The HSK Adventure

It is finally over. After agonizing for almost a month, the mad haphazard studying of the last week, and the panic-filled nightmares of the past days, the HSK has come and gone.

After my classes last Saturday, my friend Vivian and I took the hour-long bus ride to Shenyang. We decided it would be better to stay overnight in Shenyang since I had to be at the examinees' meeting place at 750 in the morning on Sunday. Both Andys (Andies :p) had expressed willingness to accompany me but for a variety of reasons, I decided Vivian would be the best companion for this trip. I promised Andy1 he'd go with me to get the results though.

Vivian, having graduated from LiaoNing University where the test was going to be held, expertly guided me through the huge maze-like campus. She reserved a room at the hotel in the university the night before so everything went smoothly except for my nerves which were jumping around with anxiety. I brought four of my books which I didn't really use because I was too nervous to review.

It was nice. Sort of like an overnight vacation. Hotels always give me the feeling of an adventure waiting to happen. We had a value-for-your-money-barely-able-to-finish dinner and breakfast at the university canteens (two different ones). The one where we had dinner in reminded me too much of College Canteen in La Salle. Except it's more expensive in LS :p. Maybe canteens look the same all over the world.

Due to stress, or the cold, or both, I developed a slight fever and cold by the time we were about to sleep. It was nothing major, just the uncomfortable feeling of being sick. I started to feel it coming last Friday but I ignored it hoping it would go away by the time Sunday rolled over. By Saturday night, it seemed to intensify a bit and I was very worried. I took a tablet of Neozep before bed and first thing in the morning when I woke up. I was still feeling a little sick by the time I was about to take the test but of course, the test had to go on. Went on, it did.

I think I was more afraid of not understanding the people around me than of taking the test itself. I had nightmares of not being able to understand the examiner's instructions or something as important and I would just stare blankly as everyone, save I, did as we were told.

So Vivian took me to the meeting place. We were to gather in front of the College of International Students Building, then take the rented buses to another branch of the University, near the countryside, to take the test there.

When we reached the building, I looked fearfully at all the other people who were going to take the test when I saw a familiar face. When I registered about a month ago, there was a friendly Korean girl who was also taking the test for the first time. When I saw her again that Sunday, I immediately grabbed her arm and almost screamed at her face, "We've met! Do you remember me? Do you remember me?" She stared at me blankly and I realized I should be talking in Chinese so I said, "你认识我吗? 你认识我吗? (Do you recognize me? Do you recognize me?)" I don't know why I felt the need to say everything twice at that point. She nodded weakly and I tightened my grip on her arm. I did not know a single soul there and I needed to hold on to something, even if it was a skinny arm.

On hindsight, I'm not even sure if she really was the girl I met that day I registered. I only saw that girl once for a few minutes, how could I have recognized her among more than a hundred other Koreans? Uh oh. Good thing I'll never see her (or them, if they're two different people) again.

She allowed me to drag her into one of the buses and we sat together. I even took a picture of us. Hahaha! She must have thought I was a real nutcase. She brought me comfort. That was all I needed at the moment. There was one time when I opened my bag and she saw my books. She took a good look at them then pointed at one saying, "我也有这个." (I also have this). I asked if she studied it well, and she said it was too hard. I heaved the biggest sigh of relief through all my stressful HSK adventure and thanked god a number of times. I said, "我也那样想! 我认为我自己想那本书太难. (I also think that way! I thought I was alone in thinking that that book is too hard.)," then thanked god again several times. I was only talking in Chinese to be understood so I didn't care if it came out ungrammatical or awkward.  

Oh no, maybe it really wasn't her. Because if we registered at about the same time, shouldn't we be in the same room at least? Or maybe the HSK people shuffled us up so friends wouldn't end up sitting together or being in the same room together. Here's my rough estimate of the nationalities of the people who took the test: Koreans=89%, Russians=9%, Indians (or any Middle Eastern people)=1.3%, Filipino=0.7% (that's me!).

She immediately got rid of me once we reached the test site though. I think I might have scared her a little. Once she saw her friends, she bade me goodbye. Oh well.

I must say that these Koreans were very efficient. There were a couple of booths giving away free tea and chocolate drink in the building. There were a bunch of Korean writings on them and I had not the slightest idea what they meant. I did not know if these freebies were only meant for their fellow Koreans but since I could pass for any Asian nationality, I got myself a cup. I was careful not to say anything though. Couldn't afford to blow my cover, just in case.

We were guided to our assigned rooms and seats. As luck would have it, I was seated right in front, dead center. I would have been really stupid if I wasn't able to understand the instructions then since the examiner was demonstrating what should be done as she said them.

Expectedly, the test was hard. I guessed the answers for more than half of the test. The two guys seated to my right were annoyingly noisy, whispering to each other the whole time we were taking the test. I was sure they were copying answers from each other although I could not understand a word of what they were saying. They were talking in Korean. About ten minutes before the end of the test, the lady from the HSK office (she was very encouraging when I registered. There were two women in the office that day. She was the nicer one.) entered the room. Taking advantage of the disturbance, the two guys exchanged questionnaires. (We had a questionnaire and an answer sheet. These guys were also putting their answers on the questionnaire with the intention of exchanging them at the right moment and thus being able to compare answers.) The HSK lady was too sharp for them though. She swooped down on their papers and said, "不要考了. (Don't take the test anymore.)"

"Finally!" I thought. 

I didn't really care what they do but they were too irritating. They could at least try to be more quiet. I was trying to read! In Chinese, for chrisakes!

I think they'd still compute their scores though. Lucky bastards.

After the test, Vivian and I shopped a little. After exhausting ourselves walking around the malls for what seemed like hours, we finally decided to go home. It was on the bus that I found out that it was Vivian's birthday! I felt really terrible because I wasn't able to get her anything and she'd been really great about helping me with just about everything. She assured me that I shouldn't worry about it. The ride home was pretty much uneventful.

The results will be out after six weeks, at least. Oh, and I was well again when we got home.