by Alison | Nov 19, 2024 | Blog, Just Life
If you know me, you probably know that I hate goodbyes. But I love to see old friends, and this week, I had one of those wonderful opportunities. A friend from Nepal has been living in the UK, and he stopped by my city for a few hours on his way back home. Even though...
by Alison | Nov 12, 2024 | Blog, Chinese Language and Culture
On most Wednesdays, I have lunch with a delightful group of people including my friend from America, a colleague from China, her friend who is now my friend from China, and our other colleague from Indonesia. With so many languages and cultures, we tend to have some...
by Alison | Nov 4, 2024 | Blog, Chinese Language and Culture, Just Life
A month or two ago, I heard about a Chinese speech competition. Sure, why not, I can join that! I thought to myself. I signed up by adding someone’s WeChat and learned that I had a month or two to prepare and write the speech which I would then film and submit online....
by Alison | Oct 29, 2024 | Blog, Just Life
The other day, I was hanging out with some friends that I don’t get to see very often. One friend suggested that we play a game where we all write down a few questions and then we take the questions out and go around and everyone has to answer the questions. Someone...
by Alison | Oct 21, 2024 | Blog, Chinese Language and Culture, Just Life
I didn’t have any plans for this evening, so after I climbed Baiyun mountain and enjoyed some time thinking and praying and looking at green things, I went to the cafeteria for dumplings. I love the dumpling shop here on campus because you don’t have to choose just...
by Alison | Oct 11, 2024 | Blog, Just Life
During the Chinese national day, I had a week-long holiday along with most Chinese people, and I decided to go to Japan to visit a friend of mine from college. I spent most of the holiday chatting with my friend and her friends, playing with her adorable kids, and...
by Alison | Sep 29, 2024 | Blog
I started working in my current position in the Faculty of English Language and Culture at my university last fall. Every semester, I have between 100 and 200 hundred new students. Over just three semesters, that’s already a lot of new students, and learning all of...
by Alison | Sep 15, 2024 | Blog, Chinese Language and Culture, Just Life
Today, one of my students came up to the front of the classroom before class started and just wanted to chat. We ended up talking for almost the entirety of the twenty-minute break between the classes, and I really enjoyed the conversation. Part way into the...
by Alison | Sep 5, 2024 | Blog, Chinese Language and Culture
Everyone has different ways of learning languages. One of my favorite ways to learn Chinese is to read books. Several years ago, someone gave me a Chinese book, and I started reading it, but I had a hard time getting into it and every time I picked it up, it had been...
by Alison | Aug 31, 2024 | Blog, Just Life
A couple of friends and I were eating at a restaurant near campus. These lunch dates have become regular during the summer, and I’ve really enjoyed talking and laughing with this couple and their son. Today we were at a noodle shop that has a style of hand-pulled...
