Category: Monthly Reports

我不知不覺一個月就過去了！ 最近來一個月的進步令我很滿意。原因在於我不用再浪費時間申請工作了，可以專心致志地學習中文了。換句話說：我被錄取了！俗話說：找工作真是個全職工作。其實，與其說我被錄取了不如說我終於被錄取了來得更確切。 從開始申請工作的9月份到目前為止，連一個星期都沒停申請工作職位。我不要分享準確的數字為的是不要被老闆發現，要不然他可能會覺得我不欣賞這個職位。其實，這個遠不如事實。我縱使不能說這位工作是我唯一申請的，卻我至少得承認是在夢想的工作職位。因此我自己相信的是：凡是以前申請工作的經驗都是令我到達這裡，而且都對我的面試技術和行業知識有貢獻。我還是應該承認。

除此之外，最近一個月都挺正常的。我有一個在愛丁堡大學認識的中國朋友來到台灣拜訪她在中國高中認識的一些台灣朋友。她邀請我與他們一起吃晚飯，因此我們到了公館夜市去，首先在一個泰式餐廳吃點，其中我最喜歡的一向是木瓜沙拉，然後在路上逛逛試試台灣夜市裡常常有的食物。其實，雖然越南麵包並不算是台灣夜市的食物，不過只是要是你去公館夜市，這個算是一家非吃不可的越式餐廳，是台北的第一名。我到底是個很簡單的愛吃三明治的英國人。Ellie 吃了台灣炸的食物 – 它的名字我都不知道。即使我以前住在台灣一年了，我還是分辨不出來好多菜單上的食物。我之前以為重視認識菜單上的菜只是個瑣碎的可以忽視的分辨，我以為沒有努力記住的必要。我現在卻發現要是我在中國或台灣與同事一起吃晚飯，或是公司邀請我把重要客人吃晚飯，如果我掌握華人的基本菜單食物的話，不但可以表示我對他們的尊重，而且可以拉近我們之間的關係。再加上，一定會讓我日常生活容易得多！我希望能要吃什麼就吃什麼，不要再像目前拿出來手機查一下幾個字或是隨機地點菜然後後悔。

綜上所述，收到了好的工作通知後，我終於轉注意力到我的生活中其他剩下的缺憾，其中重要的包含：我還沒掌握好華人餐廳的菜單！

A month has passed without my realising it! I am very satisfied with my progress in the last month. The reason is that I don’t have to waste my time applying for jobs anymore and I can concentrate on my Chinese studies. In other words, I’ve been hired! As the saying goes, finding a job is a full-time job. In fact, saying ‘I have been hired’, isn’t as accurate as saying ‘I have finally been hired’.  From the time I started applying for jobs in September until now, I haven’t stopped applying for jobs for even a week. I don’t want to share the exact figures because I don’t want my boss to find out, otherwise he might think that I don’t appreciate the position. In fact, this is far from the truth. Even though I can’t say that this is the only job I applied for, I have to at least admit that it is my dream job.  So what I believe for myself is that all of my previous job applications have led me here and have contributed to my interviewing skills and knowledge of the industry.

Other than this, the last month has been pretty normal. A Chinese friend of mine from Edinburgh University came to Taiwan to visit some Taiwanese friends she knew from her high school in China. She invited me to join them for dinner, so we went to the Gongguan night market. First we ate at a Thai restaurant, my favourite is, as always, the papaya salad, and then we wandered around trying some typical food from Taiwanese night markets. Actually, I had a Banh Mi.  Although Banh Mi is not really a Taiwanese night market food, you cannot go to Gongguan Night Market and not get the Banh Mi, it’s the best in Taipei. I’m a simple sandwich-loving Brit, and Ellie ate Taiwanese fried food – the name of which I don’t even know. Even though I lived in Taiwan for a year before, I still can’t tell a lot of the food on the menu. I used to think that the importance of knowing what’s on the menu was just a trivial, and I didn’t think there was any point in trying to memorise it, but now I’ve realised that if I’m having dinner with colleagues in China or Taiwan, or if my company invites me to take an important guest to dinner, if I have a good grasp of the basic Chinese menu, it’s not only a way to show them my respect, but also a way to bring them closer to me and to my colleagues. Plus, it would definitely make my daily life much easier! I would like to be able to eat whatever I want, instead of having to take out my mobile phone to look up a few words or order at any time and then regret it.

To summarise, after receiving a good job offer, I finally got to turn my attention to the other remaining imperfections in my life, including the important one: I still haven’t mastered the Chinese restaurant menu!

 

 

新春快乐

今年春节很特别。一月二十五号我跟一个同学上飞机。三个小时之后我们到了。今年我去重庆，成都和延安过年。

首先，重庆是一座在中国的西南方充满活力的山城。特色的地形造就了层叠的道路和错落的建筑。重庆最具特色的城市景观之一是轻轨穿楼而过。.

第二天，我们见了一个北大同学一起吃火锅（重庆以麻辣火锅而闻名）。她是重庆人。对于不了解的人来说， 火锅是一种中国传统的饮食方式。在锅中加热汤底，接着把各种食材放入锅中涮后食用，一边煮边吃。一般来说，热汤麻麻辣辣。幸运的是，两锅热汤中，第一锅是麻辣底料，第二锅是西红的。食材非常丰富，从蔬菜到鲜肉，老少皆宜。

除夕（一月二十八号）那天，我们坐火车去成都。成都市是四川的首都。从杜甫草堂到大熊猫研究基地，这座城市景点众多。第二天我们见了另一个北大同学，然后我们整天一起玩了一整天。因为她是一个成都人，她就像一个私人导游，她对成都了如指掌，对每条街都门儿清。

我们首先一起去一条传统购物街，那里遇到一种叫“三大炮“的传统成都小吃。三大炮是一种糯米制成的甜点，因制作过程中独特的“弹射”方式而得名。制作过程如下，轮流拿一个糯米团，用力往案板上摔，让它弹起来！！顾名思义，连续摔3次。最后裹上黄豆粉，淋糖浆，美味可口！除了吃小吃以外，我们在成都参观了杜甫草堂、大熊猫基地、还看了川剧变脸。成都太棒了！最后，三十一号我一个人晨早起床被送机，飞到延安(我的同学回北京)。

在延安，我跟另一个北大同学和她的中国家人一起过年。早上8点半我朋友的爸爸来接我。有意思的是，他不会说普通话或者英文，只说延安方言。幸运的是，延安方言和普通话差不多，但有时候难以听得懂! 那天我朋友的家人和亲戚一起吃午饭。因为春节，我们吃各种各样的延安小吃，大饱眼福！那天我朋友需要写完一张论文，所以她爸爸带我们游览了这座城市。晚上在停车场里我们点燃烟花，砰然炸响，五彩斑斓的光芒在夜空中绽放。

在延安，我们参加了街上的活动、参观了博物馆、吃了多美食，比如延安沾沾[1]、还欣赏了璀璨夺目的烟花。二月三号晚上，我累死了。终于坐上绿皮车回北京。坐车时，我一边听着火车在铁轨上哐当哐当地驶过，发出低沉的轰隆声，一边渐渐入睡。我感到十分满足。我不仅游历了三座中国城市，还和中国家庭一起过年。我觉得我对中国的理解更加深刻。

Happy New Year!

This year’s Chinese New Year was special. On the 25^th of January I took the plane with a classmate. Three hours later we had arrived. This year we were going to Chongqing, Chengdu and Yanan to celebrate new year.

First, Chongqing is a south-western lively mountainous city in China. The unique terrain creates layered roads and staggered buildings. One of Chongqing’s special city features is the metro that cuts through building blocks.

On the second day, we met up with a friend from Beijing University and ate hotpot (Chongqing is famous for its spicy hotpot). Our friend is from Chongqing. For those that do not already know, hotpot is a traditional style of Chinese cuisine. In a pot you brew a base soup and then briefly boil all types of ingredients, cooking and eating as you go. Typically, the soup is numbingly spicy. Luckily, of the two base soups, the first one was spicy, but the second one was tomato flavoured. There was a range of ingredients (to boil), from vegetables to fresh meet, something for everyone.

On New Year’s Eve (28^th January), we took the train to Chengdu. Chengdu is Sichuan province’s capital. From Dufu’s[1 ] thatched house to the national Panda Research Centre, the city has many attractions. On the second day in Chengdu, we met up with another friend from Beijing University. We spent the whole day out together. Because she is from Chengdu, she was like a private tour guide, she knew Chengdu like the back of her hand, and familiar with every single street.

We first went to a traditional shopping street, where we encountered a traditional Chengdu snack called ‘Three big explosions. Three big explosions is a type of sweet snack of glutinous rice. It is named after its unique ‘catapulting’ method in the making process. The process is as followed, you take turns taking a ball of glutinous rice and then thrown it hard onto a board, letting it bounce up. As the name suggests, you do this three times in a row. In the end you envelop it in soybean flower and drizzle syrup over them. It’s so delicious! Besides eating snacks, in Chengdu we also visited Dufu’s thatched cottage, the panda research institute and watched the Sichuanese opera’s traditional performance of face changing. Chengdu is great. Finally, on the 31^st I got up early in the morning to go to the airport and flew to Yanan (while my classmate returned to Beijing).

In Yanan, I stayed with another friend from Beijing university and her family. 8.30 in the morning her dad picked me up from the airport. Interestingly, he cannot speak Putonghua[2] or English. Luckily, the Yanan dialect and Putonghua is not too different, but sometimes I did find it hard to understand! That day we ate lunch with my friend’s family and her relatives. Because it was new years there were all types of Yanan delicacies, a feast full of food. My friend had to finish an essay that day, so her dad took us around Yanan to see the sights. That evening we sent off fireworks in a parking lot, with loud bangs, their colourful light lit up the sky.

In Yanan we participated in many street activities, went to museums, ate lots of delicacies including Yanan Zhan Zhan[3] and enjoyed more dazzling fireworks. On the 3^{rd of} February, I was so tired. I eventually got onto the night train. Taking the train, I listened to the clanking noise of the train on the tracks and gradually fell asleep. I feel really satisfied. Not only did I experience three Chinese cities, I also experienced spending new year with a Chinese family. I feel that I have come to understand China much better.

[1] Dufu is a famous Chinese poet from the Tang dynasty (7^th century).

 

[2] Standardised Mandarin. Because China is so big, often different regions use different dialects. The majority of people however also speak standardised Mandarin (the Beijing dialect) particularly the youth.

[3] Like hotpot but with skewers and cumin spice.