for coffee breaks)

Once we got onto the plane, this little bundle of 2 year old happiness in the row ahead of us poked her head over the seat, offered up some jelly candy and a friendly “a-dada-goo” (which I assumed was Chinese for “hey there stud, how ‘bout some sticky-sticky?”) My son, possessing my genetics and all, was all over that with a friendly “a-ga-ba” in return. (Which of course I knew meant “Any time, any place darli’n”) His first international mac and he’s not even two yet…score!

Once we landed we found ourselves in an ocean of people, all of them talking a million miles a minute, none of them in English. It hit, oh hell, we weren’t exactly in Kansas any more! Before we had landed I was worried that I might not be able to find my way around the airport, but all the signs were in English, and if there was any remaining doubt about where to go I was about to learn the secret to getting around in China.

Follow the crowds. Because, anywhere you want to go, there is what seems like half of humanity trying to get there as well.

We got through customs just fine, found our luggage, and when we got outside there was Educasian waiting for us. I should take a moment and explain that Educasian (www.Educasian.com) arranged everything for this trip for us, save for the airfare. Things like visas, lodging, school, transportation to cultural sites, etc, they took care of it all for one price. Educasian is one of the most expensive programs of it’s kind (and there are a BUNCH!) however, I had a family coming with me, didn’t know the culture or the language in China, and I was willing to pay to make my problems go away. In making sure my trip was as smooth as possible, they did a first rate job. Once we got to our apartment from the airport, we freshened up and it was off to our first “real” Chinese dinner with our hosts from Educasian.

(A note on housing: one reason to go with a reputable agency when arranging your stay in China is that there is a VERY wide spectrum in quality of lodging, even within the same area. Our apt was a tad on the small side for a family, but definitely was livable with air-conditioning that was amazing. Some of my friends weren’t in other programs weren’t nearly as well taken care of.)

The following day was a Friday, so I was off to my first day of class.

While I was in Beijing I was going to do my first four weeks at a private school while waiting for formal University classes to start, and my second four weeks at the Beijing Foreign Studies University. (BFSU) The private school had classes ranging from 3-12 students, and classes at all different levels. My particular 2 hour/day class had been in session for that week already, so I was a week behind. Thankfully, I had done a bit of study on my own (using Pimsleur's CD set, which was great) so I was able to jump right in. The classes turned out to be ok, but just ok. The real learning for me came from my afternoon tutoring session with Zoie, who was absolutely amazing! (Educasian provided the tutor, a lounge with TV, computers, and a pool table to study and relax in, and study rooms to work w/ your tutor) I know there was some variability in the quality if the tutors, but once again Educasian was pretty helpful trying to make people happy.

Once my first four weeks were done, I transferred to BFSU to start my classes there. Sadly, I was sorely disappointed by the classes we had. There just wasn’t enough differentiation among the levels of classes, so few people were happy. In my particular class, the differences were so vast that as a compromise the teacher did the easier book for our first two hours, and then the harder book he second-class. So, for 2 hours each day, the half the class was wasting their time.

But, of course, it wasn’t all studying. We got to see a lot of sights in Beijing and the surrounding areas, including the Great Wall, Tiananmen, the Summer Palace, and a Llama temple.



Tiananmen Square


And, the really cool thing was, everywhere we went people flocked to play my son. He was as much of a tourist attraction for them as their sights were for us!



My son


Now, you can’t write about China without talking about the shopping. (The only mandarin words my wife learned before she went over were “Tài guì le.” Which means “too expensive”, and is all the mandarin you’ll need to go shopping) The shopping is amazing, DVD’s cost $1 and you can get a custom tailored, high quality suit for around $300-400 dollars! Oh yeah, that’s right, I’m gonna be one styling dude at this years interviews! And, for you ladies out there, you can get a strand of freshwater pearls for $3-$4.

As for getting around Beijing to see all this cool stuff, that isn’t very hard either, even if one speaks little mandarin. There are a LOT of taxies, with roughly a third of them being comfortably air-conditioned and relatively inexpensive. To get where you want to go, just bring a map with the name of the place you want to go, written in Chinese characters, and you will be on your way. Or, if you want to go a bit cheaper, there are several subways which run approximately every 15-20 minutes, and costs roughly 75 cents.



The Great Wall of China

All in all, it was a great trip, I had a lot of fun, and I learned a lot. And, best of all, I met a LOT of great people, including several Michigan alums who all were more then happy to treat me to lunch and some of the strongest liquor this fella has ever had!. (I actually had several people yell out “Go Blue” to me as I was walking down the street in my Michigan shirt.) If any of you dear readers have the time, I HIGHLY recommend taking a trip to this wondrous place!

Click Here to Read Part 1 (the Preparation)!

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