中文，中文，西班牙语？

Well. I have officially completed the first week of classes. I can say, without equivocation, that I am exhausted. HBA has certainly been everything I expected, and so much more... more engaging, more demanding, and even more rewarding.

It's about 10 PM on Saturday night over here. I'll actually probably go to bed soon, even though this is the first night that won't find me waking up to an alarm. But first, I'm going to take this time to reflect on my program experience so far.

It all started with a pledge...

If it weren't for time spent talking to family and friends on Skype, I would have been completely overwhelmed. By signing this little contract, I committed to speaking nothing but Chinese to anyone in China, less I get sent home. So far, everyone has been really dedicated to the pledge, which I appreciate. Since the pledge is so frustrating for all of us 二年级的学生 (2nd year students), we're a lot more empathetic and patient with each other's struggles than I think we would be otherwise.

Having constant coaching helps...

CLASS SCHEDULE

8:00-9:15 AM 大班课, Big class (12 students)

9:25-9:50 AM 朗读课 Speech Practice (4 students)

10:00-12:00 PM 小班课 Small class (4 students)

Lunch*

1:30-2:20/2:25-3:15 PM 单班课 One-on-one (teacher-student)

Afternoons/Evenings** 中国朋友 Meet with Chinese tutor

7:30-9:30 PM Office hours

Whenever... Write homework, study one chapter a night

*Tues/Fri 12:00-1:00 PM 中文桌子 Lunch with teachers (see photo)

**Meet with our 中国家人 Chinese families at our discretion

But we really only use one sentence...

我很累Wo hen lei (I'm tired). With our nightly homework assignments, daily memorization checks, and constant studying of new characters, vocabulary words, and grammar structures, I would say most students average 5-7 hours of sleep a night. Unfortunately, I fall on the shorter end of the scale. But it doesn't stop there. Weekends bring program-organized outings to various significant places around Beijing. Today's excursion just happened to be the most physically demanding thing I've done in... a significant duration of time. This morning at 7:50 we loaded up the buses to head to Simatai, a section of the Great Wall. A long, steep, arduous section of the Great Wall. I can't say how high I climbed, but from the time we disembarked the bus to the time we reached the summit, my plastic-wrapped mini-bread loaf inflated to a near-bursting point (indicating that the air got pretty thin). Note the near-vertical climb on the right. Difficult, but worth it.

And it all leaves my mind tripping out...

Ever since taking the language pledge, my thoughts have become a huge jumble of mental misfirings. Oddly enough, I find myself thinking in Chinish, that is, Chinese and Spanish, more often than anything else. If I'm translating in my head and I come across a vocabulary block, my mind will just continue the sentence in Spanish for me. I guess the brain adapts. I tell it it can't use English, it moves on to other resources. I also find that when I'm Skyping people in English, it takes me a split second longer to formulate what I'm trying to say. The most unnerving thing, though, is the sheer discomfort I feel with speaking English to anyone in front of me. I feel like I'm breaking some kind of taboo (which, to an extent, I am). I just wonder how I'm going to feel when I finally return home.

I've encountered so many frustrating difficulties so far, but as I mentioned at the beginning of this entry, it has been incredibly rewarding. There's nothing like the feeling of accomplishment you get after successfully ordering a whole table-full of food, even if you accidentally ordered intestine... again.