Friday, May 30, 2008

hanyu addict

i have always been interested in languages... maybe this is the reason why, ehem, my highest ever score on a class card (99%, believe or not) was from my French class during high school... maybe this is also why i learned cebuano effortlessly... may well be the reason why even on self-study, i was still able to grasp German.

having told you the above, i thought i had a gift for languages - which held true.. until i started learning Hanyu(Chinese). Hanyu, i must say, is by far the most difficult language i have ever known. might it be because of the four tones (i.e, a "flat" ma denotes inquiry, and a "rising-tone" ma means mama)? or might it be because even at its simplest form, which is the pinyin, you cannot just read the chinese words as they are written? or might be because you need to master three aspects of it - the characters, how to pronounce them, and the tone of each of the 855 most-used characters. all these, compared to 26 letters of the english alphabet, which when you try to mix and match, would more or less be read as how you've put the letters together.

oh and i forgot, one also needs to unlearn his English lessons to fully master Hanyu. in general, the order of subject, predicate, direct and indirect objects is the reversed of that of English. "i shall wait for you at the school gate" in English, shall be "i, at the school gate, wait you" in Hanyu.
and so just minutes before this entry, i was running through my vol.2 book, because i wanted to prepare for tomorrow's class. nyahaha, such an exciting way to celebrate a friday-payday...


i am already at the 18th lesson now of my 30-lesson package, which is supposed to equip me with all that i need to come back to philippines in one piece. despite this, i still find myself lost in translation, and i still feel that sensation of braincells at a standstill. nevertheless, not even in a single moment have i thought of quitting... - rest, yes! - but quit, never. i have made a pact with myself that i shall only stop learning Hanyu once my proficiency has been categorized and more importantly certified by HSK Center.

so, after few minutes of revision for tomorrow's class, i decided to finish my last cheesecake. this one's that which has rose petals.

and this for me, is reward enough for the rather chaotic week that has just passed - because afterall, i am just a kindergarten.

goodnight people, happy weekend, too!




Wednesday, May 28, 2008

cause in the animal kingdom, males are much vainer

having had a waistline of 37 inches when I was 10 years old (and at around 4'7"), it is inevitable that by now, there's that conscious effort to keep the jeans from getting tad too fitting. not again will i look like mojacko.

don't get me wrong, i am not that vain - well, not yet -hehe. i am not even sure why i am writing this entry. maybe it's because my chest muscles are effin' sore.. after sets of inclined, chest, and declined press. maybe to let you know how painstaking looking good can be. maybe to give my record-breaking dumbbell press tonight (at 45-45lbs) justice.

i guess i am merely preparing... preparing by exerting conscious effort to look good, so by the time i find her, looks won't be an issue anymore. oh yes, i have known this for so long - that is, i do have quite a handful of insecurities. i believe working my way to reversing them is not bad after all. in the end, it's a killing-two-birds-with-one-stone situation.

see... at the end of it all... i am still a kindergarten at heart.. cheers!.. hehe



Tuesday, May 27, 2008

what makes the 5s in 5-2s and the 4s in 4-3s...

ok, as i have said in my last post, there are certain things that make my days here in China a mix of good and bad days. here are some of those which maketh the good ones.

this baby's one big flat screen.. not sure about the size (as it was already here when i moved in), but i think it's 42"-ish






that door you see is the master's bedroom's, and that's where i lay my pseudo-tired body everyday..hehe. i must say it is a "posh" condo unit, with around 100m2 of playfield. there is another room (relatively smaller) opposite that door. can easily accomodate 2 persons. come visit! =)


*****


another thing that makes me happy are the 37degrees resto's cheesecakes. at 15yuan a slice (around 90php), it can easily be any foreigner's "comfort food".





yup! my usual "dabao"(take-out) consists of three carefully selected cheesecakes. last sunday night, i took home mixed-nuts, blueberry, and rose petals (believe it or not!) cheesecakes. i started with the mixed-nuts cheesecake, which in the beginning looked like this




let's not even go to how it looked like after a minute... simply put, it turned invisible.. hehe


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was i successful in convincing you to pay me a visit? hehe... lemme know...

[note: i can only post entries, but i cannot see the actual blog... it's blocked... China-wide. so apologies if some parts of the lay-out look funny]

Guess who's back

i am back in the blogging arena. enough said. bwahaha.

there are a lot of reasons why people blog. in my opinion, the below are some:

  1. you have nothing better to do but blog
  2. you have no one to talk to and share your thoughts/videos/pics with - i mean, not instantly when you find the need for one(or more)
  3. and sometimes, as my friend christine simply puts it - "because there's a sense of relief in putting your words out there... those who care can read, and those who don't can ignore... in general, no one really gets hurt"

i guess for me, it's more of the number 3 than any reason else.

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living alone, and in China for that matter, has allowed me to master the art of snapping out of my boredom, depression, and at times even desperation. nope, i didn't even need self-help books. it is in my lowest of moments that i found myself tired of being lonely - and just like that, I am able to muster the courage and strength to get back on track. it is a continuous cycle, and that is simply just how it is going to be. when i will take my next bout i do not know, but i am ready... so bring it on..

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it is not hard to depress yourself when you live in China. not to mean anything negative (because it's me, not them, just to clarify), but when i arrived here, it was a struggle to understand and be understood. oh yes, baby, you can easily get lost in translation here. the first few months was survival out of body languange, and even now that i already speak the "essentials", i still find myself wondering if my words make sense to them at all. "wode laoshi gaosu wo, wode fayin shi hen hao, danshi wode shengdiao youshihou bu hao" [my teacher tells me, my pronunciation is very good, but sometimes my tone is bad - hahaha]. oh yes, it is not enough to know how to pronounce pinyin, one also needs to master the tones.

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in a "normal" week, i get 5 good days and 2 bad days. in some tad too unfortunate weeks, it's 4-3. cheap finds (and i mean it), heavenly-tasting foods, my nice condo (with 46"-in-the-sofa and 42"-in-my-room TVs), 90-peso cheesecake slices, and my Sat TV (which allows me to watch TV patrol every night), are some of the things that make good days. what maketh the bad days? i dare not start.. hehe...

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well, i am really happy to be back into blogging... now, more than ever, i shall feel good knowing that i am just few clicks away to my virtual confidant...