Having lived, worked and travelled abroad for the past few years, my passport has many visas, resident permits and stamps in it. Before I went to China, I took some evening classes in Mandarin Chinese, and continued (or rather restarted) studying it in China. I started to learn it when I was in graduate school.…
Chinese
The end is nigh
As the end is nigh, and I only have a handful of classes left, I have been wrapping up my lessons. In my culture course, for instance, I recently had the students discuss what they had learnt from the course and if anything had surprised them. Several things stood out. Firstly, in one class a…
And then there were two…
I had a message recently from the liaison teacher at the university where I work. Given that the semester had finished already, it was a little strange (although last year she messaged me when I was at the airport, ready to depart on my winter travels, to ask if I could cover for another teacher…
The mystery of the missing glove
Since joining the gym, I have been going often. The other day, I arrived and went to the changing rooms to change. It has turned quite cold recently, so I was wearing some gloves. The changing room is small, with a stool in the corner and nothing else. I started to get changed and sort…
I finally did it!
I finally did it! Now I have joined the gym. An ex-colleague had asked me about whether I knew of any gyms in the area, and a former student of mine had mentioned one which was about 10 to 15 minutes away from the main entrance of the university. It is also 24 hours and…
I finally took the leap
I finally took the leap. I did it. No, not join the gym, I still have to do that. Rather, I signed up for another Chinese class during the week. This one will be on Tuesday evenings, 17:00-19:00. I will do it online – from my room at university. I work on a Tuesday until…