Entering the seventh week of the summer program, the end is now in sight.  It is sometimes hard not to lose focus a bit when studying.  However, there is still a lot more ground to cover. 

By now I truly feel able to communicate with native speakers at a fairly high level.  I guess the term I would use would be “adaptability.”  I am able to enter conversation on almost any topic, and at least hold my ground.  This is comforting, for I no longer feel as lost as I once did walking the streets of Beijing.  It is similar to sports; the game has slowed down.  It is getting much easier to understand the accents and quicker pace of speaking. 

This past weekend, our summer program went to a Chinese movie theatre to watch a movie entirely in Chinese.  Because it did not have subtitles, it truly was a test of our progress.  I was excited to find I kept pace with the plot of the movie, and by the end understood almost the entirety of the dialogue.  It really was a fun assurance of the progress I have made so far.