(no subject)
gack. it is SO frustrating trying to get wrct related work done, as my connection with andrew unix servers is somehow slower here than when i was using dialup. still don't know what is up with sharzhad's show. also, apparently the person i trained to take over the calendar has flaked. rarggrg. so frustrating.
it is very sad that my social life in pgh and even boston (despite being friends with very few people there at this time) seems more exciting than in shanghai, which, as described by purp, is a city that was legendary even before the united states existed. the kids in my program are all very nice - it's a great group - but seeing the same 12 faces all the freaking time gets boring. boring boring boring. my social interactions are necessarily limited in scope because we are not all in classes with regular students or even other international students, and the dorm is more of a hotel-style place.
nonetheless my mandarin is improving - as is my literacy - and that is the most important goal of my stay here. my listening skills are getting great but i'm still just barely at conversational level, which is unfortunate.. it's tough knowing cantonese - certainly not as tough as learning chinese from a solely indo-european linguistic background, but it is SO easy to get tones mixed up, and that is very confusing. when people start talking to me in mandarin, sometimes i don't think and respond in cantonese. yipe. i'm also starting to be able to understand - in bits in pieces - shanghainese. which is good, but sort of cluttering my brain with useless information - i can also understand a fair amount of taishanese, see, but most people have never even heard of that. taishanese use cantonese or mandarin when they're not in taishan.
gack. at least i am in regular contact with erick now. yay.
it is very sad that my social life in pgh and even boston (despite being friends with very few people there at this time) seems more exciting than in shanghai, which, as described by purp, is a city that was legendary even before the united states existed. the kids in my program are all very nice - it's a great group - but seeing the same 12 faces all the freaking time gets boring. boring boring boring. my social interactions are necessarily limited in scope because we are not all in classes with regular students or even other international students, and the dorm is more of a hotel-style place.
nonetheless my mandarin is improving - as is my literacy - and that is the most important goal of my stay here. my listening skills are getting great but i'm still just barely at conversational level, which is unfortunate.. it's tough knowing cantonese - certainly not as tough as learning chinese from a solely indo-european linguistic background, but it is SO easy to get tones mixed up, and that is very confusing. when people start talking to me in mandarin, sometimes i don't think and respond in cantonese. yipe. i'm also starting to be able to understand - in bits in pieces - shanghainese. which is good, but sort of cluttering my brain with useless information - i can also understand a fair amount of taishanese, see, but most people have never even heard of that. taishanese use cantonese or mandarin when they're not in taishan.
gack. at least i am in regular contact with erick now. yay.