China Machete

Description

Testing times

This week I’ve taken time off work to prepare for the HSK exam on Sunday. HSK stands for Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, which means Chinese Proficiency Test. I am quite happy with my decision to stay at home because the weather has been terrible. It is already Wednesday and I still haven’t received a much needed weekly dose of Vitamin D. In fact, the weather over the last month has been awful. I really want to take a photo of Beijing’s sky and label it ‘welcome to hell’.

My original plan wasn’t to stay at home and study, instead I actually wanted to find a tutor to help me. I was worried that my laziness would get the best of me and I would spend five days playing Playstation. I found a Chinese language school called Frontiers via an advertisement in the expat magazine City Weekend. One day after work, I went along to the school’s Dongzhimen office to give it a thorough check and I was confronted with the school’s manager.

The manager was a tough lady determined to poke holes in my so-called Chinese proficiency. She motored through several elongated descriptions of the school’s services, stopping only to ask me whether I understood words such as ‘jie zou’. Of course I know what jie zou means – I learnt that way back at the University of Canberra in 2001! Despite my explanation, the manager looked unconvinced. I think she was trying to make me feel bad about my Chinese, thus convincing me to enroll at the school. However, I just felt irritated at the manager’s arrogant attitude.

Despite my irritation, I still wanted to use the school services. The manager said that she’d find me a teacher without a problem and that I just needed to buy a suitable textbook. This became a major sticking point. My idea was to employ the services of a professional who would help guide me through the HSK. Surely, it would be better for a professional to assess my Chinese level and buy a suitable book. However, the manager recommended that I buy an intermediate to advanced level textbook that I would later give to my tutor.

I have been a bit busy lately, especially after spending the previous weekend in Pingyao. I didn’t really have any time to buy the intermediate to advanced level textbook, but I trekked out to Wangfujing anyway. On arriving, my wife and I could not find the recommended book in either the Foreign Languages Bookstore or the Xinhua bookstore. After several attempts to ring the manager (we collected her business card), she finally picked up the phone. We were hoping to verify which book we should buy, but the manager was unable to provide us with anymore clues. Frustrated, we trekked back home without buying a single book and I decided to give up my original plan, instead opting for the more reliable option of individual study

On the Friday before I was scheduled to start classes, the school gave me a call. They asked me whether I was still going to study and I answered in a roundabout way, citing my inability to buy an appropriate book. The secretary was a bit incredulous at my answer, so I asked whether they had found a teacher. She informed me that the manager will be teaching me. I was pissed off by this – I felt like they hadn’t put any real effort in at all, they didn’t help me buy the book and they didn’t even spend one minute on finding a teacher. I asked whether the manager could help buy the book, but the secretary retorted by saying that the manager was too busy to buy the book. If she is too busy to buy a book, then how can she have adequate time to prepare for my lessons? I told the secretary that I was busy too and my contact with Frontiers came to an end. After all, what kind of business requires the customer to do all the work?

Posted: 12:17 PM, 20/6/2007 in Personal

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upcoming test

goodluck I sure that you will do very well
Posted by mum at 4:23 PM, 20/6/2007	Link

Re: upcoming test

Finally, I went to Beida after one-hour ride by bus from work and got two marvellous textbooks which were not recommended by Frontiers.
Posted by Wife at 4:34 PM, 20/6/2007	Link

Oops

Yes, I left out the most important part, whereby my wife buys the textbooks from China's premier university :-)
Posted by zhangbohan at 5:00 PM, 20/6/2007	Link

Hell?

Not a good idea to label Beijing as hell. Presumably it is better than Sydney or Melbourne as you choose to live there. Why would you want to live in hell?
Posted by Anonymous at 1:09 AM, 22/6/2007	Link