Attack of the New Leaf

Having decided that last semester was largely wasted and much more Chinese could have been learnt through better employment of our time, we, as a group of three [but mainly me and Holly], decided to turn over a New Leaf. Note the capitalisation. This proverbial New Leaf includes such additions as All-Chinese Wednesdays, where we speak Chinese even at home, and such subtractions as western television. It's actually going well so far [baring in mind it's the second week of term]: I've successfully made and stuck to a new timetable, making my working day essentially 8-till-8; found and begun watching semi-OK Chinese programs; and going to bed super early whilst going out less on the weekends. It all sounds wonderful.

This preamble, however, leads me to my material point and the crux of this post: Can you be too hard-working, and therefore over-productive? The answer, of course, is yes, you can. I know this because at exactly 16:21 this afternoon (GMT +8:00) I ran out of things to do. I can hear you, though, protesting, clamouring to tell me that when learning a language such as Chinese there's always something to do. Read a book, practice some characters, watch some tv, translate some song lyrics, preview the next 42 lessons. There are two things wrong with the point you're trying to make.

First of all, you have mistaken this post for some sort of discussion or debate. It's not. It is, in fact, me forcing my opinion on to you. So shut up and read.

Second of all, I've actually already done most of these things - being one of those people who puts doing and being above and beyond at the top of her list, I've even marked all the tones on the characters for lessons we have yet to come to. But, if I preview any more lessons, I won't actually understand what I'm reading; if I read any more  'above my level' Chinese my head might just fall off; if I practice any more of the same characters, they'll be etched into my eyeballs for eternity; if I watch any more tv, I'll finish the good series too quickly and have to move onto the truly terrible ones all too soon; if I listen to any more Chinese music, I'll just throw up. And so herein lies the problem.

Why not do some other timetabled activities, like Dissertation reading perhaps, or maybe some light post-graduate research? BECAUSE IT'S A SCHEDULE AND YOU CAN'T DEVIATE FROM THE SCHEDULE. Hmph. It's OK. I'm sure my HSK [Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi - Chinese Level Test] book gets more interesting the more you read it...

Xx

News and Culture: A Place to Work

Back in the land of the Starbucks and the home of the small, private-owned cafe, finding a place to study in peace is a easy as leaving your house, spinning round in a circle and walking straight for 10 yards in whatever direction you're facing. As westerners we love studying outside of our own residences. Whether in the oppressive silence of the Library or the twats-with-ipads filled chain coffee shops, towns and cities are filled with places to suit your needs, from a socket for your charger to some afternoon Norah Jones.You may be thinking how's she going to make a post that's essentially about a good cup of coffee and a cosy chair into a 'cultural' discussion, but bare with me, there is some relevance.

The Chinese, however, don't seem to have caught on to this happy phenomenon of studying away from the bedroom/living-room/bed/kitchen table. I've never seen a Chinese student bending over textbooks in local Amici cafe, and the waiting staff all look slightly curious when you sit down at 11, spread yourself out and set up for the afternoon. This is probably because, overall, it's not all that easy to find a good place to study, at least in Dalian. I'll give you some examples to illustrate my point.

The afore mentioned Amici is probably one of the only 'ok' places, but is unhappily well-known amongst foreigners, of which there are about 13 in Dalian, and so you're very likely to walk in and recognise pretty much everyone there - not the ideal study environment. It doesn't help the the coffee and music are below-par too. There are also Starbucks and Costas around town, a nice blast to the past and very rarely filled with westerners. What they are filled with however is a lot of loud-talking, cigarette-smoking Chinese people. Even having gotten used to this, one then has to adapt to the Chinese take on 'atmosphere' which usually means dim-lighting and too-loud 80's hits. Added to this multitude of complaints is the lack of toilets, even in these western style cafes. Having to run to the nearest McDonalds every 2 hours isn't ideal, and therefore rules out half the cafes in Dalian.

Of course, there are some places that are perfect. Unfortunately, they're either quite expensive [3 or 4 pounds for a cuppa] or already 'belong' to someone. I'm a great believer in personal space, and also tend to be easily distracted, and so finding my own place is of great concern. I would, of course, just stay at home, if my bed weren't there, or just go to the library, if it weren't literally the most depressing place in the world. So the search is well under-way for a perfect place this semester. First on the list is the well-known but little visited Central Perk cafe. Yes, it is in immitation of 'Friends' eternal meeting place. No, it's nowhere near as good, but as good as the Chinese version was ever going to be. Yes, they do play 'The best of the Noughties' on repeat, but I brought my own ipod as a contingency. So far, so good I would say. The big-screen showing of series 6 of 'Friends' is slightly distracting, but at least it's on mute.

Xx