Beginning the fourth week of studies at this university setting is a moment I’m viewing. My entire brain is inside-out. Grammar-wise that is. I’m putting the verbs later, stopping the use of the word ‘do’ and putting time up front. My mental reflexes aren’t all that are being reshaped. . . My physical experience of trying to learn to write is a new and different thing. The homework that’s being handed to me includes regular lists of 25-40 words that…
Xianzai, I wanna think in Chinese. . . The Chinese known as Hanyu, Putong Hua, or Mandarin, depending on your perspective. It’s all the same language, and it’s why I’m not in a paid position this year, to study this language with many names. At the same time, I’m picking up Guangdong Hua, AKA Cantonese, in little bits, so that I can hopefully blend in with the local folks a bit more, communicate with my girlfriend’s family (they aren’t all…
~ Three Burns, three 10 Principles events, three Regionals; in two and a half months… This is truly a first for me. *Many of the photos in this are from others, shared via WeChat in groups. As such, attribution is unknown for some of them, though a few were by me. Doesn’t matter. No money here. Hah! (But if you know whose they are let me know. And if you would like to have a photo removed, also speak up….
~This is an “I’m sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written” note. . . But check this out~ Between one trip to Beijing, three trips to Shanghai, the festival in the mountains at which I was a guest of honor on a yellow tea mountain, and planning for this year’s Dragon Burn, at which I’ll be a newcomer and excited as a bun in an oven to be there, I’ve had less free-time than normal since I got back…
Learning the language here is interesting. It uses the brain in a new way. I’m realizing that it’s as much muscle memory for the spoken factor as it is like decoding a not-so-hidden cypher that ties itself up in complexity in order to create a labyrinth of the mind that is available for deciphering and making it through, for those who are able to give it enough time and attention. To get better with the language is something that I…
I figured out why I’m having a tough time writing in this blog. I’m trying to over-think it all. That, and November was a horrible month. I’ve been trying to figure out if there’s a narrative that I need to be able to name, something of a theme that I can offer, something like Keeping Goats. Honestly, while I love the idea of being able to tell you about what I’m going to be writing about, I don’t know. Life…
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