Meeting the First Minister!
April was a very productive month! From meeting the First Minister, seeing the football, and going to a Peppa Pig themed party – I don’t know how I’ll fit this into one blog!
The highlight of the month was of course meeting Nicola Sturgeon, even before coming to China she was someone I really looked up to but after meeting her and finding out what a lovely genuine person she is I felt very glad to know she’s our First Minister.
At our meeting with her we first gave her a presentation on different aspects of living in China with two or three of us talking about each of the three sections – language learning, international collaboration and student mobility. I talked about international collaboration along with a couple others. It feels so cool to be able to say that I did a talk in front of the First Minister!
Afterwards she came round to each table and talked to us for a few minutes. It went by in a flash but we talked about differences between China and Scotland and influences on China by Scotland such as the popularity of whisky. We then took selfies and photos and she left us to head to her next meeting.
A few of us decided to stay overnight in Beijing to save travel the next day and we stayed at a really cute little hostel called the Courtyard Hostel which had a really cute little courtyard in the middle, it was very traditional looking. That night we headed out for a drink or two at a nearby bar to relax after such a hectic day and we ended up bumping into the staff that previously worked at the bar next to our university. It was a nice surprise being able to ask how their new jobs are, we even exchanged wechats for next time we go to Beijing.
The next morning we woke up nice and early and headed out to the birds nest stadium which we had visited a couple years ago on the previous trip. We couldn’t get into the main stadium but walked around Olympic park for a while and found some really nice spots to relax by before the main event came around.
That night we went to the ‘Scotland is Now’ event in which we were able to enjoy some Scottish salmon and exchange contacts with many important people. A group of Chinese children gave us a performance about the terracotta army and we had lots of fun chatting to many different people with different perspectives of China. We even got a chance to speak to Nicola Sturgeon again a couple of times, at the end Robin and I were talking to someone else from the Scottish Government and she even came and said goodbye and wished us luck! The event was very similar to the St Andrews ball event, it was very fancy and we felt very out of place at something so important. It was really nice to catch up with Fhiona and Fan whilst we were there too.
The next weekend we decided to go and watch the football where Tianjin’s home team were playing. Despite not having the usual pie and Bovril it was still good fun. The ticket only cost 20yuan which is about £2.50 and we were able to sit anywhere we wanted, the ticket was bought from someone selling outside the stadium and he started selling at 100yuan per ticket but as the match got underway we kept bargaining and managed to get the price down to 20. The stadium was pretty empty in comparison to Scottish football but we still really enjoyed it.
Our next event of the month was of course the Peppa Pig party. In China Peppa Pig has become a pop culture icon. Within the space of a month all of a sudden everything is Peppa, there was a stall outside the uni selling Peppa Pig merchandise, children wearing Peppa t-shirts and of course one of the local clubs hosting a Peppa pig party featuring cardboard Peppa cut outs and Peppa balloons. Even our Chinese friends were excited to go!
Last weekend we also had a food festival, a few of us cooked tablet, ‘stovies’ (that ended up more mince and tatties) and tattie scones. We had music on whilst we were cooking so we were having loads of fun. The next day we set up the stall and everyone came out to join in, our stall was decorated with flags, tartan and pictures of Scotland as well as playing Scottish music.
Some of us have discovered a love for the Chinese board game ‘majiang’, we now have a pretty much permanent set up in my room for a daily game or two whilst listening to Eurovision (in preparation for May) or Chinese songs we have discovered.
Due to the summer weather beginning we decided to head out and explore Tianjin a bit more. A few of us went on a bike ride to go up the cities skyscrapers and we returned to the peoples park again for a walk.
In May it’s Sports day, and most of us are either participating in running, martial arts or a walking display. I’m doing the martial arts and it’s actually been really nice getting out every day for practise.
I can’t wait to see what May brings.
Alex