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 …
Tag: Chinese
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 …
Home at last
I returned home at the end of June. It was nice to leave the heat of Beijing, and the weather in recent weeks in the UK has been pretty good. Before I depart to Scotland for a week’s holiday, a friend (in China) asked for an update on life back in Blighty. Brexit has been …
Can you give me an example?
My Chinese classes have recently become a lot harder. We have been focusing on more nuances of grammar, which I guess is good, because it means I am advancing, but it is also more difficult and confusing. For example, in my last class, we looked at gǎi 改, huàn 换, and biànhuà 变化. They are …
Harder than it looks
I bought a ticket for the cinema yesterday. That’s not overly surprising, since I watch films a lot. But I bought it online and collected it from the ticket machine, which was only in Chinese. It took me a couple of tries, hitting the back and delete buttons, before I finally got it. Avengers: Infinity …
Saying hello
I eat most of my meals in the cafeteria on the university campus where I live (and when I teach, at the other campus). Sometimes, I recognise the food and can say what I want in Chinese; when I don’t, I just point and say 这个 zhège (this one). I often take some Tupperware with …
