Tag: Language immersion

  • John Daniel: 我在上海还没到一个月!I haven’t been in Shanghai even a month! July 2024

    上海外滩的景色 The view from Shanghai Bund

    我在上海还没到半个月,不过这段时期的经历又丰富又复杂。

    中国认可工党的成功吗?China approving of the labour party’s success?
    (I am joking, its a hero’s memorial I just happened to visit on the day the UK elected Starmer)

    今天我在上课的时候接受了个电话。因为我以前错过了几次他们给我的电话,当时终于地注意到他们在给我打着电话,所以我马上接起了电话。是警察! 幸亏,他们只要肯定是否我有没有在派出所填好境外人员住宿登记表。这篇登记表的目的在于保障所有住在上海的外国人都在一个名单。要是不好的事儿发生,政府可以容易地跟他们交流。 此外,这篇也是得到居留证的要求之一。

    得到居留证真是个不容易做好的事儿。我在这个路上已经遭遇许多白跑一趟。不过我在慢慢适应这里官僚的重视。我还有几个要求该满足才能得到居留证,不过我大学的国际学生办公室在努力工作帮助我。

    我觉得我的中文水平在日益提高!除了跟我的同学们说中文以外,我还在认识到许多中国人。 周一晚上我跟三个中国人出去吃晚饭。我们吃饭后去了一个著名的酒吧叫Sober Company。 以前这个酒吧在亚洲最好50酒吧的排行榜上。我们在那儿继续玩儿,整个晚上都是用中文沟通 – 一共5个小时。 我们快要回家之前,我头开始痛。 我没想到我会在这样的环境还活下去! 我以为在这样自然的环境只说中文会让我觉得有点儿尴尬,但是他们大部分听懂了我的意思,我5成左右听懂了他们的话!

    我小区的一个大楼,很酷. A cool building in my neighbourhood

    我下个月必须做的事情很多。包括我入学之前的三个课程:会计、程序设计、统计数学。我猜这下几个月会非常的忙碌。我很期待。

    I haven’t yet been in Shanghai a month, but the experience in this short time has been wonderful and complicated.

    从农村来的中国人很少有机会认识到外国人。在上海看到从国内来旅行的人请外国人拍照是很常见的. 三个孩子请我拍照。
    People from the countryside in China have few opportunities to meet foreigners. It is very common to see people from the inner country travelling in Shanghai and asking foreigners for photos. Three kids asked me for a photo.

    Today when I was in class I received a phone call. Because I had missed their calls a couple of times before, finally noticing them calling me then,  I immediately picked up. It was the police! Fortunately, they were only wanting to confirm whether or not I had filled our the foreigners accommodation registration form. This objective of this form is to ensure that all the foreigners living in Shanghai are on a list. If anything bad happens, the government can easily communicate with them. Besides, this is also one of the requirements for getting the resident card.

    Getting a resident card is not an easy thing to do. I have already been on many wild goose chases. But I am slowly getting used to the love for bureaucracy here. I still have a few requirements I need to fill before I can get my resident card, but the international student office is working hard to help me.

    I think my Chinese level is getting higher each day! Other than speaking Chinese with my classmates, I am also getting to know many Chinese people. On Monday night I went out for dinner with 3 Chinese

    这些人都是我的同学们。 因为我们都来自不同国家,我们为一个共同语言是中文!再加上我们是高级班的学生,所以我们更好只说中文吧!
    These are my classmates. Because we all come from different countries, our only common language is Chinese. Furthermore, because we are all in the top set, its better we just speak Chinese right!

    people. After eating, we went to a famous bar called  Sober Company. The bar

    我跟三个新的中国朋友。 在 Sober Company
    Me and 3 new Chinese friends. At Sober Company

    used to be on the list of Asia’s Top 50 Bars. We continued to hang out there, and the whole evening we spoke Chinese to communicate – a total of 5 hours. Just as we were about to head home, my head started hurting. I never thought I would survive in this kind of environment. I thought that in this kind of natural speaking environment, only speaking Chinese would make me feel a little awkward, but they mostly understood me and I understood about  50% of what they were saying!

    In the next month I have many things I must do. Including the 3 pre-admission courses: accounting, programming, and statistics. I guess the next few months are very busy. I am looking forward to it.

    我跟两位中国学生住在第四楼。
    一位是我硕士第二年级的
    第二位是经济硕士二年级的。
    I live on the fourth floor with two chinese students.
    One student is in the second year of my masters programme.
    The other student is in his second year of economics masters.
    我大学最著名的大楼 My University’s most famous building
    我的课都在里面进行!
    My classes are all held inside
    这两个女生是我在上海最喜欢的朋友们。 他们俩是一半中国人,一个是一半法国人,另外一个荷兰热人。他们的中文很流利! 我们常常只说中文然后要是一个话题太复杂,用英文说明 These are two of my best friends in shanghai. They are both half Chinese, one is half french and the other is half dutch. Both of their chinese is really fluent. We often only speak chinese and if the topic is too complex then we use english to clarify.
  • Khalida Choudhury, February 2024 – Oman and its long trading history

    The port city of Sur

    Oman and its long trading history I visited Sur a few weeks ago. Sur is a port city in the east of Oman. It was selected as the capital of Arab tourism in 2024. Sur is definitely my favourite place in Oman. It is a seaside town, with a fresh breeze and a local atmosphere. Omanis sit on Persian rugs on the beach having picnics. I took a boat with my classmates at sunset and enjoyed the sea breeze and historic views. For dinner, I sat with my classmates on a mat and ate pizza, Omani style. The sea breeze became chilly and I suddenly understood why Omani’s called the season winter. The port city of Sur has a long trading history. I visited the “Fatah-al-khair centre” with a monument of the oldest ship from the region. Sur was known for ship building and ships travelled from the port of Sur to Africa and India to trade in spices, dates and margarine. The ship Fatah Al Khair first travelled to Basra. Then it travelled to ports in East Africa such as Zanzibar, Djibouti, Mogadishu, Mombasa, Pemba and Malawi. In the Indian subcontinent it travelled to places such as Goa, Bombay, Sri Lanka and Karachi. On display at the centre were the best known ships in the Arabian Gulf, and the types of wood used to build different components of the ship. A highlight of the tour was listening to the traditional Arabic song sung by sailors. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit

    . زرت صور قبل أسبوعين. مدينة صور تقع في محافظة جنوب الشرقية في عمان. تعتبر والية صور ميناء في شرق عمان. اختيارت والية صور عاصمة للسياحة العربية في ٢٠٢٤. والية صور افضل مكان في عمان. صور مدينة البحر سحلية مع الهواء البيئة و المحلي. العمانيون يجلسون على السجاد عل الشاطئ و للنزهة. ركبت القارب مع زماالء خالل غروب الشمس. استمتعت الهواء من البحر و المنظر التاريخية. للعشاء جلست مع زمالءي على السجادة وتناولنا بيتسا, مثال عمانيون. الهوا صبح بريد و فهمت فجاة لماذا عمانيون . .اسم الموسم فصل الشتاء الميناء في صور عندها تجارة تاريخية منذ الزمان. ذهبت الى مركز فتح الخير مع المعالم عن السفن قديمة من تلك الوالية. اشتهري صور بصناعة السفن واسفر من الميناء الى افريقيا و الهند التجارية البهارات، التمر و السمن. السفينة فتح الخير سافرت أول مراة الى البصرة و من ثم سافرت الى الموانئ في شرق افريقيا منها زنزيبا وجيبوتي و موكاديشو .مومباسا وفيمبا و ماالوي. و أما في الهند منها: كوا، بومباي، سري النكا و كاراجي تقدمون في المركز مشهور سفون في خليج العرب و نوع الخشب للمصنع السفينة. األبرز ما في زيارة كانت أستمع األغنية غني ببحار. استمتعت الزيارة كثيرة.