A Change of Course: Beijing Bicycle

Initially, my plan was to arrive in China and find a job in an environment in which both English and Chinese were spoken. Ostensibly, this seemed like a good idea—what better way to learn Chinese than in a completely immersed environment, right? After a few conversations with alums in Beijing I was convinced that, if I was to take a job in a Chinese-speaking environment right now and study Chinese on the side, I’d a) flounder at work b) barely improve my Chinese and c) become increasingly frustrated. Moreover, Beijingers manner of speaking is hard to understand, so even if I spoke better Chinese, it would still take me awhile to figure out what people were saying. Therefore, I’ve decided to do two-hours of one-on-one Chinese everyday at the Taipei Language Institute, a school suggested by people in Beijing and my teachers at Middlebury. I plan to study like this through the New Year, at which point I hope to have completed the equivalent of 2nd and 3rd year Chinese. During the interim, I plan to meet with alums and other expats in Beijing in order to figure out what I want to do with my Chinese and explore potential employment opportunities. I plan to edit/teach English on the side, but I won’t know how much time I’ll be able to devote to that until I’ve settled into a routine with my studying.
Yesterday, I bought a bike—a one speed Giant that resembles the one I had when I was 12. It’s a good bike—it handles well, has a basket and a lock on the back tire. Yesterday, I set off to ride across town to have lunch with a very good friend. I should start by saying that biking in Beijing is nothing like biking in the States. The most apt metaphor I’ve heard is that biking in Beijing is like playing a real life video game—people jumped in front of you, buses almost run into you, bikes going the wrong way engage with you in a game of chicken and no one pays attention to the traffic laws. Yet biking is a great way to see the city—as long as you don’t pay too much attention to the scenery—stay in shape and get around.
At any rate, after over an hour on my bike and several conversations in Chinese later, I arrived at Beijing Normal College. I could not, however, find my friend. After several phone calls and lots of biking in circles, I realized that she was at Beijing Normal University, which is not the same place as Beijing Normal College. It turns out that, because the city has so many schools, such a mistake is easy to make. But what was most interesting is that I could have corrected my mistake if I had known the Chinese name of the school, Bei Shi Da. Since I didn’t know that and kept asking for Beijing Normal Da Xue (college), I ended up at the wrong place. Inevitable, I never met up with my friend and then spent the next hour and a half returning to my current abode.
I plan to write more once I’ve started class and figured out how much time I can devote to other pursuits.