j a m e s f o r s y t h ✡ n e t

I’m procrastinating - there’s a big pile of essays still to be marked.

One thing I feel more and more about China is that everywhere one goes there is something worth seeing or worth knowing that is essential to one’s knowledge of China as a whole. The more I see the more I realise there’s so much more to see that I’ll never have the opportunity to see. In my opinion I’ve seen the greatest highlight of all, the Great Wall. Walking and, at times, climbing on the Great Wall gives one the feeling of being on top of the world. It’s so high and the air tastes so fresh. On reaching the Wall, one can choose to go the easier route, where there are more tourists or the steeper, which is more difficult to climb. I chose the latter, simply so I could savour the moment and have a moment’s peace. Thoroughly worthwhile.

The wonder of the Great Wall doesn’t detract from all the other cities, as I’ve already alluded to. Every city has some kind of a story, special food, idiom connected with it, or some historical figure was born there (or lived or died there).

I don’t intend to return to China for quite some time. But there will be plenty of good memories of places, foods and eye candy. Basically anything that is a lexical entry (or addable as a lexical entry) has been worth seeing. Lately if the English definition of a vocabulary point is too easy or obvious, I’ve been substituting it with the Latin scientific name for things like spices, flora and fauna. The same can be done if there’s a saying or idiom with the same meaning in both Latin and Chinese. I don’t know why, but doing this just seems to give me a far greater appreciation of the thing being studied. For example, instead of just saying “snapper”, one can learn lutjanus stellatus - 笛鲷.

“Foreign” is the term used by the Chinese for anywhere outside of China. However, it’s something of a misnomer, because a number of Chinese people have told me that “foreigner” refers to people who are white and have big noses - which is not the case for inhabitants of much of Japan or South East Asia.

But we’ll let the definition “anywhere outside China” stand… And going by this definition I am very homesick for “foreign”.

Soon I’ll be able to view Youtube videos! Hooray! Interestingly, a website that’s not available in China is downforeveryoneorjustme.com. I wonder why a website that lets netizens know whether a website is down in only their location or for everyone would be out of action? hmmm….

I was thinking of going to Jinan for the labour weekend holiday, but buying a train ticket just proved too bothersome, so I’m just sticking around the uni for the long weekend. Boring, I know. But I do get some work done, and a bit of reading and get the chance to have a look at the internet and so on.

At the end of this week I’ll be half way through my stint here. I miss the family and the outside of China very much (the area most Chinese refer to as ‘foreign’ - quite a large area, but one I miss). It’ll be great to be back.

The video says Throw that D. I always remember it as Throw the D. Whatever.

Today I washed my clothes by hand because the only washing machine in my hotel was broken. But at least the internet was working, I wasn’t chased by the hotel rooster and my shower was hot. It’s been a good day.

Hi everyone! It’s been a while since I posted anything here. I’m still alive. When I get some photos together I’ll show them.

I should have posted this about 12 months ago, but here it is! The WordPerfect X4 keyboard shortcuts map!

Whoa! Remember Herbie Hancock? I just saw this video and loved it:

Ever heard of the acronym WRGPYDKNEO? This stands for:

White - 白色
Red - 红色
Green - 浅绿色
Purple - 紫色
Yellow - 黄色
Dark green - 深绿色
blacK - 黑色
browN - 棕色
bluE - 蓝色
Orange - 橙色

These are small plastic rods each of which are assigned a number from 1 to 10. We’re trying these as a method for teaching Asher basic maths.

See the Wikipedia article on the subject here.