My experiences in Shanghai part1
I have told you before how much I hated to study Chinese together with my mum, how much we fought because of her forcing me to learn this stupid language (I don't think so now). I remember when all my neighbours found out that my mum was going to send me to China as a ten years old girl to study, they all thought she was a very bad mother. I hated my own mum, I even think I refused to speak to her or even look at her for 3 days.
When I finally had reached Shanghai my mum left me after 3 weeks. I lived with my grandparents in a lane of ChangShu Road (it's still there, but it has changed a lot, for an example there is a place where you can make your own pottery, teahouse, etc. Lane 188 by the way).
First I was so unused to everything. First I went to a Changshu Elementary School together with my cousin, but then after one semester I had to leave as I couldn't keep up with the language nor the other subjects. As we were starting to learn algebra already in China whilst in Sweden we were still at that stage of learning how to multiply and divide.
My relatives had to fawn (give gifts) to Anfu Elementary school in order for them to accept me. At Anfu the students were really mean, they all disliked me for some reason except for a few people. Some of them even thought I was lying when I said that I grew up in Sweden, some were jealous, some just didn't care. At Anfu I still had a really hard time to keep up with the rest of the students, but still managed to pass most of my tests. I can still remember clearly those days when we had so much homework that I cried and cried, and begged my cousin, my aunts to do them for me, as I would never have the time to finish them for the next day.
After one year, after Spring Festival I FINALLY could get back to Sweden, I was speechless when I met my mum at the airport, it felt like I didn't know this woman at first, I didn't know if I should have thanked her or hated her. I had also completely lost my Swedish, when we arrived at home, my Swedish friends had a surprise party for me, and I couldn't even speak to them, I had to write English on papers so I could communicate with them. I think it had to pass one week for me in order to speak the language fluently again.
To this day, my mum keeps telling me how much my Chinese improved, my Chinese accent finally got fluent, and my writing and reading skills improved dramatically. It also turns out that I didn't have to repeat my school year in Sweden, that I could still continue to go the same grade as my old classmates. So what can I say? That year in China was like heaven sent.
When I finally had reached Shanghai my mum left me after 3 weeks. I lived with my grandparents in a lane of ChangShu Road (it's still there, but it has changed a lot, for an example there is a place where you can make your own pottery, teahouse, etc. Lane 188 by the way).
First I was so unused to everything. First I went to a Changshu Elementary School together with my cousin, but then after one semester I had to leave as I couldn't keep up with the language nor the other subjects. As we were starting to learn algebra already in China whilst in Sweden we were still at that stage of learning how to multiply and divide.
My relatives had to fawn (give gifts) to Anfu Elementary school in order for them to accept me. At Anfu the students were really mean, they all disliked me for some reason except for a few people. Some of them even thought I was lying when I said that I grew up in Sweden, some were jealous, some just didn't care. At Anfu I still had a really hard time to keep up with the rest of the students, but still managed to pass most of my tests. I can still remember clearly those days when we had so much homework that I cried and cried, and begged my cousin, my aunts to do them for me, as I would never have the time to finish them for the next day.
After one year, after Spring Festival I FINALLY could get back to Sweden, I was speechless when I met my mum at the airport, it felt like I didn't know this woman at first, I didn't know if I should have thanked her or hated her. I had also completely lost my Swedish, when we arrived at home, my Swedish friends had a surprise party for me, and I couldn't even speak to them, I had to write English on papers so I could communicate with them. I think it had to pass one week for me in order to speak the language fluently again.
To this day, my mum keeps telling me how much my Chinese improved, my Chinese accent finally got fluent, and my writing and reading skills improved dramatically. It also turns out that I didn't have to repeat my school year in Sweden, that I could still continue to go the same grade as my old classmates. So what can I say? That year in China was like heaven sent.
Labels: Shopgirl's words
posted by Shopgirl at 6:11 PM
8 Comments:
What a great mamma you have!:-)
Hi, I would like to invite you and your readers to view my art work. Art and music are my hobbies. http://mungiako.com/my_work.htm
My email address is located at the bottom of each web page. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks
Hey, well done that u are taking up chinese.
I am thinking about going to China this or next summer to learn mandarin. Have some friends in Beijing, but after reading your blog, Im more into Shanghai atm.
Can u recomment any good universities that provide summer courses in mandarin? cheers!
Ada
Hey Ada!
I know most international students attend either Fudan, Jiaotong or Tongji university. I would suggest going to Jiaotong as it's located very close to downtown compared to Fudan and Tongji.
/Shopgirl
I feel your pain about my Chinese readers not being able to get to my blog. I had just started to get a pretty good following from China, and now, zip. There are a few who use pkblogs to get to it, but I am sure that there are many others that can't figure out a way to my blog or anyone elses for that matter. Maybe Blogspot will become unblocked again. At lest we can hope. Oh, and thanks for visiting my blog. You've got a pretty cool blog yourself.
I would disgree with shopgirl on that one.
Though Jiaotong is the closest to the city center most students attend Fudan, which is also the most prestigious one. This one tends to have the most Europeans around.
It's more a choice of what you plan to do, if you have lots of friends in Shanghai already then Jiaotong is a good idea, if you're looking for the brand name and to blend in with the students Fudan would be a more logical choice.....and besides, nearer or further away doesn't mean that much if you tend to always take cabs ;)
ja tänk det var tider, när vi sprang runt på rådmansgatan mellan gårdarna. Jag minns hur vi fixade och donade inför din hemkomst från kina och så kunde vi inte änså prata med dig när du kom. Allt hade förendrats så mycket. Vi hade levt kvar i samma gamla mönster medans du hade helt nya intryck och utvecklats på ett annat sätt. Men så tog det inte lång tid innan leken var igång igen och tur var väl det, för tänk vad kul vi har haft tillsammans
Jiaotong has a campus at Minhang now, which is not close to the city at all (fifty minutes by bus from Xuhui campus). I think Xuhui is for some post-graduates and some international students. At least this was the case when I was there last year.
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