At home in Tianjin

大家好! It’s Liam here all the way from Tianjin.  It’s been a while since you guys last heard from me and oh boy, I’ve been up to a lot of exciting things.  Living here in China is so different from back in Scotland, even things as simple as crossing the road are totally different!  Everyone’s been getting along fantastic.  My roommate, Paul is a really great guy and we’re both already feeling at home in our little slice of Tianjin.

Since I’ve never studied Mandarin before, classes have been quite difficult but I’m keeping up pretty well.  I was scared all my teachers would be quite strict but they’re actually all really fun and exciting and I’m always looking forward to classes. 

I’ve seen some quite interesting things around the area.  The roads are absolutely packed with both cars and a surprising number of bikes.  Crossing roads has never been so exciting!  One day when I was walking along the main road outside my university we spotted something I can’t say I’ve seen happen in Scotland, there was a man walking his pet goose (鹅) along the road.  It was really cute and quite funny.  I’ve actually seen lots of animals around the city.  In one of the many malls there was someone walking 3 monkeys (猴) right through the centre of the mall!  There was also a section of the mall with lots of bright coloured parrots and birds of paradise.  

The mall is not far from university so it is very easy to get to.  Our hotel is in a really good location with lots of useful things nearby.  It is on the campus so I can sleep in and still make it to class (which start at 8:30am) on time. There are loads of restaurants nearby, the gym is just down the road and there is a subway station only a minute away!  It’s so easy to get to anywhere in the city by the subway.  The resaurants nearby sell some absolutely delicious food.  Ordering is a bit of trouble since not many people in the small restaurants speak English and my Mandarin isn’t quite at the standard to order food easily but they’re all very helpful in telling me what I got wrong, so every day is a learning experience for me!              

The food here isn’t like the Chinese food back home, it’s so much nicer!  Everything tastes great and it’s all really cheap.  I absolutely love spicy food and apparently so do people here in China so there is always something on the menu I’ll love.  Finding good restaurants has also been quite easy as our teachers and the staff at the university are really helpful and are always able to point us in the right direction.              

So that’s all for now guys but I’m going on holiday to Xi’an next week so next time you hear from me I’ll have some cool stories from another part of China!  If there is anything you want to know, make sure to ask and I’ll answer any questions as well as I can!