Day One at BFA
Our first day at Beijing Film Academy started a bit roughly at 9.00.
My day started at 7.00 when I got up and went for a short jog, to the front gates of the Beijing Film Studio. The air is thick and tickles my lungs. I realize that all I want to do is cough uncontrollably and go back to sleep.
Most of the class was severely jetlagged because they only arrived the day before. Most of them have pretty limited experience with Asia from what I can get. Some however, are very expreienced with Asian culture and such, so it's an interesting mix. Those of us who can get by in guoyu putonghua mandarin are going to be in demand for our taxi driver skills.
I find I have a lot of trouble understanding the Beijing accent. It's a heavy "zher sher war dar peng you" sound, as opposed to the cleaner sounding Taiwan accent I am used to. I seem to get along better in Beijing than in Taipei, but I'm not sure what that's about. Perhaps I'm just better prepared? I don't know...
The day started with a lecture by Zhang Xianmin,
a noted director and producer of documentary cinema. He showed us stages of modern Chinese life via documentaries. Is this what "New Documentary Cinema" looks like? I'm not sure. There is lots of fumbling with equipment by workers in our classroom, as the room was built the day before and nothing quite works like it should. At one point, there are two projectors on and a laptop accidentally trying to play the same movie with two different programs (it doesn't work well).
12.30. We got to lunch at a nearby Hunan restaurant. Some of the class can't use chopsticks and the woman girl next to me keeps jabbing me in the arm with hers because the table is too close and I'm the only left handed person in our group (how'd that happen?) We go back to our room and take a bit of a break.
14.45. Back in class to watch a movie, 洗澡 (Shower), which is pretty interesting. The room's projector isn't working and I was left the DVD by the professor and somehow I'm expected to make it all work, and communicate with the workman who is plugging stuff in and unplugging it, causing the sound to go crazy. Eventually it goes off completely. At about 16.00, we give up and go back to our rooms and I call Professor Braester and tell him that it's kaput.
16.30 Back in class and finishing the movie. Immediately afterward, we jump into a lecture on the history of Beijing and the massive growth the city has seen. It's interesting, but many are falling asleep. I feel like I'm going to go insane and stop paying much attention after 19.30 - my brain was just too worn out. Class ends close to 20.00 and most of them go to dinner.
20.15 I walk to the grocery store, through back alleys and the buildings that house the work unit of the adjacent Beijing Film Studio. While at the store, I try to bargain for a bicycle but I'm completely unsuccessful. I say I want an old one for 100RMB (13 USD) and they bring out a dirty, dusty bike from about 20 years ago and say I can have it for 50RMB. Wait... didn't I just say I would pay twice as much? What kind of bargaining is this? Obviously, something is wrong here. I give up and go back to BFA to have dinner.
21.15 After dinner, I relax in my room and call my mom and relate tales of Chinese weirdness to her while she eats her cereal. Not a bad day.
23.35 Following an episode of Seinfeld, I fall asleep.