Fall Semester

School started up again in the microcosm that we like to call Jiao Tong. With a semester of experience under my belt life in Shanghai has been noticeably smoother. This semester I tested into "beginner 4" and discovered that my spoken Chinese is better than a large majority of my classmates. Last semester, after 2 months of being in China studying Chinese I realized that I still couldn't say a complete sentence. The classes at Jiao Tong are really focused on reading Chinese rather than speaking and listening. Which is why I got a tutor and language partner this past Summer. You can study here for a year and finish "beginner 4", be able to read a 1000 characters, but not be able to understand nor be understood by the "real" Chinese. I didn't want to be that guy.

Over the Summer, while school was out, I spent an hour and half every day with my tutor (Jesse) practicing Chinese. Her going rate is 30 RMB/hr, which seems to be the market rate for Chinese tutors at Jiao Tong. So I was shelling out 225RMB/week for 7 1/2 hours of tutoring, which so far has been worth every mao.

My tutor Jesse is from Shangxi province, which I really know nothing about except that they have a lot of coal. Her dad is a government official so I get to hear cool stories about the inner workings of the Chinese Communist Party. She moved to Shanghai to improve her English for a possible move overseas. Recently she asked me to be her language partner and teach her English, so we still keep in touch a couple times a week.

I also currently have a language partner named Tina. During the Summer I responded to her note that she left at the dorm bulletin board. Normally the ads posted on the bulletin board are a source of entertainment for me while waiting for the elevator. However, Tina's note seemed somewhat normal. A majority of the ads seem more like personals than requests to find language partners. So far things have gone well and we've been meeting regularly for about 3 times a week for about 2 hrs (1hr English/1hr Chinese).

A little about Tina: She is a account manager working for Epicor, which is an American ERP company here in Shanghai. She seems to be making a lot more than the average Chinese white collar worker. She just bought a brand new Honda Civic and 2BR house out in the suburbs of Shanghai. She wants to improve her English skills because all the business in her office is done in English and to improve her chances for career advancement. Most of our conversations usually revolve around work, life in the US vs China, etc...

Over the Summer I was putting in an average of 10-11hrs a week of Chinese practice. However, now that classes have started I only spend about 4-5 hrs a week with my language partners. As a result I've been able to go to my bank and deposit USD and exchange for RMB, get totally lost on my bike and find my way asking directions, order 煎饼 (delicious pancake-burrito like food that I often eat for breakfast) and have basic conversation with the vendor across the street. I've found that using Chinese to accomplish these kinds of things has been worth all the effort and time I've put in.