Class is Over, Time to Hit the Road

Final exams have been given, grades submitted, and lots of selfies with students have been taken. The semester, and subsequently the school year, is finished! Boom. Add another notch to the belt. Year seven complete.


So what to do now with my 2 months of freedom? Well, when you live in the Miami of China, summer has a way of finding you without you even trying. “Anyone want to go swimming?” a friend asked me on my first day off. Yes please!

You hear a lot about China’s pollution, but not all of the country is blanketed in thick smog as this picture proves.
There was some kids in the pool as well, but mostly we had it to ourselves. Another china stereotype proven wrong. Yes, there are a lot of people here but sometimes you can find a quiet pool.
After swimming we got food delivered and just sat and read an chatted. The sun finally got too much for us, and the pool was way too warm to cool us off, so we retreated back to the a/c comfort of our homes, but it was a classic “American summer” day reminiscent of my childhood.

While I could spend the whole summer hiking, swimming and lazying around in the Xiamen tropics, I won’t. But I’m not going traveling this summer either. Well, not exactly.

I’m going to dedicate my summer to studying Chinese. My Chinese has improved over the years, and now I have dozens of friends who don’t speak English, but truth is, I haven’t actually studied in years. The last time I took a serious class was in Kunming four years ago, and the last time I studied seriously was for the HSK three years ago.

So, I figure it’s time to give up a little bit of fun and freedom and shackle myself to books. I won’t be doing it in Xiamen and as much as I liked my former school in Kunming, (Keats,) I like to try new things and go to new places. So I’m gonna head to another school in China to try it out.
Four weeks, intensive classes in the morning, language partners and cultural events at night. Last time I had a surreal, life-changing experience in Kunming because of the people I met. I know that summer can never be recreated and I don’t want it to. I’m gonna really try to buckle down and focus totally on studying and occasionally playing badminton.

One thing I have to keep in mind, is this summer marks the final stretch of my “walk 10,000 steps everyday” thing. August 16th to be exact. Unfortunately sitting and studying all day isn’t conducive to walking 10,000 steps, but with just a month left to reach my goal, I’m gonna have to be really vigilant about it.

I’ve said before that when traveling I schedule trains and planes late in the day. Unfortunately it didn’t work this time, and I’ll be spending basically the whole day (from 8am to 6pm) on trains. The good thing is I will be changing several trains and have a bit of a break between them, so I’ll have to make sure to get some walking in around train stations.

So while all my students get to close their books for the summer, I’m opening mine up, and waking up early everyday to study. And paying for the privileged. And yet? I’m pretty excited for it. *Packs pocket protector.*

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3 Comments

  1. Amber

    Can you give more info about that intensive learn Chinese class. I need a fire lit under my arse to learn Chinese. I will be permanent in Fuzhou on the August 9th. When I get fully settled and our schedules align I can make a day trip to Xiamen.

    Reply
  2. Autumn

    Good for you — though I am selfishly sad not to follow along with yo on your travels this year. i had my “Where’s Becky Now?” map all ready.

    Reply
    • Becky

      Haha, sorry to disappoint Autumn. Don’t worry, I’ll get back to traveling to new places winter holiday (that is, if I can bear to be separated from my darling badminton again.)
      Amber, it was called Omeida. I’ll be writing a blog post about it soon!

      Reply

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