For breakfast today, instead of eating in the dining hall, we all ate in the common room of the international dorm. Breakfast of champs included bread, bananas, milk, and grape jelly. We had our first Chinese class today and learned how to introduce ourselves and our roommates. We also learned how to say hello during early morning, morning, noon, afternoon, and night time. We went through the three different parts of speaking Chinese: finals, tones, and initials. The hardest part seems to be the tones. Our homework is to study tones and memorize phrases for at least two hours.
After our language class, we went to the Bank of China for a tour. The building entrances are level to the ground, no stairs, representing the fact that all are welcome, regardless of status, in Bank of China. The lobby was decorated with a water feature and a mini bamboo garden. Each stalk of bamboo had its own irrigation system. They mentioned that the water used in the irrigation system is dyed green so that the bamboo retains in normal color as if it was grown out in a natural environment. There was also a metal sculpture, made in the 1980s, hanging in the lobby, replicating the spokes and rim of a bicycle tire. From the lobby, we went to the top floor where the bank holds their cocktail parties and other member events to take a group photo.
