好久没有用中文来写。现在放假，同学们都走了，留下我一个人。我来北京五个月了，天天都上课我的汉语水平提高了不少。我因为期末考试考得不错，所以可以跳班了。如果我跳班我会觉得难一点，可是那样我的进步会更大。这是学习的事情，当然还发生了很多其它事，所以我想写下一些我的经历。

我对北京的生活早就习惯了。空气污染、危险的交通、难吃的面包，在北京遇到这些困难，不过好东西还很多。我特别喜欢的是中国菜，又便宜又好吃！瑞典饭店的菜差不多都有肉所以我很少去，可是在这儿大多数饭店有好吃的素菜。我最喜欢的一些菜是家常豆腐、香辣土豆丝、鱼香茄子、炒面、老醋花生米等等。

北京菜好吃，可是我不喜欢北京的面包。在瑞典面包外面硬、里面软。在中国呢？面包的外面和里面都软！包装上印着“有牛奶！”，可能这是主要原因之一。一般面包不应该有牛奶，我不知道为什么中国人喜欢这种面包。我很想念瑞典的。

中国的谦逊很有意思。这个“哪里”听起来很假的，但我被影响了。有人夸奖我的汉语时我一般说“还差得远呢”，可是我有时候感到不舒服，什么也说不了。有一次一个瑞典人夸奖我，我一下子回答“不是，我没有什么”。以后我就觉得很奇怪，在瑞典说谢谢就行了，说“我没有什么”太谦逊，其实有点不礼貌。

我最快乐的事是私事，不过现在我想让大家知道。我来北京以后很快就爱上了一个天使。她是我的同学，又聪明又漂亮。去香山、做面食、看黄金甲、过圣诞节都是跟她一起的。我们已经在一起四个月了，能当她的男朋友我非常自豪。现在她回越南去了，我当然很想她。我不应该写下来一封情书，我只想说：清娥，我爱你！ Thiên sứ, anh yêu em!

My classmates have all gone home over the holiday, leaving me alone in Beijing. I’ve been here for five months now, attending class every day, so my Mandarin has improved quite a bit. I did well on the final exams so if I want to I can jump up a level. It will get harder if I do, but that way I would be able to improve even more. These are school matters, there have been a lot of other things happening too of course and I’d like to write down a few of my experiences.

It didn’t take long to get accustomed to life in Beijing. Air pollution, dangerous traffic and bad bread, these are a few of Beijing’s downsides, but the positives outweigh the negatives. I especially like Beijing food, it’s both inexpensive and tasty. I very seldom eat out in Sweden, since as good as all dishes have meat. Here however, most restaurants have good vegan food. My favorites include jiachang tofu, fried thin potato strips, sweet & spicy eggplant, fried noodles and peanuts in rice vinegar.

Beijing food may be good, but I do not like the bread. In Sweden bread is hard on the outside and soft on the inside. Here, however, it’s soft inside and out! The packaging says “CONTAINS MILK!” and perhaps this is one of the main causes. Bread shouldn’t generally have milk, I don’t know why the Chinese like this kind of bread. I really miss Swedish bread.

Chinese modesty is very interesting. The standard reply to praise, “where do you get that?” (literally “where?”), sounds very put on, but I’ve also been influenced by it. If someone praises my Mandarin I usually reply “it’s still far from good”, although sometimes I’m too uncomfortable to say anything at all. A while ago a Swedish person complimented me and I instantly replied “oh no, I’m nothing”. Afterwards I thought that was very strange as in Sweden saying “thank you” suffices. Saying “I’m nothing” is too modest, even a bit impolite.

The most joyous matter is a private one, but at this point I’d like the world to know. After arriving in Beijing I very soon fell in love with an angel. She is my classmate and is as intelligent as she is pretty. Going to Fragrant Hills, making pasta, watching Curse of the Golden Flower, celebrating Christmas, we did all of that together. We’ve been together for four months now and I am very proud to be her boyfriend. She’s gone home to Vietnam now, so obviously I miss her a lot. I don’t mean to write a whole love letter, I just want to say: Nga, I love you! Em đẹp lắm, anh yêu em!