The other day I wrote about Weixin (english name Wechat) the app that lets you chat easily with people in your area. I could go on and on about weixin and how I think it has actually changed the course of my life, but for now I want to relay
Summertime, and the Living is 很容易
It’s been awhile since I’ve talked about learning Chinese, but this semester I feel like I have taken some real leaps. Thanks to a pretty light teaching schedule I was able to attend Chinese class everyday. I finally advanced to level 3 and felt very comfortable in the class and
Jumping on the Skritter App Bandwagon
In the world of learning chinese, there are two big players: ChinesePod and Skritter. ChinesePod handles the listening and speaking part, and Skritter handles the writing part. I’ll admit in the language learning “trifecta” (reading, speaking, writing) I have decided writing is the least important. For awhile I basically ignored
How Filthy is Your Mind? (Reading Cantonese on the Streets)
So you know all those ching chong wing wong jokes we make in America, and also all the “Long Duk Dong” style jokes? (If you don’t know who he is then you are clearly not a child of the 80’s) Well, since moving to China I kinda wondered where they
OMG! I Want to Punch Her and Be Her
One perky little blond girl has been showing up on some of my favorite blogs lately. First at Study More Chinese and then on Lost Laowai. So who is she? Well, her name is Jessica Beinecke but she is better known as Bai Jie the host of OMG! 美语. (OMG!
The Two-Year Hump
Before I came to China people told me there was a 6-month language “hump.” That is, it would take 6 months for Chinese to change from a bat shit crazy collection of sounds (or the “ching-chong-ching” phase as John from Sinosplice calls it) to something that is recognizable as a
School Bells a Clangin'
With 4 months of freedom year, sometimes it’s hard to remember that I came to China to do a job. But the school bells a ringin’ and class started up today. My schedule this year isn’t bad, I requested teaching multiple subjects with my favorite classes so I get to
Get to Know a Chinese Singer: Wang Leehom
As I’ve said before, I’m trying to get to listen to more Chinese singers to practice my listening. The only problem is, cheesy love songs are all the rage here and they are just about my least favorite things to listen to. So I’ve had to dig a little deeper
The Great Wall of Links
I read a lot of different websites related to China and travelers in China and there have been some funny/interesting stuff that I thought you might enjoy. Strange News of the Week – echinacities.com collected some of the more offbeat stories of the week and put them all together in