I'm dead. Or I will be soon. Very soon.
Remember HSK? Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi? The Chinese proficiency test? I signed up for it yesterday. I went to Shenyang to register for the basic test. If I get a really good score in it, I'll be in Level 3, at most. That was the plan. Level 3. Basic test. I wasn't that ambitious. Level 3 was fine with me.
Yesterday. Shenyang. LiaoNing University. No basic tests.
What?! What do you mean no basic tests?! Please tell me you're joking.
No basic tests. Intermediate and Advanced. No basic.
But... but... but... Where can I take a basic test?
Beijing and Shanghai.
Ohgod. Why?
Nobody takes the basic test. It's too easy.
Near tears. But that's precisely why I want to take the basic test. Breathe in. Out. In. Out. Don't hyperventilate now. Calmly, in. Out.
Let me sit down and think this over for a minute.
Intermediate. Less than one month to study. Koreans everywhere in the room. They talk in Chinese. They look Chinese. They sound Chinese. They're going to take the same test. They'll pass. I'll fail. I'll die.
Ok, let's be realistic now. What would I lose if I take this test and fail? 250RMB. One day's salary. My face! How will I be able to show my face in public again?!
I signed up. I won't be able to leave the house ever again. I'll be a hermit. I'll read lots of books and I'll be able to finally finish my novel. Jiayou!
plan B quick!! you've still got a month - prepare for a 'kaboom' death - or maybe there's still hope! get a tutor or something... otherwise, hermitdom actually sounds really really good.
ReplyDeleteYes. Hermitdom does sound nice. I will grant you visiting privileges except you're in Fiji so that's a little useless, is it?
ReplyDeleteBeginning this afternoon, two of my students from the college will come to my house to teach me Chinese for an hour, then I'll teach them English for the next hour. And I'll have two different students each time. They all wanted to come to my house so we worked out an alternating schedule of sorts. Crazy.
hahaha! think of it as a challenge to your nerdity.
ReplyDeleteyou can do it!
ReplyDeleteeat lots of pancit so you'll look chinese.
ReplyDeleteGo get em!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you thank you for all the messages of love and support. I will remember your kindness when I become a hermit and maybe include you in my um... meditation? I know! I'll include you in the magnificent books that I will surely be able to write. Who knows, I might even write them in Chinese...
ReplyDelete