Classes

Classes started yesterday, and I'm dithering about switching to an easier level. I went to my assigned class (202) yesterday, and thought it to be reasonable, but the book seemed quite difficult, and people in class, quite good. Today I attended 202 again, and was confronted with a teacher I barely understood. To be fair, few people in the class understood him. But, this made me think about switching classes, so this afternoon, I attended 201. Looking at the books for 201, it seems to be quite similar to 202, but a bit easier, and with people whom are not obviously better than me. I also feel as if it is the logical continuation of the course I took two years ago in Tianjin. I didn't particularly like one of that class's teachers, but the other one was excellent. Therefore, I will probably switch to the easier one.

Illogical Addresses

This morning I took the subway to the Lama Temple station, where the Visa center is located. The transfer between Line 13 and the loop line was a nightmare, involving walking for ten minutes and going outside. I searched around the Lama Temple station for nearly an hour for the building, which is #2. I knew I had the street right, and on the right hand side, I saw #7 and then #1. I asked a guy where to go and he said the other way. After walking for fifteen minutes, I realized this was the wrong way, and took a taxi to help me find it. The visa building (#2) is actually after #1! How much sense is that?

We also picked up our books today. Out of nine levels, I was assigned to the fourth. I looked through the books, and think they may be too hard. We'll see. I was able to read most of the stuff in the first parts of the books, but there were quite a few characters I didn't recognize.

Cheap Food

I got breakfast this morning and it only cost 0.80 yuan! That is about 12 cents. For that amount, I got a vegetable bun and zhou (Chinese porridge). I went back to my room and chilled for a bit, before setting out to buy a bike. This took less time than expected, as I was told that they could be bought at the student supermarket. A new bike, with a lock and basket cost me 208 yuan. For lunch, I decided to go to the Muslim restaurant. I was a bit discouraged upon arriving there to discover that much of the food was beef. It was only after finishing that I remembered that Muslims don't eat pork. Nevertheless, I had a good meal there, but at 7.60 was more expensive than the canteen.

In the early afternoon, I decided to go out on my bike to look for a gym. Unfortunately it was freezing and my new bike broke! The wheel got out of alignment and would not turn without hitting the frame. I had to take it back to the store to get fixed. By this time, I did not feel like looking for a gym, and so returned to my room. I had a shower, as the hot water times are limited and could not have on in the morning. I went this evening to the Muslim restaurant and got hot pot. It ended up being better than the hot pot I had at Ding Ding Xian, and for two people was only 48 yuan, including two big bottles of beer.

China

Mother left today, ending my stay in luxury at the Shangri-la, which we both agree is the best hotel we've ever stayed in. I am now in my dorm room, and have mostly unpacked. Thank goodness I have Freegate, a program to bypass China's firewall, as blogger is blocked in China. This afternoon we had a meeting for all new students, which was done in Chinese. About half the people in the room had no idea what was going on, and I only understood the gist of what was being said. The second half of the meeting, with a policeman, had an interpreter. The policeman told us horror stories of foreigners being killed in drunken brawls and bad traffic. I went for an early dinner just after five at the canteen, which is much like the ones at Nankai, and is still dirt cheap. I couldn't finish all my food for only 4.70. I am enjoying a bit of solitude in my room. I'll probably watch one of the DVDs I bought in Tianjin.

Travel Woes

I arrived this morning at Lisbon's airport and was disappointed at how horrible it was for the departing passenger. Thank goodness there are plans afoot to build a new one. Apart from a twenty minute delay, I had no problem in getting to Frankfurt. My flight to Heathrow was another story. For some strange reason I had my passport stamped (I never left Schengen) and then had to go through security again near the gate. The gate was full of people and I was informed of a delay of at least an hour. Lufthansa did provide snacks for everyone, which was very nice. Near boarding time, everyone waiting was forced to move to a different section, and then go through passport control. It was a madhouse though, because another flight was boarding at the same time in the gate next door and the two line ups got mixed up. We were finally bused to the plane about an hour and a half after the flight was supposed to leave. On the plane, I finally found out the reason for the delay. Apparently a plane had crashed at Heathrow and one of the runways had been shutdown. After an hour on the tarmac, we left, and then spent twenty minutes in a holding pattern above London. On the bright side, my luggage was one of the first pieces to come out.

Spain - Impressions

Overall, I have enjoyed Spain. I found hte people to be very friendly, the food decent (with a few exceptions that will be discussed further on) and the sights interesting. I think the highlight was the Alhambra, the museums in Madrid, and the monkeys in Gibraltar. The best hostel I stayed in was the one in Granada (the one in Lisbon was better still, but that is not in Spain).

I had to deal with a few issues particular to Spain, with the most pressing being the food schedule. In the end, I have solved that problem by snacking throughout the day and not going to sit-down restaurants (comedores). I find the cafe culture a bit strange here, as cafes (known really as cafeterias that also serve cheap food) always have old men crowded up at the bar standing and eating their food. Going into one that is busy is a bit intimidating, as I would probably have to physically push someone to get noticed by the bar tender. The food is good, with the exception of the bocadillos (sandwiches) which are appalling. If you get a ham bocadillo it is ham and bread, nothing else. Unhealthy and unnappetizing. I did really enjoy the tapas though.

I quite like Madrid. Strangely enough, the city in Europe that I think it is most similar to (that I have visited) is Vienna. Like Madrid there is no river going through the center (the Danube runs around the center), and it also has much neoclassical architecture. Madrid has a superb transportation system. I would definetly come back, but give myself four full days here, as there are a number a possible daytrips outside the city. I also think the city would be far nicer in the summer, as it truly has a wealth of green space, that sadly in winter, is not that green.

Madrid

I arrived at the Prado at 9:30 this morning to avoid the line. Overall, I was quite impressed. While father told me it was dissapointing, I think that may be because he went before the completion of the addition, which opened in the fall. I was particularly impressed with the North European paintings on offer. Because Spain controlled the Low Countries for a while, there are a great many Dutch paintings in Spain. One of the best is called The Garden of Earthly Delights, which portrays heaven, hell and sin in a triptych. Unfortunately only about half the museum has captions that have been translated into English. There were no English captions for most of the Italian paintings and none of the Spanish ones. I was also dissapointed that two of Goya´s paintings that I was particularly keen on seeing, The 2nd and 3rd of May, 1808 were undergoing restoration. However, I enjoyed the paintings of the Spanish artists, in particular the El Greco´s and Goya´s black period pieces. Across the street is another art museum called the Thyssen-Bornemisza, which is smaller, but contains art from the early rennaissance to the present. While it did not have any extremely famous works like the Prado, it was still a very interesting museum in its own right. It was about 3:30 at this point, and I arrived at the Reina Sofia, the modern art museum, which contains the famous Picasso, Guernica. To my extreme disspointment, the museum was closed! Apparently it is shut on Tuesdays, unlike the rest of the museums which are shut on Monday. I suppose I will just have return to Madrid. Ideally, I should have spent about four days here instead of my rushed one and a half days. I feel as if I´ve seen almost nothing of the city except the interior of art museums.