Sorry for not updating this thing for two weeks; I've been lazy. So this time you get three posts, all written at different times. I didn't really want to make the effort to upload the pictures, but Jia has nothing better to do than read my blog. (She's in Kentucky. Pity her.) Anyway!
1. Yale's Chinese program isn't amazing. Sorry, Light - you might even already know that, as you're sending us to other schools' programs. But anyway, the Princeton students who are at my equivalent level know so much more than I do. Dear god, this is hard. Thankfully, as Yale takes this as a pass/fail grade and I probably won't apply for credit anyway, I have been able to customize my curriculum and focus on learning vocabulary instead of writing. They really know how to run a language program here, with a lot of one-on-one time that has improved every facet of my Chinese.
2. Speaking of improvement, a teacher told me today that I was pronouncing about a third of the Chinese language incorrectly. SO looking forward to correcting 18 years of bad habits.
3. I also discovered that I was using an extremely inefficient method to learn how to write characters. I decided to try a new method here, and it has been working pretty well. I don't know whether I should feel good about myself or feel stupid for wasting about 500 hours last year.
4. Princeton girls are ugly. I have to go clubbing with Matt this weekend.
5. Alcohol is too cheap here. What's that, a bottle of rice wine is the equivalent of 66 cents? Let me see if I have enough change on me. (Disclaimer: a Heineken is like 10 bucks.)
6. Chinese is sooooo hard.
7. Listening to music with English lyrics screws with your Chinese learning ability. Romanian music (I don't know either) might work, or string quartet tributes might do it for you. Me, being Asian, didn't really like those, so I started listening to techno. I never used to like it, but it makes for great background music.
8. When you take a language pledge to not speak any English for eight weeks, it helps immensely to learn some Chinese curses. Favorites:
烂屄 - "rotten cunt"
公共汽车 - "public bus" (for the more...friendly girls out there. "Everyone gets a ride.")
9. Speaking of friendly girls, apparently there are widespread cases of girls coming up to you in clubs and, without any kind of action on your part, will start dancing with you. (This may be an indication of how bad Chinese males' game is. The girls do the initiating.) Wait, it gets better - then she'll want to hook up and take you home. So you guys leave, and she insists that you go to her place. She takes you up to her pitch-black apartment (or a dark alley), and two huge guys jump out, kick your ass, take your money, swipe your credit card on a machine to get your information, and leave you in a puddle. (This is, thankfully, a lesson that I did not have to experience for myself.)
10. Saying, "Can you introduce me to some Chinese snacks? I don't really know what tastes good. Do you know?" to a not-so-skinny convenience store attendant could be a mistake.
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3 comments:
make sure you dont' sleep with a whore, son. you're not welcome back into the family is you have herpes.
if you get syphilis or chlamydia, please get it treated before you come back. we operate on a don't ask don't tell policy.
I just posted this on my friend's blog, but it applies again.
The root problem with reading your blog in a public place (e.g. internet cafe) is that people tend to look at you like you're crazy when you laugh out loud.
It's John Song btdubs
and DOOD you totally have to a) hook me up with newfound game to get girls to just come up to you and lead you to a mugging and b) tell me your newfound efficient way of learning chinese characters. I'm thinking about taking the plunge and choking down the large stick that is L5 Chinese
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