seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Ukraine
seen from United States
seen from Switzerland
seen from Austria
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Guatemala
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Norway
seen from China
seen from Japan
60 DAYS OF 汉语 // 2017 年 6 月 6 日
Spot the 熊猫 🐼！
This is my planner! I usually jot down day-to-day stuff, because I’m doing so many new things and visiting so many new places, and it is useful for keeping all my tickets and leaflets in the same place. For general to-do lists, I use post-it notes and them stick them in the journal, near the corresponding week.
60 DAYS OF 汉语 // 2017 年 5 月 23 日
I’ve been writing hànzì over and over for what seems like forever! You should write Chinese characters using a specific stroke-order (left to right, top to bottom) and I find this helps with memorising. However, there are some characters I remember simply because they look (a little bit) like what they represent. For example, diànnǎo 电脑, which means computer. I think the second character looks a standing computer hard drive and a computer screen. Similarly, zhíyuán 职员, which means office worker, kinda looks like a filing cabinet, a water cooler, and a little guy in a tie. So logical.
60 DAYS OF 汉语 // 2017 年 7 月 10 日 // 北京
On my last day, I visited the Pangjiayuan antiques market, and bought some souvenirs and gifts for my family, including a little red book of Maoisms. Here’s my journal complete with all the tickets from my sightseeing trips.
In terms of language, I didn’t have to use Pleco once while I was there! The sellers at the market told me I had good Chinese, and I argued with a taxi driver who had shortchanged me, and won! I was also able to hold a conversation with a taxi driver back in Chongqing, so I’m pretty happy with my progress!
For more information about my trip, please read my main travel blog.
31 DAYS OF 复习 // 2017 年 6 月 29 日
Revising for my speaking exam today! Just writing possible questions and answers down in pīnyīn, because I need to focus on tones and pronunciation.
60 DAYS OF 汉语 // 2017 年 6 月 28 日
I can’t believe I’ve only got two weeks left in China! I am so excited to finish my final exams and go to Beijing for a sight-seeing trip before I catch my flight home. I really, really miss cheese.
31 DAYS OF 复习 // AN UPDATE!
I finally got around to checking out my results: in 听力课 (listening) I got 91, in 综合科 (comprehension) 94, and 口语课 (speaking) 96. I am really proud with my results and ready to start my new course of lessons at my local language school. I miss China a lot though and still find it strange to hear English everywhere now that I’m back.
I also started my new internship this week at a development consultancy firm - we bid for and create methodologies for development projects that are offered by the European Commission and the Department for International Development, for example. We also do work with the Asian Development Bank, so hopefully I’ll be able to use my Chinese!
31 DAYS OF 复习 // 2017 年 6 月 27 日
Going over some 汉字. Black is read and understood, pink is not understood, red is the English. My notebook also has corresponding grammar notes for each chapter.
60 DAYS OF 汉语 // 2017 年 7 月 8 日 // 北京
I visited the Great Wall of China, which was incredible! Our hostel organises trips to the Mutianyu section, which was less crowded. The trip included breakfast, lunch, transport, and entry ticket. It cost extra for a cable car ride to the top, and a toboggan ride down the mountain. 100% would recommend.
