Ni Hao!

 

Last Saturday we drove down to Amsterdam for our first class at the Chinese school. It was early. at 7 am my alarm clock was annoyingly beeping and I really had to get up. For a moment it was flashing through my mind that this is what I wanted and if I want to learn Chinese getting up must be the easy part. Soon I was sitting in the car with Koen listening to some peaceful Buddhist chants. That will calm anybody down. The nokia navigator worked fine until we reached the city center of Amsterdam. It tried to sent us up a bicycle lane repeatedly and we drove around in circles for a while. Just in time we made it to the school. It is opposite Paradiso, a very well known popvenue.

 

The classes were given in a very nice old looking high school. There were 2 classes so that the groups wouldn't be too big. After the introduction speech the class started with probably the most essential sentence in all languages: Wo ai ni ; meaning I love you. Our teacher is a young lady who normally works at the Shaolin temple! We didn't have the chance to talk to her yet as other people are trying to do the same but next time we definitely will! The class started and soon we were asking each other questions in Chinese, the class existed of many vocal exercises, tone practice and a bit of writing. If my classes French would have been this fun I am sure It would have been a success too!

3 hours flew by and before we knew it we were walking around on our way to Chinatown to have lunch. The sun was out and it was a great day. Some student apparently thought the same as they were cruising around in a motor boat dragging one of their friends who was dressed in swimming pants with a beer in his hand and was lying down on a airbed.

Brrrrrrrrr the water in the canals is incredibly dirty so I thought it was pretty brave but stupid. I guess drinking beer helps. We found a great restaurant and the food almost tasted like it did in Beijing. It was delicious we had some eggplant with tofu, some duck and of course lot's of tea. When we got out we visited the Buddhist temple that is opposite the restaurant. There was a big statue of Guan Yin in the hall, which was very beautiful. There were books about the fundamental Buddhism that were free to take so we each took 1 and made a donation. I had walked by many times and always wanted to go in for a look. Then it was time to go back. We were rather shocked by the parking fee and then only found the car after a long search. Then we had to pay another 4 euros just because we had to search for the car. Next time we are probably taking the train.

It had been a great day, we learned a lot and I am confident that next them I will be able to have some conversation in Beijing! In the evening I went to see the Forbidden Kingdom. It was a very Chinese kinda day!

Chinese School!

A few days I signed myself up for a beginner's course of Manderin Chinese at the Chinese School in The Hague. Who could have thought that so little people dare to start a Chinese Course, we got an email informing us that there were not enough applicants for the course. But it is no disaster the same course is given in Amsterdam, so it just means getting up early on Saturday. I can't wait to be able to scribble down a few characters and communicate with my friends in their own language only if it is just a few sentences to start with.





I felt so bad last time that I could not talk more. I sent Xu Laoshi a card from Finland and I tried to copy the characters to write down his address and finally success! The card arrived! It will be even nicer to send a small letter. With a lot of study and patience it must be possible! And I use to think French was a tricky language… Almost everybody who has gone to Beijing has the China bug and wants to go back. You have to go there to experience it. I even watch half the Olympic marathon in the middle of the night just because they ran through the TianTan Park almost following the same route as the bus we took almost every morning. There it all was, the Temple, the big pathway were the emperors used to walk upon, the big beautiful gate with its majestic big red doors. Then they ran out of the park almost passed the little shop were we used to buy great Beijing fresh probiotic yogurt from a very friendly lady, there the Hong Ying photo shop, the busstop, it is hard to believe that only 2,5 months ago I was walking there virtually every day and it was and felt like home. Learning the language makes me feel closer to my friends there and the idea of actually being able to have a simple conversation is very motivating!

Maybe i will be able to read what is carved into the bamboo!
It looks beautiful but if anybody knows what it says please let me know it could be anything.