click here to hear what I was speaking(点此链接听我用英语聊下面的内容)
Last blog I said I didn’t want stay in Auckland with Chinese-speakers around, because I must be lazy to practice English then. At that time I have to decide which area I will be and what kind of life style I want to have this year.
Life style
Living in a development and peaceful city, that is what I need, since several years traveling, I found living in this kind of city makes me comfortable, like Kyoto and Barcelona.
Traveling the whole island around or doing seasonal work is not my purpose. Maybe doing seasonal work is a way of saving more time, since it can get more salary per hours, and then I can use this money to live in a city.
But I want to do some work in a city, then I could be living in a city, talk to citizens, feeling it everyday.
Thinking above, I have two cities to choose, one is Wellington, another is Dunedin. The reason I choose Dunedin at last is funny, just because I take a DJI drone here, and Wellington is too windy to fly it. A lot of backpackers told me Wellington is a wonderful place to live in, so if I have a chance, I’ll go there. Also, Dunedin have a university, I’m preparing doing some interviews to teachers and students.
First touch with English-speakers for me
The first week living in Auckland, we can tell it as No. 0 week, not just like what programmer do, you know they start at 0, not 1, also because this week I didn’t get touch in English-speakers.
In No.1 week, although I worked exchanged in a hostel running by Chinese, I have chance to use English. I am receptions there. Help guests to get a bed or a room, tell them notices. What’s more, They are friendly, and glad to talk with me. I tried to talk to them as much as possible after working.
One of them is a bus driver, his job is taking guests from Auckland to another cities, Dunedin is one of them. He took me to look around, he was born here, his grandma and mother have been worked here. This is an old city, once crowded and busy about one or two hundred years ago. But when the factories move to Asia, North Island, the city become to empty. Houses built then are still perfect.
What you can do for first touch
Living in backpackers hostel in BBH, that’s a good choice. There are backpackers from the whole world, they are easy going, you can talk about traveling, part-time job, interesting, you can share food and so on.
Right now I’m living in Chalet Backpacker Hostel in High Street. The void here is perfect.
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上篇博客说到我不想留在奥克兰说中文, 要思考这一年的生活方式以及哪个城市可以满足.
我想要的生活方式
多年旅游经验, 我在发达但又安静的城市生活, 是最舒服的. 这样就排除了过于热闹的大城市以及无人可聊的乡村. 这样筛选以后,有两个城市可以选择, 一个是惠灵顿, 一个是达尼丁. 而我最后选择达尼丁的理由非常有意思, 我带了大疆无人机过来, 而惠灵顿号称风都, 大疆在那不能起飞. 而达尼丁也有大学, 方便我跟一些创新的人接触.
初进英语圈
在奥克兰的一周也是刚到新西兰的第一周,称它为第 0 周(No.0)吧, 一方面是跟随程序员的习惯, 以 0 开始而不是以 1 开始. 也是因为这一周完全没有与外国人接触到.
第 1 周(No.1)在达尼丁的华人开的 hostel 中打工换宿,接待住宿者时, 还是练了不少英语, 首先是前台必用的英语, 包括安排房间, 告知注意事项,解决一些问题等等. 另外也尽量的与住客聊天, 他们都很友好. 其中以为是巴士司机, 往返奥克兰及其他城市. 他带我和另外一个日本女孩逛了达尼丁的夜景, 并指给我看那些曾经的工厂, 讲述他们的故事. 一百多年前, 这里是最繁华的城市, 而今工厂外迁, 大学入住, 昔日的房屋仍完好无损.
如果是你, 进英语圈的第一步可以这样
找一家 BBH 系统内的旅馆住下吧. 这也是我第 2 周(No. 2)做的事情. 这里有来自世界的背包客, 友好的什么都可以聊, 我每天都找人聊天, 自己的英语进步了一大截.有些很简单的词, 你明明知道, 但是想要脱口而出,就会很困难, 说着说着, 很简单的词都有可能磕巴, 因为脸部肌肉还不习惯, 还有些词, 只有在说的时候你才知道它有多常用. 每次开口说话都是练习和进步.
当然, 也让我知道, 我的英语水平是 friendly, 意思是, 我可以用英语让人感觉到我很友好. 还不能深入的交朋友, 当我跟一个人把我知道怎么用英语表达的内容都说完, 或者渐渐聊的深入的时候, 我的词汇量就明显不够了. 这时我会慢慢沉默, 因此还不能交朋友.
当然友好本身当做敲门砖是够用的. 这也是我喜欢这中平静发达城市的原因, 你可以一直微笑着, 每天每时. 对于职业英语, 也一定需要到具体场合去试炼. 前提是先听一部分, 尝试着自己说, 这样在具体场景中就可以用上.
当然在这里, 我对自己的英语也更有信心了, 原来我已经知道很多的词汇和用法, 语音语调也挺好的, 继续加油吧.
现在住的旅馆在100多年前是一家医院, 现在改造的很温暖呢, 不仅仅是室内温度, 还有快乐的氛围.