A calmer month
大家好！Compared to the month of October, November was nowhere near as eventful. Midterms for the most part had finished and classes were just going back to normal pace. It was a sort of eye of the storm, free from the hectic revision for midterms, and before the upcoming hectic revision for finals in December. However, it's China we're talking about, so of course some interesting things did happen that are worth talking about.
The weather
In terms of weather, China isn't as interesting as Scotland. It's often the same for weeks at a time, which isn't too bad of a thing, considering you don't need to really plan in advance in case of adverse weather conditions. But when the weather in China decides to change, the change hits you like a ton of bricks. When it rains, it rains a lot all day. When it snows, it piles. November's change in weather was a milestone in the year, as it marked the line between comfortable walking weather perfect for exploring, and freezing cold weather no one wanted to go outside in. In November the cold was still bearable, like a regular Scottish temperature, but it hit hard because of how comfortable the temperature was before. It was no longer a case of sticking your arm out of a window to judge whether to wear a jacket or not; it was a given. This didn't stop us from having a good time in the slightest, though. We're Scots, so it's not as if we've never seen bad weather before.
The Library
Recently I've seen a lot of things on social media about a massive new library in China. Books covering the walls of an aesthetic grand hall. It went pretty viral among my booklover friends back in Scotland. Luckily for the scholars, this library was opened in Tianjin. After a Peruvian classmate went and recommended it to 准中进班, Brodie, Alex, Robin and I decided to take a trip to Binhai district to see it. One thing about China that is fairly obvious but still shocks me every time I go to travel somewhere is the sheer size of the country. Binhai district, being within the same city, took over an hour to get to by subway. Not too bad but it was certainly unexpected and exhausting on our way back.
We finally arrived in Binhai and the pollution was so bad it made the district look like a wasteland, but in a really cool way. The building the library was in, however, was extremely well kept and looked amazing. We walked in and encountered an odd convention going on. People were dressed up as all sorts. Although we were intrigued, there was an entry fee to the convention so we quickly moved on to the library.
Before entering, we decided to stop at Subway for some food, as you couldn't bring food inside and the only food we'd had so far was a shared packet of biscuits from a WeChat operated vending machine in the subway station (I love WeChat). By this point our Chinese was good enough to get around unknown vocab by using existing vocab ("除了前面的那些绿色的以外，蔬菜都要" which means "I want all salad except those green ones at the front there."), but this doesn't mean there still isn't the odd miscommunication now and again. Unfortunately this happened to Brodie when he asked for two specific vegetables, but they understood him to mean he wanted all but those two. It was hilarious for us watching, but poor Brodie didn't enjoy it as much.
After eating, we headed to the library section of the building, and encountered a line to get in. Given how new and popular it was, we understood and waited patiently. Luckily for us, some Chinese people let us come through with them to get in quicker if we agreed to help them take some aesthetic photos inside, so we agreed and waited no longer than 5 minutes to get in.
Once we were in, and after the photos were taken, we decided to explore a bit. One thing that struck us all was the lack of books in the grand hall area. That sounds really stupid, I know, but most of the books in that section were painted onto the wall. The library is still absolutely overloaded with books, don't get me wrong, and that area is still a nice area to sit and read in, but the main library is away from all the cameras, and perhaps that's how it should be. It saves people disturbing the readers. There were many floors to the library but despite our Chinese getting better and better, it was nowhere near the point of reading a complex book yet, so we got some nice photos, explored a bit and headed back home to Hexi district.
St Andrew's Day Ball
The most eventful thing in the month of November was the St Andrews ball. It's hard to put into words how incredible of an experience that event was. The scholars were invited to a very high up event organised by the Scottish Society of Beijing at a fraction of the cost a normal ticket would be, so we all jumped at the chance to go. We organised 2 hotels - people just staying the one night in one, people staying for the weekend in the other - to facilitate booking and made it to Beijing without any hassle (a first for me, see September's blog). The accomodation was very cheap too and payable through WeChat (honestly, we need this app in Scotland). Four of us managed to get lost on the way to the hotel but of course that's inevitable with my luck, but we found our way with plenty of time to spare (no prizes for guessing how - WeChat Live Location). Once at the hotel, everyone went to their rooms and started prepping for what was going to be the fanciest event of their lives. The ironing boards were out and the suits were on. A few of us sported kilts to the event. During preparation, there was a point where Brodie, Alex, Robin and I were brushing our teeth, when i managed to accidentally take a photo. This photo became famous in 准中级班 after a presentation we each had to do in speaking class on a photo we liked. I chose the toothbrush photo from Beijing, and its warm reception inspired us to start our travel instagram account, @travellingwithoutcavities (worth a follow, if you ask me).
Once we were all ready we decided to leave the hotel and head to the hotel where the event was taking place. We got some stares on the subway, inevitably given our attire, and the security were so excited to see kilts that they couldn't even properly search us going through. They were so friendly, and even friendlier when we spoke Chinese.
We arrived at the venue and were all immediately shocked as to how fancy it was. There were waiters walking around with samples of amazing food, glasses of prosecco and we were all rather taken aback. A live brass band was playing Scottish music And the atmosphere was amazing. We knew it was going to be an amazing night. Suddenly, we were asked to pair up as the big doors to the main event all opened and we walked in immediately to a ceilidh dance. It was so sudden but it really got everyone into a patriotic mood. After this inital dance we were taken to our tables and presented with the most amazing dinner table I've ever seen. Each chair had a gift bag with all sorts of Scottish goodies inside, including a flask, a tartan fan, and a toy chicken! (I don't know why, either). Our menus detailed that we'd be having an incredible five course meal with a sorbet 'pallet cleanser' halfway through. We had unlimited red wine and whiskey, with waiters on standby to refill our glasses should they be empty. As pretentious as all of that sounds, I must say it was amazing getting treated like royalty for that night. There was a live band playing traditional Scottish music all night, and after dinner the night-long ceilidh began. It was really interesting how, despite from being from all over the place, the Scots at the event all knew what to do for most dances, while the Chinese and participants from other countries didn't have a clue. Each dance was optional so you danced when you felt like dancing and it was a really cool environment. I managed to tumble a belter with my group during the flying scotsman but it was all such a good laugh. The night went on and I honestly lost track of time. The ceilidh went on until 4am but it flew by. Breakfast was served around this time and it was absolutely amazing. The whole night there was an open bar with free drinks available and beer on tap for anyone who wished to have it. Throughout the whole event everyone was talking to so many new people and making connections from all over Scotland and China. I got to practice lots of Chinese and towards the end of the night I even ended up talking to a Chinese man who used to work in Irvine, my home town. It was an absolutely incredible event, impossible to put into words. We got a man at the venue to book us a taxi back to our hotel on DiDi (we'd have frozen to death walking to the station) and the night was done.
The next day, since our train was booked for the evening, most people decided to go explore Beijing for a bit. Most people went to the Pearl Market, but a few of us went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. A great day out and a perfect way to finish an amazing weekend. We got back to Tianjin with no hassle and met with the Pearl Market lot back at the accomodation. That weekend is one that I'll never ever forget.
That's basically it for November. Like I said, not a lot happened, but what did happen was absolutely amazing, and it didn't fail to continue to make me realise how incredible of an opportunity this scholarship is.
