The classrooms had laminate flooring, light wood desks with tiny chairs and the teacher stands on a platform. It is quite high tech with a computer set up to work on the projector but most of the time she just wrote on the board.
I found that I am in the 2nd level of elementary class and there are around 12-15 students. Although this first week students are allowed to swap and change to other classes (lower - higher classes need to take another test this Friday). The class is quite varied and at this level there is still pinyin used. I found it hard to concentrate for 90 mins straight - guess because in UK we have 50-60 mins at a time. Then with a 20 min break and another 90 mins after was quite tough going but then I knew I signed up for an intensive course.
Already we were given homework but I didn't find it too tough it was putting the words in the correct order for the sentence structure. Tomorrow I have my first listening class and another reading class. It is quite strict and we will have to do dictations and attendance and behaviour alone add up to 20% of our final scores, 30% to mid-term exams and 50% to the final exam.
The guy I met yesterday did encourage me to take the HSK in April even if I wasn't ready, just to get a feel for what to expect and then sit it again in May. I do think he may be right about that.
After my class I went to the bakery and then headed to the flat to do my homework since I had to wait until 2pm for my housemate. When she arrived we took the Metro and I picked up a travel card from there. To get to Xujiahui we had to change lines and even though it was one stop on one line and one stop on another, to walk between stations and to wait for trains it took us 45 mins to get there!
So we went to the electronic plaza so she could buy a camera, and I'm actually quite used to people now asking me where I'm from and why I can't speak Mandarin but look Chinese. I think that is as much as I can answer now. As typical in these places people are very pushy and loud to try and sell you things. I'm also getting quite used to people being rude that I can't speak Chinese but look Chinese and I hear the odd comment but am unable to respond. It gets frustrating.....
Afterwards we headed into Metro City which is this huge glass sphere building that can usually be seen if you look up for Xujiahui. We found some Japanese sweet shops that had lots of imported goods - for Maryland cookies (the kind you can get for 40p in Tesco) costs 37RMB! Although did make me miss home seeing a lot of brands..... (btw PG Tips costs 59RMB out here! That's like over £5!)
Bought some stationary from Muji and then we went to a place called Nana's Green Tea. We had some tea and some noodles. Also in this shopping centre is a Beard Papa's, a mochi dessert place, an udon place and a French bakery ^^
We then walked back to the flat in the rain - it was drizzle but after 30-40 mins it gets quite wet! We bought a Hello Kitty fleece blanket and intend to curl up on the sofa watching some Chinese TV tonight. We were going to a pub quiz but we under-estimated how tired we would be after shopping!
I have been trying to put up a photo a day but I didn't take any when I was out but I did put up some panda pics in my room ^^
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