We’ve been told that some students have tried to ask questions in the comments section on the blog page, but have been unable to do so. If you do have any questions, please ask your teacher to send us an email on your behalf.
Ms. Cameron’s class sent us some questions, and so we decided to post the questions and answers here.
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Nihao All,
1. Do you have to speak Chinese while you are there?
No we don’t have to speak Chinese over here we choose to with some of the basic formalities for example:
Nihao- Hello
Nihao Ma: How are you?
Xie Xie ( pronounced Sheh Sheh) – Thankyou
Boi Xie (you’re welcome)
2. How do you understand the kids and the other people you communicate with?
We understand each other as most students speak English and we are associated with English Teachers. Our Principal Li and Vice Principal Tang do not speak much English but with the help of universal hand getures and translators we understand each other. Most people are very good and the use of pigeon English helps too. We teach them Aussie slang and they teach us some Chinese terms.
3. Is the pollution bad?
When we were in Beijing the pollution was fairly bad. The first day we had blue skies but the second day was a yellow flag day (smog was between 100 and 250). The third day it was a red flag day (smog over 250). At times visibility was down to 500 metres. It becomes difficult to breathe at times and eyes become red and throat quite dry. It’s not very pleasant being outside and there is a brownish yellow haze in the air. The day we left to catch a flight from Beijing to Shanghai our flight was delayed for about an hour as there was only one runway open for departures and arrivals. The smog was very thick and it was hard to see the planes queuing up behind us.
There is much less pollution in Shanghai (although still smoggy) and now we are in Wujiang (town of our sister school) it is much clearer and easier to breathe.
Read the blog entry on Smog for more information and a photograph.
4. How are you travelling around?
We have caught many modes of transport. Aeroplanes from Beijing to Shanghai, subway and buses around Beijing for local site seeing , a tour bus around Beijing and from Shanghai to Wujiang.
5. Are the people nice?
The people are very friendly and welcoming. The other people on the tour are lovely and the locals all go out of their way to help us. At our Sister School we have mad many friends and it has been really nice reconnecting with our old homestays (Hunter – Mr Cameron’s) and Jane (Ms Cooper’s). We are very lucky to have such wonderful people and such a supportive school. Today for example, we were taken out by two staff members of the school and shown around sites in Wujiang.
6. Have you seen many Australian people while you have been there?
Apart from the people on our tour there have not been that many Australian’s. We did see a few at the Great Wall and a few at the Forbidden City.
7. Do the kids listen to music in English or Chinese?
The students listen to music in both English and Chinese. They have Chinese pop music (sounds a bit like Justin Bieber but in Chinese) and they like the pop English songs as well.
8. Is the food awesome?
The food can be ‘awesome’ but that depends if you are vegetarian or not! The food is generally pretty good. Most meals we eat around a big banquet table with a lazy susan in the middle. We are saerved plate after plate of local cuisines. This can be anything from rice, steamed vegetables, pork, roast duck, steamed fish, tofu, soup and sticky rice ( Ms William’ s favourite is soup and noodles, Ms Coopers favourite is the tofu and sticky rice and Mr Cameron’s favourite is the duck and crab ).
9. Have you met any people with red hair?
We have not met people with red hair but students seem to admire Ms Cooper’s.
Hope this answers your questions. Please send us some more. We look forward to sharing our stories when we get back…
Xie Xie,
Ms Williams, Mr Cameron and Ms Cooper
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