Back in the Saddle

I finally have a bicycle. It is a classy, 10-speed Chinese road bike, purchased from the second hand market in the north of the city. Firstly I ought to describe the market and our little shopping excursion.

Our visit occured straight after a large lunch (in terms of people at the table and quantity of food and drink served) with a friend of Wojciech's and mine and his friends from a bank somewhere in the city. As with so many things, no matter the quality of the food (on this occasion, reasonably good) and drink (as usual, foul), good company makes for a good meal. I had a great time stuffing my face with fried dumplings and roasted duck while practicing my listening (which is noticeably improving day by day) and having a crack at joining in discussions where I could. This kind of practice may not be quite as productive as a lesson but it is certainly more enjoyable. On the subject of my Chinese, I have taken to learning 6-8 new words a day. I have found that anything that I learn in this way, sticks. It is also something I could quite easily continue when I am not having lessons or even in China.

Anywho, we were given a lift to the second hand market which is in the far north of the city straight after lunch. As I have already said, we had had a very good time, and Wojciech had had a bit more of a good time than others (if you catch my drift). I'm not sure whether the 'Chinese courage' aided or damaged our bargaining ability but, in the end we walked away with a working bicycle and a lock for less than 15 quid. Unfortunately, we were not really in the mood to look round the market, which is housed in a number of cavernous warehouses. It apparently sells, second hand, everything you can possibly imagine and it would be interesting to wonder through the stacks of TVs and heaps of fans for inflating bouncy castles.

This week I have been working and studying as normal, but with the aid of my bicycle I have given myself about an extra three quarters of an hour during the day. This makes coming home at lunch far less of a rush, which in turn has allowed me to fit in some more small study sessions and find some cool little restaurants around our flat.

My contract ends on the 7th of May and after that I do not know whether I will continue to work there or take another job (there are still continuous offers from the multitude of private schools in and around the city). At the end of May, I am going to meet my mother in Beijing (I cannot escape!) and I will hopefully find out by the end of this month whether I have a job on the closing ceremony of the Olympics. In the intervening months, I am keen to visit Oz to see the cousins and also do a little travelling in China. However, I feel the most important thing I can take from my time abroad is a good grasp of Mandarin, and for that reason I will try to do whatever allows me to learn as much of the language as possible.

We shall see