Cloudy in Beijing Blogging about my time in China

Feelin’ better

Indeed, I did get sick. Caught a bit of a cold and have tried to stay in bed these past few days. I’m better now, with only these lingering coughs erupting from my mouth every now and then. Not exactly how I was hoping to start my time in Beijing. Instead, it feels like this city’s been beating the crap out me, with my each cough feeling like I’ve taken another jab.

Earlier in the week, I did end up telling the school I wasn’t feeling well, something which I was reluctant to do. Didn’t want to put up with the fuss with what might happen, like spending a few days in a hospital. But I also didn’t want to endanger the whole dorm either.

“I have a sore throat,” I told the staff working at my dorm.

Their response surprised me: at first, the two staff members simply looked at each other, as if I had told the wrong people about this.

“Don’t worry about it,” one of the workers then replied. “You’re probably just getting used to the conditions. Drink lots of water. That will help.”

Another worker than took my temperature, zapping my forehead with the barcode reader-like device. “Oh, you’re fine,” he said.

No quarantine for me. I think the staff workers just didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, and perhaps wanted to save me some trouble. So far, I don’t think I’ve infected my roommate; just a few minutes ago I sanitized his computer keyboard with Purell.

Hopefully this will be the last time I have to talk about experiencing disease in China. But yesterday I received this email from the school.

“In the recent days, since several students have been found infected by the influenza A(H1N1) virus, the university has raised the alert level of controlling this disease.”

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I also took a test today.

To figure out our class schedules, the school required all Chinese language students to take a placement test. To my surprise, it was actually hard.

The test was mainly listening and writing. I wish I could have studied more for it, but my illness gave me little motivation to flick through my flashcards. Oh well, I did my best and hope I get placed in a class where I can learn a lot. But it does disturb me a bit to see all my years of studying Chinese simply evaluated by a short one-hour test.

Moreover, I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for my students in Xi’an. During my year there we went over one English listening test after another, with the aim of all my students passing China’s CET-4 exam.

“Don’t think too much when you take the test,” I remember telling them. “Read the answers first before you listen to the question,” I advised.

Well, today I used those same tips and strategies when taking my test. Turns out it’s much easier said than done.

In other test-related matters, I did receive some good news yesterday. I’ve been wondering how my students fared on their CET-4 exams, but have been too afraid to ask, for fear that maybe some didn’t pass. One of my students, however, contacted me, saying that she had passed.

“Your teaching helped me succeed,” Joy added in her text message.

I felt one part congratulatory, and one part relieved. After putting all the work teaching in Xi’an, it’s good to know that I helped at least one student overcome that test. In recent days, some of my former students have been contacting me over QQ, China’s instant messaging program, and asking me when I’ll return to Xi’an. I’d love to see them again, and hopefully I’ll hear that more of my students passed the exam.

But in the meantime, I’ve become a student somewhat like them. Guess I’ll get to experience both sides of the coin. Perhaps, I’ll be asking my former students for tips on how to study Chinese.