Always Connected
Homesickness has not been a major concern and I think technology is somewhat responsible for that. In just twenty years, we've gone from post cards and scarce phone calls to so much more. Thanks to the internet, I can now make phone calls for pennies a minute anywhere in the world. At my disposal for free there is video chat, email and instant message. I feel that China would be a much more different experience if such devices did not exist. I'm not sure whether to classify the difference as positive or negative. On one hand there's the fact that I wouldn't get to talk to anyone regularly from the United States. On the other though, the immersion into Chinese culture and language would be so much greater. It is hard though because there is only so much Chinese I can digest before I need an outlet for English. Hopefully with passing of time, my knowledge of the Chinese language will grow enough so that I will not need to retreat so much.
Building a Bridge Over the Language Barrier
I originally intended this post for just one short message but I figure an update on my language journey would be very fitting given the previous topic. I've now been learning for about a month and a half and I feel I've come pretty far. My vocabulary sits at around 200 words right now with another 200 words being looked at in my flash cards. With these words I've managed to construct some basic sentences. I've had a few interactions solely in Chinese and have managed to get by successfully. My next step is tackle the tones so that I can understand people and they can understand me better. Once I'm over this hump it should be smooth sailing but until then it will be a bump ride. For example, in pinyin, the words "buy" and "sell" are both spelled mai. The way to tell the difference is in the pronunciation. It can also lead to trouble because the difference between asking for help and calling someone a stupid pig is rather small. However tough the journey may be, I'm going to stick it out until the end and hopefully a stupid pig will help me out in my journey instead of kicing my ass.
