Interviews with some of our students

We would like the readers of our blog to get to know some of the people we work with a little better. Therefore we have interviewed some of our students from the different places we work. Meet Tao Jun, He Qing, Yong Hui, Qiao Xiao Hui and Yu Ji.

The Ningxia Red Cross:
Tao Jun (James)

What is your name?

- My Chinese name is Tao Jun and my English name is James

How old are you?

- I am 30 years old.

Where are you from?

- I am from Yinchuan, in the Northern part of Ningxia.

What is your job at the Ningxia Red Cross?

- I work as a district communicator.

How long have you been working at the Red Cross?

- I have been working here for seven years

How long have you been learning English?

- I have been learning English for ten years.

What is your favourite food?

- My favourite food is porkmeat.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

- I like to do outdoor activities and especially fishing. I am also found of tea culture.

He Qing (Anne)

What is your name?

- My Chinese name is He Qing and my English name is Anne.

How old are you?

- I am 27 years old.
Where are you from?
- I am from Zhongwei in Ningxia province.

What is your job at the Ningxia Red Cross?

- I am in charge of the volunteers.

How long have you been working at the Red Cross?

- I have been working four years at the Ningxia Red Cross.

How long have you been learning English?

- I have been learning English for fifteen years.

What is your favourite food?

- Boiled chicken with sauce.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

- I like to play badminton and to travel.

Yong Hui (Peter)

What is your name?
- My Chinese name is Yong Hui and my English name i Peter
How old are you?
- I am 30 years old
Where are you from?
- I am from the city of Zhongwei, in the Western part of Ningxia province.
What is your job at the Ningxia Red Cross?
- I do advertisements among teenagers, and recruit volunteers for the Red Cross
How long have you been working at the Red Cross?
- I have been working at the Red Cross for two years now.
How long have you been learning English?
- I have learned English for ten years.

What is your favorite food?
- Small peeled noodles.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
- I like to watch movies, TV and to play basketball.

Xinhua College:

Qiao Xiao Hui (Alice)

What is your name?

- My Chinese name is Qiao Xiao Hui, my English name is Alice.

How old are you?

- I am 20 years old.

Where are you from?

- I come from Guyuan, in the South of Ningxia.

What do you study?

- I am majoring in English.

How long have you been learning English?

- I have been learning English for eight years now.

Why did you choose to study English?

- Because I like English, and in the future I hope to become an English teacher.

What is your favourite food?

- Rice, fruit, potato and meat.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

- I like reading, go shopping, sleeping and to write in my diary.

Prep School for Ethnic Minorities

Yu Ji (Robert)

What is your name?

- My Chinese name is Yu Ji and my English name is Robert

How old are you?

- I am 20 years old.

Where are you from?
- I come from the city Yantai in Shandong province

What do you study

-I am majoring in Science.
How long have you been learning English?

- I have studied English for ten years.
What is your favourite food?
- My favourite food is watermelon.

What do you like to do in your sparetime?

- In my sparetime I go to the internet bar, I read books and play basketball.

Happy New Year

We, Christian and Tom, have had a wonderful semester in Yinchuan. We have seen a lot and experienced even more. Now we look forward to the next semester, which will bring us even more joy and happiness. But first we will have a vacation. Chinese people celebrate the new year when the lunar calendar says it's time. So we also look forward to the 25th of January, when there will be celebrations all over China. That's what they call Spring Festival, which is a holiday spent with family. But since we don't have that much family in China, we decided to travel instead. So here comes our current travel schedule; Yinchuan - Ürümqi - Dunhuang - Jiayuguan - Lanzhou - Chengdu - ?. The question mark means that we haven't decided where to go after Chengdu. But every decision, every experience will be noted down here on the blog. Maybe just in short words, and definitely without pictures. All the most interesting pictures will be posted when we come back from our one month journey through parts of China. So all that remains is to say; happy western new year!

But for your pleasure, here are some pictures so you wont forget us while we are gone;

The ancient tombs of the Xixia dynasty

The region we live in have traces from a history way back. Right outside Yinchuan there are tombs from one of the oldest dynasties in China, the Western Xia Dynasty (2200-1700 BC) We went there with our cameras and here's the result...

Traffic in Yinchuan

The traffic in Yinchuan is quite different from the one we are used to back home. Huge roads in the city, 4-8 lanes, lot’s of cars, tricycles, motorcycles, mopeds and bicycles. And because of that as a pedestrian we have to pay really close attention before and when crossing the road. There is also two lanes outside campus next to the road, for bicycles and the smaller vehicles mentioned above. The Norwegian way of looking left – right – left is not sufficient here. When crossing the road, we constantly have to look left and right, fast, use all our senses and stop several times on the way over the broad roads.

The roads here are well maintained, newly build, and has capacity for alot more cars. They are obviously built for the nextcoming years and generation(s). Owning a car in China is not something anyone can do. It is to expensive for the normal family here. If a family owns a car, it means that they have solid and above the normal level of income.

In general the drivers do not pay as close attention to the pedestrians as home, and as a pedestrian we enjoy less respect than at home. As a consequence of that we have to keep our senses sharpened when being out in the traffic.

The collective transport here in Yinchuan is busses, minibuses, taxi and tricycle (rickshaw).

Tricycle(rickshaw)