Tag Archives: mandarin
The Open-Door Policy
Long before I came to China, I saw pictures of the old-fashioned Chinese homes. I loved the semi-enclosed porches, roofed patios, open-air stairs… like the kind you kind in Beihai Park. I loved that the distinction between inside and outside … Continue reading
Non-Standard
I asked my TA a Chinese-language question this morning, and she managed to suppress her laughter long enough to answer me. My Chinese is pretty bad, the tones trip me up, and also I learned to speak in Yantai, and … Continue reading
Teaching Little Ones
My first two days of classes were great, but also overwhelming. I have 6 classes of 25ish kindergartners per day. Fortunately I only work 3 days a week, oddly enough it’s Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, which were the days I … Continue reading
Mandarin Again
So far, Beijing still feels like Wonkaland, but I kind of love being in Wonkaland. I’m having huge issues with the language, though. Since this summer, I’ve been doing ChinesePod lessons, which I would totally recommend to anyone trying to … Continue reading
Meg vs. Mandarin, again.
Yesterday I started taking a beginning Chinese class. I’d forgotten how much better I liked my life without anyone saying “no, no, is zh not zh“. At least the prof doesn’t giggle when she says it. She has the same … Continue reading
Ara Pacis Day
We went to the Ara Pacis today. I love the Ara Pacis. (Zorro, if you turn on my computer, that’s my background) My Roman history is the Julio-Claudians with some Livy stuff before and some Constantine stuff after. If Robert … Continue reading
Big Mountain
It seems that all expats in China all have something in common. It’s not just our supply of Purell, or our shared lust of bread and cheese, there’s also the group hatred of Da Shan. Da Shan / Mark Roswell … Continue reading
It’s All True
I wrote this a few days ago but I made it sticky to faciliate the flame war make it easier for folks coming over from Sinosplice. One thing that about learning Chinese that makes me crazy is that there seems … Continue reading
Lost In Translation
The other day, I picked up the first season of Lost at my local DVD shop. I watched it in Mandarin with English subtitles. Sometimes I do that to improve my comprehension, it’s very passive learning but it does help … Continue reading
Six Weeks Left In China
I love Yantai with the part of my heart that’s not full of the love-hate expats have for China. It’s hard to fully love a places in which all travel involves dealing with an Mandarin-speaking Whitmore. Here, I’m a G-rated … Continue reading
