From the category archives:

Chinese Language

Gypsy Cab Lady – You’re The Best!

March 12, 2010

in China, Chinese Language, Linyi

I love my gypsy cab lady!
Everyday she waits outside of my apartment complex for potential customers. She drives a little red four door Chevy Spark, which in my opinion says a lot about her personality. Every time she sees me, she starts waving and laughing and I can’t help but accept her offer of a [...]

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Burst That Language Bubble

September 8, 2009

in China, Chinese Language, Expat Life

China Reflections: The Language Issue
This is really embarrassing to admit, but after four years in China I still speak like a toddler. And not even a really smart toddler. My Mandarin skills are deplorable. Sure, I get by and by that I mean I can tell a taxi driver where to go, answer questions about [...]

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Atherosclerosis

November 11, 2008

in China, Chinese Language, Expat Life, Linyi, Restaurants

I had some coffee the other day at Coffee Language, a restaurant close to People’s Square here in Linyi. I haven’t been there in a long time and they have changed their menu since my last visit. I only wanted coffee, but I decided to have a look at the food just to see what [...]

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Getting the Food You Want

October 2, 2007

in China, Chinese Language, Expat Life, Food

When the DH and I first arrived to China, we lived at the Shijiazhuang airport. Being an airport located in the middle of cornfields, there were not a lot of dining options. We learned to order one dish – yu xiang rou si – and then proceeded to eat it daily. (Both because it was [...]

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Nerd News

September 26, 2007

in Chinese Language, Culture

Excuse me, I’m about to have a huge nerd moment.
Have you ever felt like spending your free time doing some independent university study? Really!? Me too!
The wait is over! Check out MIT’s open courseware. MIT is offering courses for free. Of course, you have to do all the work, but they offer the syllabus, lecture [...]

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Language Moments

November 30, 2006

in Chinese Language, Daily Life

In our quest to learn Mandarin we seem to have overlooked one important phrase – “welcome.”
Like total idiots, for the past year every time we entered a restaurant or store we understood the workers to be saying “Good Morning” at any time of the day. We always thought, how nice! They are really trying to [...]

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