Blow by Blow- 29 march

29/3/2011
ONE MORE DAY TO FINAL TEST! RAWRR
I and weiling had lunch with sirs today, eating at the usual 兰州牛肉拉面 at the back alley.   After we placed our order, I noticed a man of African descent sitting at the entrance. Seeing that he was alone, I was emboldened to talk to him, and ask about his experiences here. I have seen many foreign students in the school, and this was the first chance where I could actually talk to any of them.
The man seemed friendly and we conversed mainly in mandarin instead of English, which was surprising for me. Usually when overseas students talk among themselves, they would not use Chinese instead. I asked if we could speak in English, as I was a bit uncomfortable. That question was left unanswered and I had to mentally translate all the questions I had in mind into mandarin, which caught me off guard, I ended up asking all my questions straight, without bending it, sometimes putting him in a spot to answer.
I must be very bad at interviewing, as I didn’t get all the answers I wanted, resulting in a wasted interview, complete with inappropriate questions and awkward silences. I do need practice if I want to do better. Hopefully another chance comes along soon, if not I don’t have anything to write for the personal report soon.

You wouldn’t want to see the video if me interviewing the student. It is absolutely unrehearsed, unplanned and spontaneous. Neither is it funny.

Spring has arrived in the school compound. The flowers on the trees have bloomed fully, and the campus is colored with the pinks and whites, sometimes the occasional red from the flower petals. Writing about it now, hopefully the leaves have started to grow, so there is green as well, like this picture

Picture was taken one week later. I liked the bicycle under it. Gives the feeling of peace, which belongs to a warm summer afternoon. It feels like a vacation..