Friday, August 8, 2008

The Closing of the Opening Ceremony

I am watching the end of the closing ceremony for the Beijing Olympics now.  I wonder — do you think the phrase “the Long March” came to many minds tonight as the long parade of athletes took their turns to march into the Olympic Stadium?  It was a long procession, and joyous as it always is.

I like the choice to start 8/8/08 at 8:08 pm.  What could be more prosperous for a Chinese event?  
I am loving right now seeing the Chinese flag and the Olympic flag fluttering so strongly together side by side in the breeze.  It’s a beautiful, long awaited sight for me… and I am not even (officially) Chinese!  I wonder what feelings must be swelling inside of the Chinese nationals watching right now?
The oath is now being taken.  The torch soon to be lit.  It is a moment to appreciate, and to anticipate the feats that will be attained over the next few weeks by humans who have dedicated themselves to hard work and achievement.
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Thursday, August 7, 2008

Beijing Olympics: tomorrow’s the big day!

Tomorrow is the big day — the Beijing Olympics will start at last!  It was nearly ten years ago that I stood in Tiananmen Square listening to students push to get the Olympics in Beijing, and I’ve been watching as the day approaches… and now it is almost here.

I won’t get to watch all of the Olympics on TV, but I will watch what I can.  I’ll post regular updates here too, since it is relevant to this blog.  Stop in over the next few days, and you’ll see my thoughts on the Beijing Olympics.
I’m glad to see the arrival of the Olympics in China!
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Monday, August 4, 2008

pointers to posts of interest

While I was in Shanghai in the late winter and into the spring, I wrote a few posts on my other blog that might be of interest to readers here.  They also deal with Chinese culture and language, and with language learning.  Here’s the links:

Some thoughts on suicide in China
About the difference between three closely related Chinese words
Frustrations with language learning, and some fun thoughts that resulted from some frustration situations
Some interesting thoughts I heard in a lecture while I was in Shanghai
A review of a performance of Hamlet in Shanghai
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Wednesday, May 7, 2008

A Day in Shanghai

I wrote this “wenzhang” several weeks ago.  I think it is still the one that I am most pleased with, despite the fact that I’ve written half a dozen or so more since then.

The subject assigned was “A Day in Shanghai.”
上海的一天
上海是一个非常繁华的城市。上海的人很多；到处都是人山人海。不习惯住大城市的人，如果第一次到上海，可能会觉得有一点不舒服。习惯住大城市的人会特别喜欢上海。

上海清晨的时候，路上的人已经很多了。学生们都去上学，大人们都去上班。从六点到十点，车上的人，地铁上的人，骑车的人，走路的人都很多。坐公交车的话，有时很难挤上去，肯定没有位子坐。走路也要挤来挤去，因为有太多人在走路。路边也有很多卖早餐的小摊。很多顾客买早饭时，会挡路。路边卖的早饭又便宜又好吃；难怪这么多人很愿意买。

十点以后，车上，地铁上的人才少了一点。十一点左右路上的人又多起来，因为吃午饭的时间到了。去哪儿吃都很难找位子。无论是去很贵的餐馆吃饭还是去吃很便宜的一碗面，都不容易找一个安静的地方。要等到一点多，人家都回办公室以后，才能看到一些人不太多的餐馆。

黄昏的时候，路上仍然有很多人，尤其是靠近学校的马路。如果路过一所小学的校门口，会看到很多老人在等孙子孙女放学。如果是中学的校门口，路上都是学生。他们最喜欢一边慢慢地走路一边大声地说话。碰见一大堆学生一边走路一边聊天，才知道”热闹“是什么。

晚上时，路上的人一般不是老人，也不是学生，而是刚刚下班的人。下班以后，上海人很喜欢和朋友一起去吃饭。所有的餐馆里都坐满了人。他们都穿得很漂亮，吃得很起劲，谈得很开心。

半夜的时候，上海的路上人才少了一些。在这方面，上海不像纽约，洛杉矶，或美国其它的大城市。这些地方半夜才热闹起来。上海半夜时，除了酒吧和便利店，整个城市都会睡觉了。在上海，只有大概晚上十二点到早上五六点才能看到空空的马路。

上海虽然是个非常热闹的城市，可是也有安静的时候。
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Thursday, May 1, 2008

Spring Time in Shanghai

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Friday, April 4, 2008

My favourite sports activity

I am behind schedule on posting the passages I’ve been writing for Chinese class.  This is only the second I’m posting, but I’ve already written 7-8!  

The topic I was assigned here is to write about my favourite sports activity.  I wrote about cycling.  
For this piece, my teacher assigned 12 words, and I had to use at least 6 of them in the body of the passage I wrote.  I think I managed to use all but one or two.  
我最喜欢的运动
我什么运动都喜欢参加，也喜欢看球赛。我爸爸的专业是体育学，我能不喜欢看球赛吗？只要有球赛，我爸爸就看，所以小时候我老是和他一起去看球赛，也参加过很多种运动。直到现在，如果朋友们让我去看球赛或参加体育活动，我都很难拒绝。
我最喜欢的运动是骑自行车。骑车既对身体好又很方便。骑车跟其它的运动有一点不同。别的运动要参加的话，要有专门的时间或地方去做才行， 但是骑车是随时随地都可以做的。因此，我觉得骑车很随意，而且有时候你要去的地方公车和地铁都到不了。这种情况下骑车比坐公车还要方便。
以前我老是骑自行车。不管天气晴朗或下雨，我都骑车。朋友们都说我是“自行车迷。“ 可是我最近买了一辆汽车，不那么经常去骑车了。其实我还是比较喜欢骑车的，但我也没办法。我的两个外甥每年来跟我住三个月。他们还小，不能在大路上骑车，所以我一定要开车带他们去玩。我当然很愿意为了他们暂时搁置我的爱好，不过他们在我这儿的时候，我们也偶尔一起去骑自行车。虽然开车比骑车方便一点，可是骑车对身体好。开车呢。。。说实话，自从我开始开车，我就觉得我变得懒惰了。
其实，常常运动是好习惯。不方便骑车的时候，我应该跟孩子们一起去参加其它的体育活动。
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Monday, March 17, 2008

Nothing Like Plumbing Mishaps to Make You Question Your Language Ability

There’s nothing like a flooded floor or a blocked toilet bowl to test your language ability when you are staying overseas for an extended period of time.  That all happened to me this past week, prompting me to think about it here:



<a href”http://web.mac.com/shellybryant/Site/Blog/Entries/2008/3/17_Are_You_Fluent_in_the_Language_if_You_Don’t_Know_What_a_Plunger_is_Called.html”>Are You Fluent in the Language if You Don’t Know What  a Plunger is Called?</a>
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Saturday, March 1, 2008

A tough week

My language studies are continuing along, and have quickly gotten challenging.  I’ve got 2 different teachers, one to focus on oral language, and one for writing.  The oral studies are actually tougher than I expected.  My oral Chinese is actually not too bad, so I thought the oral studies would be easy.  But the materials for advanced students are really good, and therefore quite challenging.


I do find that the studies are helpful. Already, I can see some improvement in my understanding, reading, and writing.  I don’t know if it has yet made much difference in my speaking, but that will come along, I am sure.  I am pleasantly surprised with how tough the studies are.  It is really good to have a challenge.
Posted by poetically challenged at 11:31:37 | Permalink | No Comments »

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Students in China Speak Out for Anti-Piracy

It will be interesting to watch how the next generation in China responds to the whole piracy game.


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Saturday, July 28, 2007

Ethnic Minority Groups in China

It’s great to see the Ethnic Culture and Art Festival being held in Kaili.  I’ve enjoyed seeing some of the minority groups in my travels, espcially when I was in Yunnan.  There are a lot of minority groups there, and it is always interesting to see how they live a little differently than what you might see in other parts of China.


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