Or so I thought. The one I attended for two weeks in Shijiazhuang was like an extended party. When you arrive, you can literally do as the clich? goes and stop to smell the roses as there are some growing by the gate of the newly renovated resort. Every morning, I voluntarily woke up at 6:30 to leisurely saunter to the park where I could exercise with the old folks and listen to newfound friends practice the two-stringed violin and sing Beijing opera.
我原本是這麼以為的。兩個星期前我也在石家莊參加了一個訓練營，但那次就像是個延長的派對。到了訓練營，你可以悠然自得地聞一聞門口生長的野花。每天早上，我六點半就起來了，然後在公園裡悠閑地散步。我可以和公園裡的老人聊天練口語，聽一些新結識的朋友拉二胡、唱京劇。
But the greatest bonus of the camp by far is meeting people from all over the world who are just as crazy as you are about studying Chinese. People like Eddie Bruce, the magic carpet driver from the Caribbean who played his guitar during class breaks and who teaches his grandson Chinese calligraphy, passing on his graceful command of the strokes to the next generation of Sino-enthusiasts, and Scott Lewis, who」s aiming to master the six official languages of the United Nations because he dreams of becoming a war reporter someday. It」s discovering that everybody loses all semblance of inhibition during the karaoke nights filled with both outgoing rock star types and shy personalities breaking out of their usual quiet modes.
不過，參加訓練營最大的好處就是結識來自世界各地和你同樣有著中文學習熱情的朋友們。從加勒比海駕著魔毯飛來的艾迪·布魯斯在課間休息的時候會彈吉它，他還教他的小孫子寫大字，一筆一劃地傳授給下一代中國粉絲。斯科特·劉易斯一心要掌握聯合國六種官方語言，因為他的夢想是成為一名戰地記者。在卡拉ok夜，每個人都脫掉了拘謹的偽裝，變成了瘋狂的搖滾巨星，平日羞澀寡言的人在此刻也像是變了一個人。
