How to go to BLCU from the Airport

Arriving at Day time

     

     After passing through the Beijing Capital International Airport Immigration and reaching the departure/arrival area (of Airport #2), you can exit through gate No. 5. You can find many green colored taxis parked outside. Please take note that Black taxis may also be present. If you can speak Mandarin then you can agree to a price for them to take you to BLCU. Please also take note that these taxis are illegal, and therefore you must be careful when riding these taxis. If you cannot speak Mandarin and are new to Beijing, I would advice though that you take the green taxi, it has a meter and is legal, so chances of arriving safely are higher.

     Upon taking your seat, show the driver this text: 北京语言大学 (Běijīng Yǔyán Dàxué), it means Beijing Language and Culture University. There is another school nearby with a similar name, so be sure you say it's in 五道口(WuDaoKou). 

 
      As you can see on the Beijing Language and Culture University Map (sent to you along with the admission notice), the school has 3 gates. The East Gate (Main Gate) or 东门 (Dōng mén), the South Gate or 南门 (Nán mén) and the West Gate 西门(Xi mén). So check beforehand where your dormitory or apartment is closest to, and ask the driver to take you to that gate.

      Remember to wait for the driver to go down and open the back compartment before leaving the seats, the driver might forget you put your stuff there and leave immediately --- and that would be a nightmare!

Arriving at Midnight

     It's quite odd how I always get to experience things the hard way! My friends and I arrived in Beijing at around 12 midnight and we were so tired that we couldn't bear staying up at the airport for 6 hours waiting for morning to arrive. So, in my honest opinion, arriving during the day would have been much easier.

     Nevertheless, if you arrive at midnight, you can proceed to ask the Customer service area for a hotel to stay. The staff can understand a little English so if you want a cheap one, you can inform them. Since we were asking for the cheapest one, we were directed to this small and shabby hotel around 10 minutes away from the airport. It was merely livable, but it got us through the night. We spent around 300 rmb, 100 RMB is the commission for the airport and the other 200 RMB paid upon reaching the hotel. You will be guided to the free airport van, and the van will take you there. Make sure you request the airport personnel to take you back to the airport early in the morning so you can go back to the airport and ride a taxi. But you may also call for a taxi from your hotel.

Life in Beijing

     It's been a while since I last updated my blog, I have been really busy with my life here in Beijing. Beijing is just truly an amazing place! After staying here for around 18 days, the place no longer feels strange to me.

     The first few days have been exhausting! The airport transfer was a hassle, unpacking my luggage was extremely tiring and the enrollment procedures felt like it was taking me forever. Nevertheless, after getting pass through that stage, I began to love Beijing so much that I didn't even notice the days passing by.

     If you have been living in a tropical country, where it is most often than not hot and sunny, it is quite interesting to know that the weather here is sunny but cold. I find it really funny that the weather outside is so much colder than the air conditioner in my room! The bright skies seem to never end until 7:00 in the evening, which is quite odd, since in the Philippines it's already dark at 6:00 pm.

     The mix of races and the harmonious blend of different languages made me feel like I already traveled the world! I love listening to people conversing in their own native language, even if I couldn't understand a word.  Indeed, the world is magnificently made by a Supreme Being, who had the power to make everything possible.

     Although I still cannot speak fluent Mandarin, my vocabulary has improved a huge percentage in a few days time. Before, I can hear, but totally not understand what the locals are saying, but now I can hear and understand some words, ultimately making my life so much easier!

     Beijing is a huge place with many beautiful tourist spots and historical places, and I don't think I can complete them all in 1 semester, but I just cherish each day that I am here and live it to the fullest.

Yours truly,
Stephanie :) 

Countdown to BLCU

Hello Friends!

It's 15 more days until my flight to Beijing!! I'm not sure what I'm feeling yet. It's kind of a mix of nervousness and excitement for this fast approaching date. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really ready for it, or if it's even REAL. I never thought I'd get the chance to study somewhere really far from my hometown.

I've been looking forward to this trip since I was in college... So now that I'm officially a professional (since I passed the board exam and got my license), I can finally get the chance to explore a different side of the world by studying in BLCU!

After getting the official permission from my parents, I began my preparation last May. It's basically a 3-month preparation for me. With several ups and downs along the road, it pays off in the end.

I don't have too much expectations from this trip, but rather, I'm yearning more for the independent life of living away from my parents. I think it's the best time to learn to do things on my own, face problems on my own and survive on my own. It's actually the best gift ever!

So I've enrolled myself to the Intensive class, only then did I realize that most people are enrolling for the Regular Class! LOL for me. But my friends who've been there gave really good feedbacks about the Intensive class. For those who haven't decided yet, I'll be making a comparative post really soon (when I get there).

Are you going to study in BLCU sometime soon too? How do you feel about it? :)

Your EMS package, due taxes and the Philippine Customs

Before I ordered an item from abroad online, I never knew that items bought with EMS should pass through the Philippine customs. I know that Ignorance is a crime, and that was a crime I don't want anyone else to commit, hence, this post.

If you are a Filipino, or even a person who lives in a country under UNESCO and are having intentions of ordering items from abroad, then you should keep reading. There are several things you must know before you order an item online. This can save you a lot cash and can make you wiser in terms of decision making.

So I bought a Chinese-English Electronic Translator Dictionary online. The package was worth $30 and around $14 dollars shipping fee. It was a small package sent through EMS. EMS is an express mailing system that sends items to anywhere in the world. But most of their items should pass through the Customs.

You must know that the Customs is not a passive area through which your item passes through. It undergoes a rigid screening, where they decide which items to tax and which not to tax. If you are like me, who hasn't had the idea which items are taxed heavily, you can try checking out the Florence Agreement. This is an agreement made by several participating countries, Philippines included, on which some items are exempted from tax. So if you have such items for delivery, then you need not worry. You'll only need to pay 40php for the Philippine Postal Handling Fee.

For other items which are not in the Florence Agreement, then there is a 50-50 chance for your items to get taxed. Here is an idea on how much tax you need to pay for an item shipped from abroad: (total USD value of the package x 10% customs dues) + (total USD value of package x 12% VAT) + (750 php customs miscellaneous fees) + (40php Philippine postal handling fee). In short, you'll have to pay more than double the declared amount of the item you bought online.

Upon the advice of those who have sent their packages, they say that if you declare an amount other than the US dollar currency, like for example, RMB or Yen, they are less likely to tax you since they will not have time to compute the real value of the item. But nonetheless if the item is above $50, then you should quite expect to be taxed. I don't know the exact parameters or criteria of the customs, I'm just sharing the things I learned from other people which can give you an idea based on their experience. Another tip from my seller and from most online people, is never to send or order items which are huge in size. The larger the size of the package, the more doubts it will create on the customs. For your information, they can open the package if they opted to.

I was quite nervous about my package. Once the package was sent by the seller, I started tracking the package in the EMS website. Here is an image that shows my package being tracked.



Normally, packages sent through EMS should only take around 5-10 days. And if you can see that the item is at the Customs, wait atleast a week more for your package. If it doesn't arrive, then something might have come up.

Your package could either be a.) Detained in the Customs. Not all areas in the Philippines have customs, so they might not ship your item to your area especially if they are going to charge you of the said taxes; you should claim your package directly from the main office in Pasay City or b.) Left at the local postal office for you to claim. This is what happened to my package. It arrived in the Customs at July 29, 2011. That's how far the EMS tracking could go. I waited patiently for my package to arrive, but after around 2 more weeks, I started worrying... If it was going to be detained in the customs, I should ride a plane from my place to Manila just to get my package and I wouldn't know how much they will charge me. It was too risky. So yesterday, August 09, 2011, I decided to call the main office of the Customs. The numbers were busy and I tried several more attempts but to no avail. I finally encountered the EMS Philippines contact numbers from google and called. I gave them the tracking number and was told that my package was already in my place since August 02, 2011.

So I called the local post office in our area and inquired about my package. It was there! But it was left there for days without informing me. I was supposed to get it myself but I decided to request the postman (who was my dad's friend) to deliver it to our home instead. So for my EMS package, I paid an extra 40 php postal handling. Thank God!

I take this incident as a great learning experience and an opportunity to share what I know with my fellowmen. If you plan to order items from abroad, make sure you're willing to pay the extra charges that would incur for the items covered by tax. For items that are tax free, then you need not worry. A constant follow-up and a reliable tracking system will keep your package from delays and being lost.

English to Chinese Electronic Translator Dictionary

A few more days from now I will be posting a topic on Countdown to BLCU since my travel to Beijing is getting really really close. For now though, I will be talking about my recent purchase, the Comet Chinese to English Talking Dictionary model 602.

Basically, ALL my friends who have been to BLCU, did not finish a semester without acquiring for themselves a Translator dictionary. For those of you haven't thought of buying one yet, then I am telling you that you are going to need it, especially when you know less than a hundred Chinese words. You'll never know when an emergency arises and you have to relay a very important message.

There are 2 types of translator dictionary. The first one, which you might be more familiar with, is the traditional dictionary where you scan its pages and search for the word you are looking for. The best part of choosing this dictionary is it's convenience and availability. You can simply buy this at any bookstore or department stores or you may even bought one years ago without you noticing. They are also sold at a much cheaper price. These dictionaries are widespread and they also come in handy since they don't need batteries or electric supply.

The second type of translator dictionary is the Electronic Dictionary. This is the one I decided to have for myself since I am quite a techie person, I love gadgets and I would rather search for words by typing than find myself manually searching for pages in a traditional dictionary. The only hassle is on acquiring the item itself. Unless you live in China or Hongkong or Taiwan, you may try looking at all the bookstores around you and you still won't find an Electronic English to Chinese Translator Dictionary. Also, if you don't like to buy batteries once in a while when it depletes and would like to save on your electric bill, then you shouldn't get one.

After a pretty long wait, I finally have my Comet English to Chinese Electronic Dictionary. I bought it from a really cool Ebay seller named Zhidong zhou. If he permits, I would want to feature his ebay account on this blog. You may also comment if you want to learn more about this item. So this dictionary, for it's tiny size, is jam-packed with lots of fun and amazing features. It has the New Oxford American Dictionary, English-Chinese Dictionary, Chinese to English Dictionary, Chinese Idiom Dictionary, Specialized Dictionary, Ancient Chinese Dictionary, Practical English for Sports Games, Sports Dictionary and a Chinese Speaking bible. Plus, it has study, memo, calendar, calculator, games and even an alarm clock! To top it all off, this dictionary is a TALKING dictionary. So while you're reading the words in pinyin, you just press the yellow button to hear how the word is correctly pronounced. It also comes with a set of earphones, but don't expect them to be really high quality. The earphone I received was only in mono. You can replace this with your own earphones instead and it will work just fine. So for all it's useful features and very minor flaws how much would you price this item?

Made a guess? I bought this dictionary for only $43.95 (without box) inclusive of worldwide shipping, so for me, it was all worth it. If you want it to come with a box, then you just need to add $10. I had it shipped without the box to save on a few dollars. Anyway, the sender protects the item by using a bubble wrap so your item doesn't get damaged during the shipping process. I sent my payment through paypal. The courier is Worldwide EMS or Worldwide Express Mail Service which sends packages throughout the world. You can track the items online through their main website.

It's actually just my Fourth hour of owning this electronic dictionary so I haven't explored all the features yet. Even so, I find it very user friendly, as long as you read the manual (it's written in English). It's also very light and handy. But you're gonna need 2 triple a batteries for it to work.

To sum it all up, both types of dictionaries are useful for travelling or studying in China. The option whether to go for a traditional or electronic translator dictionary will always depend on you, how you learn and how you choose to learn.

P.S. I was not paid or asked to endorse the item but since I liked it a lot, I decided to post it here. If you own a dictionary like this or you want to recommend another type of electronic dictionary please do so by commenting below. You could be of great help to someone who's going for a trip to China. Your comments and feedback are highly appreciated!