It's picture time

Here are some random pictures that I thought I would show for no particular reason...

Sometimes I curse at the tangle of wires behind my computer and my TV/DVD/CD player. You think Chinese utility workers do the same?

I like phone booths.

Stereotypical Beijing bus stop sign.

The Baiyun ("White Cloud") Taoist Temple

Inside the Baiyun Temple.
Living quarters for the monks. A monk.
And two pure white doves overseeing it all.

I actually passed my test

I mentioned a month or so ago, that I took a "Test of Chinese Proficiency".

I just found out today, that I passed. I'm actually a little surprised that I did.

The test is the HSK. It's THE test for foreigners trying to learn Chinese. There are 3 levels, and within each level there are 3 sublevels. (There is actually a fourth level that is new, and supposedly super easy. But, by everyone's opinion that one doesn't count.)

I took the level 1 test. I passed with a "C" (lowest possible) grade.

As I said, I'm actually surprised I passed, for a number of reasons...

• The test makers suggest the test for people that have studied Chinese in a classroom for 200-300 hours. I've studied in a classroom for 0 hours.
• You should know 1200-3000 characters/words. I know maybe 600.
• I did best on the reading section, worst on the grammar, and middling on the listening. Not quite what I would have expected before the test. But, reasonable enough based on what the test was actually like.
• It's graded on a curve. In the room where I took the test, there were 3 white guys like me, an African girl, a Russian girl, and 30 Koreans. I expected to be the one guy to boost the curve for everyone else. Of course, there are thousands of people across the world taking this test, all on the same day. Apparently, some of them knew less than I did.

I don't have the actual piece of paper certificate in hand yet. And, I won't celebrate until I do.

But, for now, it's enough to think that maybe I actually AM learning something over here.

So there I was, minding my own business...

So there I was, minding my own business...

I was just walking to work this morning, just like any other day.

When, all of the sudden, a spooked out horse pulling a flatbed cart full of watermelons crosses four lanes of traffic, right at the intersection, during morning rush hour, and decides to head right to the corner that I, and 50 other people, are standing at.

Everyone did a little shimmy to the right or left, and the horse and cart passed by without hitting anyone. It went by me with 2 feet to spare.

I caught a look at the horse's eyes as it came towards me. It was definitely spooked about something. You could see it in it's eyes. Was freaky.

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That's one thing about living in Beijing... People appear clueless to everyone else around them.

People will step in front of you, stop in front of you, spit in in front of your next step, and generally ignore your presence. People ignore traffic laws and other things which I would call "common courtesy".

But, when push comes to shove, people seem to have a "sense". Cars don't hit people, people snake their way around cars, the lines at stores seem to keep moving, and people don't step in the spit.

Like I said a long time ago, when I DID get hit by a truck... it's like a dance.

The horse forgot his steps, but everyone else covered for it. We all shimmied, and went on our way.

As if it were all supposed to happen exactly the way it did.

Very interesting read

A little old, but worth taking a look at.

You can see what I go through every day. (Everyday that I have internet, that is...)