(This is Wudaokou 五道口, the local center for restaurants and nightlife, albeit Western nightlife. Believe it or not, the twin towers in the center of the picture house offices for Microsoft and Google, among other tech companies. There's also a subway line here.)Indeed, the weather has been quite pleasant the past few days, almost breaking 10C (50F). It's been nice to wander around Beijing sans Siberian winds. It makes me realize how beautiful Beijing must be in warmer months (particularly on our campus and in areas with lakes and parks (houhai, the summer palace, etc).
In other news, I think that my immersion courses are going to change slightly. I spoke with the director of the program, and it seems like the in-class focus will be more on conversation and less on word memorization. Although this might be more difficult (more work outside of the classroom memorizing vocabulary and sentence structure), hopefully it will improve my conversation skills and retention. I'm excited for the change.
A few days ago, I saw the following advertisement for a special Valentine's Day dinner. It read as follows (the sign had Chinese and English on it):
Your are my love baby
Because you are the perfect
Coffee could also make drunk feeling
Sweet dreaming
Write our LOVE STORY together.
Now if that doesn't convince me to come for dinner, I don't know what would. Some of the English signs around Beijing are downright hysterical. I enjoy them immensely...but then I remember that I often can't speak the difference between the "ch" sound and the "q" sound in my oral Chinese. And then I also remember that I can't speak Chinese that well at all. Laughing at poor "Chinglish" is fun only when one manages to forget how humorous one's own "Chinglish" must be.
Anyway, the weekend promises to be one of relaxation, conversation practice, and homemade dumplings (we're going over to Dr. Sun's apartment to make jiaozi tomorrow night). I hope yours is relaxing as well...go make dumplings or something.
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