I was Culture Yard’s first Mandarin class student. Brendan taught me when the bricks and mortar were not yet finished at the Culture Yard space. In fact, it had not yet officially opened its doors; I had to wait a month after my first class before the ribbon cutting party!

But the masonry dust and cold did not matter. What mattered is that Ilya, the founder of Culture Yard, has a great vision for the space, and he started by treating everyone who is involved in classes, workshops, events and hikes at Culture Yard as members of a big family of cultural exploration. He was eager to invite me to get to know the rest of the Culture Yard staff not just as businesspeople and officers, but as people from different backgrounds - Chinese and laowai - who all have something interesting to share. I am proud to have been a part of that family early on, and I am happy that it has expanded and diversified so rapidly.

The language teachers are excellent. Even though I only took classes two nights a week for about four months, within two months I was really coming along in my Mandarin, and by the end of the course I was able to pick up the rest on the streets, more or less (not that more classes wouldn’t have helped!) Brendan is a fantastic teacher and he was very attentive to making sure I got the basics down to maximize the ease of learning later on. He, like the rest of the Culture Yard family, is positive, encouraging and energetic. I also took a photography workshop with Peter, which was one of the most valuable days I ever spent in Beijing.

In Beijing I had many great friends and plenty of places I loved to hang out. None of them comes close to being “home” like Culture Yard. I enthusiastically recommend it, not just to people who want to take classes, but to travelers and locals who want to find a welcoming and interesting environment. If it’s not yet a Beijing destination, it will be soon.