<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-3557" title="SAM_1796-225x300" src="http://ltl-chinois.fr/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/SAM_1796-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" />On Sunday the 15<sup>th</sup> of January the LtL Chinese teaching crew decided to hit the slopes before a short break for Chinese New Year. We left early for a whole day of skiing at Nanshan (南山); the closest ski resort to Beijing (a short hour and fifteen minute drive from the city centre). On board we played numerous games of ‘Killer’ (杀人游戏), which I am slowly learning is a staple of Chinese get-togethers. I found myself deliberating over every word and sentence I used in fear of being ‘off-ed’ by the very enthusiastic yet unforgiving jury. A great game for practicing being precise with words in Chinese![hr style=dotted-line margin_top=20 margin_bottom=20]

After getting kitted up and preparing ourselves against the cold our instructor (教练) helped us stretch and taught us the essentials , most importantly how to stop, before unleashing us upon the other skiers. Some of us took to it better than others (check <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.269499016448892.68001.142237312508397&amp;type=3">Facebook</a> for some pictures of everyone in the snow!) and by the end of the day some of our teachers were going down the middle slopes. We all skied for 4 hours straight and I think it is safe to say that everyone was feeling it afterwards. Our apologies to all students who had classes on Monday morning if your teacher moved a little slowly!

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<img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-3558" title="SAM_1808-300x225" src="http://ltl-chinois.fr/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/SAM_1808-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" />On our way back to the city centre we once again played 杀人游戏 with the same intensity as before skiing even after 4 hours of trudging up hills and falling down them. We all had dinner (traditional Chinese all you can eat pizza buffet) and customarily ended up in KTV where the teachers astounded us with their singing (in both Chinese and English might I add) and where Mike entertained everyone with his repertoire of Chinese songs. All in all, a great day out- everyone had fun and fortunately for our students we didn’t lose any teachers to skiing accidents!
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<strong>Useful Vocabulary</strong>:

Snow: 雪 (Xuě)

Skiing: 滑雪 (Huáxuě)

Frostbite: 冻伤 (Dòngshāng)

‘Killer’ (Game): 杀人游戏 (Shārén yóuxì)

Sports instructor/trainer: 教练 (Jiàoliàn)

Pizza: 披萨 (Pī sà)

Chinese song: 中文歌 (Zhōngwén gē)

[This story was contributed by LTL staff member Daniel Greeves]