Meeting the First Minister

大家好，Culross! 

 
What another exciting month it has been. Not only have I learned a new Chinese game, sat HSK 4, completed our midterm exams and visited Chinese dorms, I also met the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon.

Let’s rewind to the beginning of the month. On the 8th and 9th of April, the Scottish scholars put on our best attire as we were invited to the British embassy in Beijing to meet and present topics to the First Minister and other high officials of Scotland. We are given three topics to focus on and discuss so we split into different groups. Myself, James and Alison presented our thoughts and experiences on language learning.

After all the topics, we got to personally meet and talk with Nicola Sturgeon about our lives her in China, and then of course get a few selfies (自拍照).

The next day several scholars returned to Beijing to attend a formal event where the First Minister attended and made a speech. It gave us all a great opportunity to mingle amongst businessmen and women and talk about all our lives in China and how they managed to work in China. Luckily, and after a massive struggle, we got to talk with Nicola Sturgeon again and this time she remembered us!

In between studying or HSK 4 and midterm exams (期中考试) myself and my classmates from last semester learned the Chinese game Mahjong (麻将). We picked it up very quickly as it is similar to Get Cards we already knew from home. It is so much fun and I will definitely buy a set so I can bring it home and teach as many people as I can!

After a wonderful day with my Chinese friend (丽柯), we quickly went to her dorms so I could see them. However, they are very different from the international students’ dorms as they share 8 people to a room, 2 desks per room and the bathroom and washing room is one per floor. It’s hard to understand how truly privileged we are.

Finally, another highlight for me this month was meeting some amazing Chinese children. As the weather is starting to warm up, some of the scholars went to Minyuan stadium (民园) which is nearby to relax and soak up the sun after finishing our exams. While we were sitting chatting many Chinese children came over to join in and dance around us.

It was amazing to see the cultural difference and how excited and intrigued the children were to see us all there.

So now that HSK 4 is over I’m hoping that all my studying and hard work has paid off. I have definitely seen a massive improvement with my Chinese and I think it’s mainly due to the welcoming atmosphere here. This makes me more confident to practice my Chinese which then improves it. 我喜欢中国!

I would like to hear about your favourite time this month! Only two months left now!

柯丹