Global Exchange Newsletter July - September 2009

We are glad to present you our 2009 July to Sept issue Newsletter and hope you enjoy it.

In This Edition: What’s new in Global Exchange? - Students Activities: Knowledge Competitions with international from other schools in Beijing - Sport: to play basketballs on weekend in summer - Beijing through a student's eyes: students photo collections Current Students Interview - Maximilian Koller from Austria - Mr. Rasmus Sandberg Sloth from Denmark Connecting with Alumni - Mr. Andreas Dietschi from Switzerland. - Mr. Patrick Thostemar from Sweden. Get to know Global Exchange - Teacher interview: Ms. Xu Hao
Others - Our students experiences and introduction of Beijing modern arts district: 798

Knowledge Competitions with fun

This summer, one of popular activities among our students was to go to Lush, a popular bar in Wudaokou, entertainment center near BLCU, to participate "Knowledge Competitions" with international students from all over Beijing each Wednesday. Our students usually participate the event as one team to compete with others. It is fun, entertaining, challenging and self-improving event. It may covers sports, music, movies, geography cultures, history and more. It is also great opportunity to meet and be networking with broader base of international students from all over the world and to share some fun in Beijing.

Summer Sport: To play basketball on weekend:

Summer is the time to enjoy outdoor activities. This summer, playing basketball is popular among our students in Beijing. Once a week or another week, our teacher John takes small group of students who are interested in basketball to Beijing Language & Cultural University. Our students not only enjoy the physical exercise, but also have the chance to meet the international students in BLCU or other institutes.

Beijing through a student's eyes: one of our professional trainee, Mr. Neal Matteo who is a photographer, took a lot of photos to ordinary people daily life in Beijing. We have selected 18 of them and want to share with you.

Current Students Interview Maximilian Koller from Austria Educational Background: University, MSc Brief Work History: 5 years, 2 days a week in an engineering company Languages Spoken: German, English, Spanish Hobbies: Piano, Accordion, Travelling, Climbing, …

Mr. Rasmus Sandberg Sloth from Denmark

After having studied Chinese for a certain time period, I decided it was time to actually go to china and practice my Chinese language skill. the course provided by global exchange center gave my the possibility to combine an intensive Chinese course with living at Chinese host family. this combination does not only give you the chance to practice your Chinese skills on a daily basis but it also gives you an rare and extremely interesting in sight into the sometimes difficult Chinese culture.

Connecting with alumni

Mr. Andreas Dietschi from Switzerland. Andreas was in our program 2008.

	Tell us a little about your background and what are you doing in your country? Hello, my name is Andreas and in Chinese I have the innovative name "小首长"(little Chairman). I finished high school two years ago. After my grades I collected some working experiences, went to Guadeloupe - where I decided to go to China - , went to the (mandatory) military service in Switzerland, got thrown into military prison for five days, because I refused to obey an order in order to protest against their decision to force me into sergeant school, managed to get dismissed from military service and then – finally - I went to China! After returning home – with many tears in the eyes – I served three months of my civil service time – instead of military service – in a restaurant where unemployed people get reintegrated in the primary working world. And because I miss(ed) Beijing so much I decided to study Chinese, instead of math, so a week ago I started at university!
	Tell us more about the city you are in? Zurich is the biggest City in Switzerland; it is often mistaken to be the capital city of Switzerland. Its one of the banking centres of the world and is therefore really expensive. But you get a lot for the prices you pay. You have a lake to swim in, an “Old Town” to maunder around in, clear air to breath in, only 30 minutes by foot at max to stroll into a forest, where you can hunt rabbits and deers… or just enjoy the nature; and in Beijing relations its really close to the mountains too.
	What have you been doing since left Beijing in our programs? Crying like a child. I started with paragliding and “Nature-Yodelling”. Now you all have your cliché confirmed of the Swiss, who is yodelling while hiking in the mountains and cooking chocolate on a wooden fire after he milked his own personal cow. C’mon I know you all wanted to hear this.
	What effects of your study in China last year on your current career? I’m studying Chinese; there couldn’t be any bigger impact.
	Today, when you look back your study program and experiences in Beijing, Do you have any suggestions to our centre on how to improve our program and to better service to our students? First of all I really liked the family feeling at the school and appreciated gratefully the personal effort the school team showed. I would consider a big improvement, if you would put in real tables, so that the students are sitting at a table. I know the rooms are small, but at least in room one and two it should be possible. Then the internet or the computers were just extremely slow, there is room for improvement as well.
	Do you have any comments to someone who is considering to take our program in near future? If you consider to stay longer in Beijing, try to find as soon as possible an apartment. The dorm is quite expensive for what you get.
	We are trying to provide more valuable services to all students after they left China? Such as some online programs to connect them with Chinese students. Do you have any suggestion on how we can connect our alumni better? Nope
	Any other comments Thank you a lot!

Mr. Patrick Thostemar from Sweden. Patrik was also in our programs 2008

In october 2008 I came to Beijing to study Chinese at Global Exchange. I had been interested for Chinese indie-music for a long time and now it was time to kill two birds with one stone. My plan was to stay in Beijing for 6months and learn Chinese while exploring music venues and bands. It ended up in a 1year long adventure going on from the north to the south of the middle kingdom. An adventure that brought me lots of wonderful friends, cultural understanding, language knowledge and a chance to get to know myself more.

I used to study economy at a normal high school in a normal city in the way to normal country Sweden. Curiosity brought me to china and I spent 20weeks taking private courses at GLE, 2hours/day. This gave me a very good basic knowledge about Chinese. The classes were always made interesting by the schools professional and kind teachers who really struggled hard to make us lazy foreigners learn Chinese. The school used to arrange lots of activities for the students and there was always something going for the adventures and social. I quickly made my own social network and never participated in any of the activities. But from what I heard from my classmates they really enjoyed it and it was always made very affordable.

When I was done with school in March I went home for a month. But I couldn’t stop thinking about china and all of the sudden I was back, in a city called JingDeZhen in south China. I worked there for 4months as a English teacher and thanks to the foundation I got at GLE I could now use Chinese in my classes and picking up phrases was not a problem longer. In south China my Chinese just simply exploded and I now consider myself speaking fluent Chinese.

Now I am back in Sweden again. Studying at a university where we study economics with focus on China. And it doesn’t take a genius to understand how valuable my knowledge is. I now have many business contacts, friends and ideas on the other side of the globe. And I know it will not take long until I walk the streets of Beijing again. I am already planning to go back to China really soon to work some more on my language skills. And the choice is obvious, GLW. Why? Because it’s a really good school that can provide me with the perfect atmosphere and teachers for learning Chinese.

I highly recommend this school and I can promise that it will give you a very good start on your Chinese adventure/career.

Get to know Global Exchange Teacher interview: Ms. Xu Hao
	Tell us a little about your background? Hello , i'm Stephanie,my chinese name is Xuhao. i'm from Beijing and work there .i'm graduated from Beijing Union university.

One of senior trainees Mr. Gunnar Jauch, who is architecture designer, wrote his version of introduction of 798, Beijing modern arts district. 798 Art Zone is one of my favorite places in Beijing. Anyone with a feeling for a thriving art scene within a genuinely historic architectural context will share my feelings.

798 Art Zone is a part of Dashanzi in Chaoyang District, situated along the Capital Airport Expressway, about halfway to the airport, that houses a lively artist community, within a 50-year old decommissioned military factory buildings of unique architectural style. The area has often been compared with New York’s Greenwich Village or SoHo. It is very easy to get there – every taxi driver will know this place. Qi Qiu Ba Yi Shu Qu is all you have to say (but, please, with the correct intonation, otherwise he might stare at you and say:"Shenme?"

Since the idea of the factory compound was to produce modern electronic componenrts, the
Russians suggested that the Chinese turn to East Germany from where they imported most of
their heigh-tech equipment. In 1951, on request of then-Premier Zhu En-Lai, a delegation of
Chinese scientists and engineers travelled to East Germany, visiting a dozen factories. In
1952 the project, by far the largest of East Germany in China, was greenlighted,, and ground
was broken in 1954.

The project had stunning dimensions: The selected location of Dashanzi was a 640'000 m2
area, a low-lying patch of farmland on the norheastern outskirts of Beijing. The complex was
to occupy 500'000 m2, 370'000 of which allocated to living quarters. The initial budget was
enormous: 140 million RMB, 17 million US $ at today’s rates.

The architectural plans were left to the Germans, who chose a functional Bauhaus-style over
the historical-ornamental Soviet style, triggering the first heated disputes between the German
and the Russian consultants on the project.

The plans called for large indoor spaces designed to let a maximum amount of light into the
workspaces, with all the skylights facing north to reduce the shadows and the glare of the sun.

Construction was hampered not only by the constant disagreement between the German
planners and the Russian consultants (who called the German's high --and expensive--
quality standards for buildings and machinery "over-engeneering") but also by the Soviet Red
Army's tremendous drain on East Germany's industrial production. The equipment was
transported directly through the Soviet Union via the Trans-Siberian railway, and a 15 km
track of railroad between Beijing Railroad Station and Dongjiao Station was built especially to
service the factory.

The factory began production in 1957 and quickly established a reputation for itself as one of
the best in China. It offered considerable social benefits to its 10'000 to 20'000 workers,
especially considering the poverty of the country during such periods as "The Great Leap
Forward", such as:

After 10 years of production the factory was spilt up into smaller and more manageable
components. During Deng Xiaoping’s reforms of the 1980s the factory came under pressure,
deprived of gouvernment funding. It underwent a gradual decline and finally ceased
production in the 1990s.

Artistic Rebirth