i had my first exam today (more on that to follow), so imagine my consternation when the bus bringing me to the my school's nearby research institute where i can catch a shuttle bus to school suddenly pulled over in the middle of nowhere, right in front of a bus stop and a line of other buses, just as rush hour was beginning. i was half-afraid that it had broken down because the bus driver had been shoving the gear stick about roughly during the journey thus far, and the bus seemed to be making creaking and groaning noises in protest.
the bus driver fiddled with some buttons before saying something (i hesitate to put 'swearing' because i'm not sure if he was, really) loudly in chinese, opening the front door of the bus, and getting out, shoving aside a lady who wanted to board the bus in the process.
he then ran in front of the bus which had just overtaken him and was going to pull away from the bus stop and signalled to the driver of that bus to get off. whereupon both of them came back to the bus i was on; the driver of my bus got into the seat and the other driver remained outside to help him adjust his left wing mirror.
what i understood of the wild gesticulations and rapid chinese was that the driver of the other bus, when overtaking, had knocked out of position the left wing mirror of the bus i was on.
imagine all that, in the midst of rush hour and hundreds upon hundreds of commuters rushing to work or school.
***
i really didn't know what to expect from my exam, because we've done little else in class besides translate passage upon passage upon passage - this is the class the vice-dean takes. when i went into the classroom this morning i noticed two girls setting up their laptops, and i also noticed that i was one of the few who had brought dictionaries. three of them, in fact.
the paper consisted of two comprehension passages in english, with multiple-choice questions, and an explain these words in the context of the passage section. then followed the longest ever english to chinese translation i've done in my entire life, which i thought i did creditably, and then i was asked to write a summary in less than 200 words of a case we discussed in class.
just like secondary school, hor.
and the vice-dean, when he was around - he actually told us all not to cheat and then left the class for an hour or so (whereupon nobody cheated) - kept hovering around my seat. in fact, mine was the first script he collected!
my friend keeps saying that he exhibits particularly 变态 (bian4 tai4), lecherous, (insert like synonym) behaviour towards me and that because of that, therefore, i'll definitely pass.
anyhow after it was over one of the girls from the class (huiyuan) brought me to eat barbecued chicken wings at a tiny shop near school. just like how we go do something nice after an assignment or paper, back home.
finally, something other than porridge. which i've really eaten everyday for lunch and dinner for around a week now.
***
no, we did not feel tremors in beijing. in fact we didn't even know there were supposed to be tremors in beijing because the chinese news said it would be 没事 (mei2 shi4 or mei2 shi-ER4), there would be nothing wrong, here. it was only when jolie rang at around 10 plus p.m. and i heard her frantically telling jinni over the phone about how her mother frantically rang her and told her what the news on FM 95.8 reported that we felt slightly worried. i mean, if the premier travels all the way to visit the affected areas, something is wrong, isn't it?
huiyuan told me also, that she only found out about the tremors we were supposed to feel in beijing through the internet.
it's true, what one of my prc friends told me - most prcs don't know what the world knows is going on in china.
the bus driver fiddled with some buttons before saying something (i hesitate to put 'swearing' because i'm not sure if he was, really) loudly in chinese, opening the front door of the bus, and getting out, shoving aside a lady who wanted to board the bus in the process.
he then ran in front of the bus which had just overtaken him and was going to pull away from the bus stop and signalled to the driver of that bus to get off. whereupon both of them came back to the bus i was on; the driver of my bus got into the seat and the other driver remained outside to help him adjust his left wing mirror.
what i understood of the wild gesticulations and rapid chinese was that the driver of the other bus, when overtaking, had knocked out of position the left wing mirror of the bus i was on.
imagine all that, in the midst of rush hour and hundreds upon hundreds of commuters rushing to work or school.
***
i really didn't know what to expect from my exam, because we've done little else in class besides translate passage upon passage upon passage - this is the class the vice-dean takes. when i went into the classroom this morning i noticed two girls setting up their laptops, and i also noticed that i was one of the few who had brought dictionaries. three of them, in fact.
the paper consisted of two comprehension passages in english, with multiple-choice questions, and an explain these words in the context of the passage section. then followed the longest ever english to chinese translation i've done in my entire life, which i thought i did creditably, and then i was asked to write a summary in less than 200 words of a case we discussed in class.
just like secondary school, hor.
and the vice-dean, when he was around - he actually told us all not to cheat and then left the class for an hour or so (whereupon nobody cheated) - kept hovering around my seat. in fact, mine was the first script he collected!
my friend keeps saying that he exhibits particularly 变态 (bian4 tai4), lecherous, (insert like synonym) behaviour towards me and that because of that, therefore, i'll definitely pass.
anyhow after it was over one of the girls from the class (huiyuan) brought me to eat barbecued chicken wings at a tiny shop near school. just like how we go do something nice after an assignment or paper, back home.
finally, something other than porridge. which i've really eaten everyday for lunch and dinner for around a week now.
***
no, we did not feel tremors in beijing. in fact we didn't even know there were supposed to be tremors in beijing because the chinese news said it would be 没事 (mei2 shi4 or mei2 shi-ER4), there would be nothing wrong, here. it was only when jolie rang at around 10 plus p.m. and i heard her frantically telling jinni over the phone about how her mother frantically rang her and told her what the news on FM 95.8 reported that we felt slightly worried. i mean, if the premier travels all the way to visit the affected areas, something is wrong, isn't it?
huiyuan told me also, that she only found out about the tremors we were supposed to feel in beijing through the internet.
it's true, what one of my prc friends told me - most prcs don't know what the world knows is going on in china.
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