Reflections| 3 things to learn by turning cities into classrooms
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If you ask many people what image comes to mind when they hear the word “classroom”, most of them will probably think of an image like the one below.
如果你问人们，当听到“教室”这个词时会联想到什么，大部分人会想到如下场景。
Very few people will think of a city as a classroom and yet we have so many things to learn from our cities.
It doesn’t matter if we have been living in the same city for many years or we have just moved in a new city.
Cities will influence us in many ways, but it is a matter of choice if we actively turn our cities into learning environments and use them towards our growth or we choose to remain oblivious to this influence.
很少会有人联想到一座城市，从我们所在的城市却可以学到很多。
城市会从很多方面影响着我们，无论你是否在一座城市住了很多年还是刚刚搬到这里。
所在城市对我们的影响取决于我们的选择：主动将所在的城市转变成一个学习环境从而去促进自身成长，还是选择忽略这个机会。
In reality there are many things that we can learn, but for article length considerations, I will only share 3.
事实上我们可以从所在的城市学习到很多很多，但是出于篇幅的考虑，在这里我主要谈如下三点：
01
Whether we want to believe it or not, the cities we were born in will influence our personalities to a higher extent than we think.
In my case, I was born and raised in Tulcea, a city near the Danube Delta and the Black Sea.
Due to its geographical location, the city has the highest number of ethnic groups across Romania and every year this diversity is celebrated through many festivals.
However, it was only when I started travelling to many other places that I realized that such openness to diversity is not as common as I thought.
As a matter of fact, there are many fights and even wars due to ethnic differences.
不管你是否相信，我们出生的城市对我们个性的影响远远超出我们的想象。
以我为例：我出生长大在图尔恰，一座靠近多瑙河三角洲和黑海的城市。
由于特殊的地理位置，她是在罗马尼亚民族种类最多的城市。
每一年，这一多样性都会通过很多节日得以庆祝。
然而直到旅行到其他地方，我才知道这种对多样性的开放不像我之前认为的那样普遍。
事实上有很多的斗争甚至战争都起因于种族差异。
You may wonder what does this have to do with my personality.
First of all, because I was born and raised in a city celebrating diversity, I have a very open personality and strongly believe that differences are beautiful.
Creativity and innovation lie in diversity.
Second of all, diversity is so deep ingrained in my personality, that everything I do takes diversity into account.
The educational framework I created takes into account diversity in delivery methods, meaning that there are multiple ways to learn the same concepts depending on personal learning styles.
The decentralized “network of classrooms” school concept that I run focuses on getting people from diverse backgrounds in the same room to create more dialog opportunities and promote mutual understanding etc.
Here's an introductory video for a better idea.
以下跟大家分享一部简介视频。
Bonus | 小彩蛋
Here are some examples of songs I like to listen for you to have an idea. 跟大家分享我很喜欢的不同音乐风格混合曲子。
Classical, electronic, rock, rap mix
古典，电音，摇滚，说唱混合
Electronic, rap mix
电音，说唱混合
However, I was only able to realize these things by living in other cities than the one I was born in and observing the people and the lifestyle there.
Being away from family and one's hometown is actually a good opportunity to discover more about how your own growing-up environment has influenced you.
For more information about how cities influence our personalities, welcome to read here.
02
Many people are amazed at my fast progress in Chinese language.
Their first instinct is to say that I have talent for languages, but actually that’s not the case.
In the video below I talk about my Chinese learning process in Chinese, for some idea of my Chinese level.
在下面的视频里用中文跟大家讲我学习中文的故事，以便大家更了解我的中文水平和故事。
My Chinese learning started from curiosity.
When I first came to China in 2012, I was curious to know what people say in a language that I completely didn’t understand, to know how one can communicate just through pictures (i.e. characters).
I was also curious to know what will happen if I start actively listening to Chinese language every chance I get.
It is this curiosity that led me to turn myself into an experiment and start watching Chinese movies, listening to Chinese podcasts, to people just talking on the street.
It also led me to start learning characters from all the street signs that I would find on my way to work and back.
I literally turned the city into my classroom, the street signs and advertising billboards into my blackboard and everything around me into a learning material.
I would listen to Chinese language while walking on the street or even before going to bed.
As a matter of fact, I fell asleep many times with Chinese songs or podcasts in my ears.
The result of these endeavors was that I nearly got refused to attend a Chinese language class during my Master studies in the UK.
The reason given was that I was much too advanced for the level of that course.
I had to beg the teacher to allow me to take the course, as I had no idea of what that “advanced” level meant.
The point is that I had learnt a lot from just turning the city I was living in into a classroom, even if I wasn't aware of exactly how much.
You may think that if you are a Chinese national living in China, you won’t be able to do the same for learning English for example.
But that’s not entirely true.
One thing that you can do is to pay attention to all the Chinglish signs available all around and try to provide a correct translation in your mind.
You may also just listen to English podcasts or songs whenever you walk on the street, or go to a cinema to watch an English movie every chance you get.
The point is that learning opportunities are all over the place.
You just need to want to see them and take advantage of them.
你也许会想上述方法作为一个住在中国的中国人，用在学习英语上是行不通的。
但这并不完全正确。
有很多你可以做的事情，比如，你可以专注于你周围可见的那些“中式英文”标识，然后在你的大脑中给出正确的翻译。
你可以在走路的时候听英文广播、英文歌，有时间就去电影院看英文电影。
重点是：到处都是学习机会，你需要的仅仅是去看、去利用它们。
03
You may wonder how can cities teach you to be empathetic, but it’s actually very easy.
A simple stroll through any city can turn into a study trip.
You just need to look carefully to the surroundings in which you are, as well as how different people behave and try to guess the reason, but without judging, of course.
你也许会纳闷，城市怎么会教给人同情心，但是这其实非常容易。
在城市中简单的闲逛便可开启学习之旅。
你只需认真地去看你所在的周边环境，观察人们的行为差异，然后去猜测原因，当然不要进行评判。
For example, you may look at the windows of the many apartment buildings in the city and observe how they look like.
Some are very messy, some are very clean, some have many toys, but no matter how they look like, they can tell you a lot about the personalities of the people living inside.
Through the stroll, you may also carefully look at the buildings you come across and try to understand their history.
Try to imagine how the lives of the people who used to live and/or work there were.
Imagine what kind of life you would have had if you were one of the people living or working there.
As a matter of fact, buildings can tell us a lot of things, if we just take the time to observe and think about them.
例如，你可以去看自己所在城市住宅楼的窗户，去观察他们看起来怎么样，这些窗户可以告诉你住在里面的人们的性格。
通过闲逛，也可以仔细地观察你经过的那些建筑，去了解他们的历史，去想象那些曾经在这里住或者工作的人的生活是怎样的。
并且，还可以去想象，如果你是其中的一员，你会过着一种怎样的生活，跟你现在过的生活的不同在哪里。
事实上，如果我们能花时间去观察我们所在的城市并思考，从城市里的建筑和人们能学到的事情很多。
Growth | 成长
With the new Covid outbreak, and many people not being able to go back home, rather than being sad about it, how about using the opportunity to turn this experience into a learning one?
Of course, it is normal to be sad that one can’t go back home to spend time with family or travel in general.
But being too sad about it will not change anything.
Thinking all the time negatively will only make you feel more depressed.
随着近期疫情带来的限制，很多人不能回老家过年。
与其为此伤心难过，不如利用这个机会去体验一次这种学习之旅？
当然，不能和家人团聚或者出门旅行，感到扫兴是很正常的，然而只是一味地去难过是毫无意义的。
悲观消极只会让你更沮丧。
Regardless of where you are, take the days during the Chinese New Year to explore the city you are in.
Whether you try to understand how the city you were born in has influenced your personality, or you just walk around trying to understand how other people live, enhancing your empathy levels, it will definitely be a great learning experience.
Take pictures, take notes, draw, reflect on the many things that have happened and what are some positive things that came out from not being able to go back home.
Being able to be a visitor in the city you live in, or having more time to watch a movie that you wanted to watch for a long time, or read a book are all great learning opportunities.
在任何一座城市，利用春节假期出门去探索你所在的城市是很好的学习机会，无论是反思自己出生的城市是怎样影响你的个性的；或者只是走一走，通过观察其他人的生活来增强你的同理心。
你可以通过拍照、写笔记、画画等形式来表现发生的事情，以及不能回家其实有哪些积极的方面。
做你所在城市的访客，花更多时间去看你一直想看的电影，读一本书都是很棒的学习机会。
Below is a short video to show you how to create a note.
为了方便操作，欢迎你使用微信里的笔记功能记录你的探索。
请看下面操作方式。
Further Inspiration | 额外灵感
If you are in search of inspiration, or just want to meet more like-minded friends, you are also welcome to scan the below QR Code and enter our designated WeChat group.
如果你在寻找激励和灵感，或者只是想遇到更多志同道合的朋友，也欢迎你扫下面的二维码加入我们的专属微信群。
若无法进群，请加微信：tmshijie.
我们热烈邀请大家把自己写的笔记发送到微信群里。我们将收集尽可能多的文章并做一次推送，以推进积极的思维模式。
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