Tuesday, December 06, 2005

 
END OF BEIJING, THE PROGRAM & BEN'S RESPONSIBILITIES

Our last night in Beijing, I went with Sar to meet some of his friends who happened to also be studying in China. We went to this bar that had more Americans in it than I have seen over the past 3 months combined. After some tequilla we departed and awoke early the next morning to take a flight back to Kunming.

My last few days have been rather busy. First I found an appartiment to live in. At about 70m sq. it has 2 bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom for 1000RMB/month ($125.) It is on Wen Lin Jie - Foreigner Street - and located even more centrally than where I was living with my homestay family.

For those of you who thought I was just loafing around Asia...today I enrolled in a college and found a job. I enrolled in the Kunming College of Eastern Language for a semester, paying $2/hour for classes. They are also supplying my student visa. I will be supplimenting my Chinese with classes through Summit Language School where I am also their newest English teacher. I will be teaching the Advanced kids class of 4-8 year-olds. 4 classes per week at about 90 minutes per class. For my services I'll be recieving $10/hour, ironically more than I was making working over the summer back in Philly.

Tomorrow marks the 3 month anniversary of my coming to China. It is also the end of the Where There Be Dragons Fall China Semester. I have mixed feelings on the program. While my goal in doing it was to learn some Chinese and get acquainted with China before I went out on my own, in retrospect, I would've been fine on my own. From the standpoint of my goals for the trip, it was a success. Would I do it again? Probably not. Would I recommend it? Yes, with serious reservations. It has been an interesting experience thus far and I've done things which I probably wouldn't have done on my own (think 5 day mountain trek.) As my 3 month introduction to The Middle Kingdom winds down, I am thrilled to be independant once more.

Comments:
Hi Ben,

Just had a quick look at your site and am always impressed to find an articulate American, but with Ted and Joyce as parents, you probably didn't have much choice :o)

Your Dad mentioned your site to me. He's very proud of you, as he told me when we first met a few years ago, in Scotland. Don't tell him I told you!

I'll try to read more of your site in the coming days. I have travelled a lot through Asia, though never any part of China, but Hong Kong. When I did most of my major travelling, China was closed to anything but official groups. Yep I'm ancient like your folks :o)

Best Wishes,

Willie Wallace
http://www.celticlegend.co.uk
 
awesome. that's so cool. i wish i could be all independent.
 
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