We got to speak a little bit of English for the first weekend, but signed the 语言誓约, Language Pledge, on Sunday. It was a little intense, but even after one week it got much better. You just have to come to the realization that it's OK to be annoying. They don't want us to use English, so they are willing to deal with our being unable to get our point across easily. The teachers are making it easy - they already know what will be asking for and have taken care of most of the issues that would have arisen.
Classes began on Monday. Not bad. We have about an hour and ten minutes of 大班课，Large Class, with eight students, and then break up into 小班课, Small Class, with four students, for about two hours including a few breaks. After lunch, we have 50 minutes of 单班课, Individual Class, a one-on-one session with one of the teachers.
The teachers are all fairly young, in their 20's or early 30's, except, of course, for the course heads, who are much more experienced professors. Class is fast-paced and interactive. You can't get away with doing nothing in classes so small. However, the focus is not on trying to find things that the students did not study well enough. There are no games, everything they want us to know is clearly written out on the board and we very 有条有理地 (methodically, systematically) go through it. The first week's test wasn't too hard, but we are surely being eased into what appears to be an increasingly intensive program. I'm sure I am in for more rigorous work as the weeks progress.
As for the weekend, we went to 司马台长城, The Great Wall at Simatai, a relatively untouched portion of the wall about two-and-a-half hours outside Beijing. It isn't as touristy as some of the other sites, which I hear are "Disneyland-ish," whatever that means. We climbed up 18 very long, uneven sets of steps in nearly 100 degree heat to reach the top. It was tiring, but worth it. One wonder down, six to go!
