Having spent the entire of my holiday playing [and completing] the new Legend of Zelda game, I have woken from my reverie to discover I have under a week left till I return to China. I'm looking forward to going back, of course, though I will miss the comforts of home. And the fact that reality is coming crashing down around my ears all together and all too soon. I haven't even touched the myriad of revision and HSK [lit. Chinese Level Test] books that I brought with me, and I'm probably going to go through a whole new bout of culture shock involving cheese withdrawals and the frustration of forgetting characters I've already learnt as soon as I get back to China. Safe to say my panic-mode has well and truly kicked in, and I'll probably start desperately trailing through my textbooks sometime this weekend.
Like any good student, I've taken up studying whilst watching TV as a way to slowly ease myself back into the process of learning. Turns out copying out characters once learnt is much like riding a bike that you were never really good at riding anyway. So we'll say skiing, for those who can ski. Recalling characters however, is much harder. No matter if it's the simple 是, or the slightly more complex 警察 [jingcha, Police], looks like everything's going to have to be memorised... again.
Don't even get me started on speaking. My mum introduced me to some of her Chinese friends during my holiday period. Honestly it was like a bloody oral test. Though my listening comprehension level never seems to vary, I find that speaking ends up as spluttering syllables with tones that 'feel good' as opposed to 'sound correct'. They were impressed, the Chinese friends I mean. Of course they were. Not to call them easily impressed, but I once saw a group of 30 Chinese people standing around filming 2 dogs shagging in a park. Now think of the effect of my being able to say 'I have been studying Chinese for 2 years' in Chinese would have. Please.
Well, besides downloading all the TV my hard-drive can carry and buying Western products for Western friends in China, it's not like I've got anything else to do in the 4 or 5 days I've got left.
Oh hey, my gameboy! Haven't seen that in a while...
Xxx
Like any good student, I've taken up studying whilst watching TV as a way to slowly ease myself back into the process of learning. Turns out copying out characters once learnt is much like riding a bike that you were never really good at riding anyway. So we'll say skiing, for those who can ski. Recalling characters however, is much harder. No matter if it's the simple 是, or the slightly more complex 警察 [jingcha, Police], looks like everything's going to have to be memorised... again.
Don't even get me started on speaking. My mum introduced me to some of her Chinese friends during my holiday period. Honestly it was like a bloody oral test. Though my listening comprehension level never seems to vary, I find that speaking ends up as spluttering syllables with tones that 'feel good' as opposed to 'sound correct'. They were impressed, the Chinese friends I mean. Of course they were. Not to call them easily impressed, but I once saw a group of 30 Chinese people standing around filming 2 dogs shagging in a park. Now think of the effect of my being able to say 'I have been studying Chinese for 2 years' in Chinese would have. Please.
Well, besides downloading all the TV my hard-drive can carry and buying Western products for Western friends in China, it's not like I've got anything else to do in the 4 or 5 days I've got left.
Oh hey, my gameboy! Haven't seen that in a while...
Xxx
Lols...gonna miss you Edi xx
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