CHINESE CLASS

Three weeks I ago I began taking a Chinese language class.  There is a community center not far from me and they offer classes in English and Chinese for free.  Most of the other ladies in my class are expat wives and they are all from other countries -Sweden, Argentina, Italy, Indonesia, and many others.  I am taking the class with a lady from church.  Her name is DeeWyn Johnson and she is super awesome fabulosa!  Her husband is the Bishop of my church congregation here in Beijing.  I really like my Chinese teacher.  Her name is Yao and she is really nice and she is also really good at explaining everything in a way that makes a lot of sense.  I still stink at Chinese after 3 weeks but I am learning some helpful things. I would like to find someone to practice with a bit more between classes.  I need to build up my confidence more with being able to speak the language.  Learning Chinese is so different than learning Spanish.  I think the most helpful part of learning Chinese is mastering the tones.  There are 4 of them and if you use the wrong tone with the wrong letter you won't make much sense!  At this point I don't make much sense anyway so I guess it doesn't matter anyway.  I know a few words and phrases that are helpful but really need to learn more especially with regard to directions and taxi drivers as well as shopping.  I am getting the numbers down a bit more which is helpful.  The man at the little market store in my apartment complex always laughs at me because it takes me forever to figure out what he is saying when he tells me how much my purchase is.  I think it would take several years of intense practice to become really proficient in Chinese.