hello!
posting on this blog has been scarce, and gently replaced by other tasks… here’s a bit of what has been going on:
– i’ve been keeping things running more or less at anita na china and hanzillion, while studying chinese and learning new characters like a mad woman. i’ve finished my first textbook and we’re moving on to a harder one, which uses characters all the way for the texts and exercises. it feels really good to read them now, in full sentences! but i am still too shy to strike up conversations in the street, on the elevator or even with our ayi… which is slowing my learning process a lot, says my teacher. i have to agree, things would go faster if i made the effort to use the language i am learning – must work on that.
– meanwhile, i’ve discovered the wonders of taobao, the chinese ebay site, on which i am now completely hooked. it feels like an online version of my dearly missed mama mini, a shop where you can find the most amazing treasures or everyday items for a small percentage of the price. oh! and all with the chinese convenience of things being delivered to your doorstep on 24 hours, for one euro. :) it’s perfect, and it’s working as a big chinese learning motivator.
– after considering guilin, sanya and thailand, we’ve set or heads on malaysia! we’ve been planning a trip to redang island, which will include lots of sun, sandy white beaches, coral reefs (and some sharks!), blue turquoise sea and snorkeling every day. looking forward to escaping shanghai for a while, especially now that the much dreaded steamy summer season seems to be here to stay, with 30ºC temperatures already!
– i’ve been fighting distractions… and headaches. daily headaches and some dizziness that sent me to the nearest pharmacy, to get checked on my blood pressure. “too high!”, said my mom on the phone. so we’ve been reducing the caffeine & salt intakes to nearly 0. not as hard as i thought it would be. the headaches persisted for a while (lack of caffeine?) but now they are gone and that also seems to be the case with my caffeine dependency too (not that i was that dependent). so how about that? a blog called meia de leite (café latte) written by someone who doesn’t drink coffee anymore! :P
5 replies on “so… yeah… and it’s all true!”
Thanks for the news ! And glad to know you’re doing well. Congratulations for your efforts in learning chinese, I am now feeling a bit guilty because of my lack of efforts in finnish… I’ll try to follow your example !
hey! did i read it correct? you’re coming down to malaysia? and redang island! i havent been there myself. but been in someother island already which is not bad either! and OH gotta love snorkeling and playing with fish underneath the sea! i believe you’ll have lots of fun there. p.s. i dont love sun though haha it’s not fun at all to get all sunburned! :p
hey nathalie!
well, you did much better than me at learning dutch! i am still embarrassed that i didn’t learn any dutch for a full year, so now i’m taking my revenge on chinese! :P
hey imajica!
that’s right, we’re going to malaysia! we bought the ticket yesterday and we’re super excited. as europeans, we love the sun and getting sun tanned on the beach, so we’re really looking forward to it!
so exciting!
that’s so cool! hope you enjoy your holidays! :D
and yeah, sometimes not blogging so often is a good sign. same here with me ;) glad to see you’re full of projects, as usual.