Puji Pukeko in Beijing

Nimen Hao! (Hello to everyone)
Wow! Sandy and Sue had to work hard today! Just because its Saturday it doesn't mean that they could just go shopping! The day started with language classes where we learnt how to introduce ourselves and to talk about where we are from. That was pretty straightforward. Then the next class was about going shopping... that's when things started getting tricky! First they had to learn (or remember because they should have learnt that before they left NZ) how to count in Chinese (not much point asking how much something costs if you don't understand the answer). Then they had to learn about asking for the price, how to look shocked that the price was so high, and then have a bartering conversation with the seller to try and get the price reduced to a reasonable amount for that item. Well - it might sound easy, but it really wasn't!
After lunch, the students were put into groups and they were taken into a market to practice their skills! Each group had to buy a cup, a pen, a pair of socks and a facecloth and they weren't allowed to spend more than 50 Yuan. Sandy and Sue weren't very focused - they wanted to go shopping for handbags! They also didn't get to practice their Chinese much, as most of the sellers at the market they went to spoke good English!
After a very short time, it was back on the bus and back to the university for dinner. We are eating all our food with chopsticks which I am finding a little challenging - I think I will come back a skinny pukeko! Sandy and Sue don't seem to be having any problems with eating with chopsticks though... guess they won't come home looking like skinny pukekos!
After dinner we had a class about the Peking Opera which was very interesting. Some of the students got their faces painted as though they were performers in the opera.
We were all very tired when we finally got back to our hotel at 8.30pm - Sandy and Sue still found time to go and check out the local supermarket though!