March 9

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March 9 - Friday - TGIF

Got up went and found the slow cooker and found the steamed bread and hard boiled egg. Still no porridge. I happened to notice that the bread/egg was in a small pan and lifted it out and there was the rice porridge - yum, yum. Had a nice walk to school and got there early to study my flash cards that I’m making to try to learn the characters. I draw the character on one side and the pinyin and English on the other. It seems impossible to learn the Chinese word, and the tones written over it for every English word. Then you also have to learn the characters for each syllable in the Pinyin word. Then you have to learn how to draw the character. There is also a method to putting the strokes in the character together, a right way. That’s a lot of action for each English word. Seems impossible now.

In the first test she gave back the homework that she collected yesterday. I got a lot right and a lot wrong. Then she said she was going to dictate some words and have us write them down. I thought, oh well, I know some. She however asked us to write the characters for the Pinyin she dictated. I think I knew 2 out of 10. N ever expected to have had to memorize the words and characters, and how to draw them in the 1st. Week. A lot of the students knew them though. She collected them to see how we were doing. In class she’ll ask you to respond in Chinese to questions she asks in Chinese.

She pissed me off again. In Chinese, if you say “you”, like “how are you?” you say “Ni”, like in “Ni Hao”, unless you are addressing a person in a position of authority over you, or an older person. Then you use the word of respect “Nin”, like “Nin Hao.” Means the same but very respectful. She asked me a question using “Nin” to me. Now I know I’m not is a position of authority, so she’s got me pegged for an OLD person. Pissed me off. I’m the only “NIN” in the class. L Then she gave us our homework assignment and class was over.

Second teacher came in for our “listening” class. She tries to get us to make the distinctions in words that sound alike. It’s really tough because I still don’t have the “ear” for the language. A lot of words sound similar to me. She says words and we have to write them down and correct them. Finally it was 12:00 pm and we went to lunch at the same place. We had curried beef, some type of spicy chicken, and some excellent crispy green beans. They were cooked but still very crispy. Went to the bookstore and tried to buy a book about writing characters but they didn’t have the one I wanted that was recommended to me by another student. Well, I think today was my last day sitting next to Von DoDo. I will miss her, and her two very large………..eyes.

I had decided yesterday that I was going out tonight to see the student bars so tonight I’m meeting my classmate Sergio who’s from Brazil, in Waudokau, at 7:30 to have a few drinks. Later, Kathleen and Barbara said they wanted to go also. So there’ll be a few of us who know each other.
There’s a Latin Night somewhere around tomorrow night that I’d like to find. Supposed to be a big party for students going back to Mexico. It’s in a Korean restaurant in Waudokau. Probably about 3-4 of them.

Now it’s writing my blog, posting it, and reading emails. Later.

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