Time

So little time lately. Very frustrating. 我 很 忙 with work this last month. I've been so focused on it that my study time has suffered. I feel like I'm falling WAY behind (mentally anyway).
The toughest part will be over this Thursday after I've given my presentation to management. I'll be able to breath a bit easier.

In the mean time, I've gone through the first FSI module on introductions and places. The repetition has helped a lot though the material seems a bit dated. When I asked Kai if they still use 同志 (tong2zhi4) = comrade he said only for officials and official documents. If it ever comes into vogue I'll be ahead of the curve!

I spent about 30 minutes going through lesson 9 last night in our textbook and was having a hard time with it. Maybe I'm spoiled with ChinesePod. Somehow the lessons along with Ken and Jenny's comments bring it alive for me and I retain much better. I've got the discs that come with the text and they help a little. And I mean a little. It's so frustrating wondering if I would be learning more in a different context but there's no way to know. Sorry to be venting!

On a final note I think the community of non native Chinese learners should put together a list of movies that are good for beginners. That there are words and phrases that a beginner is able to understand. "Not One Less" comes to mind. I watched "Riding Alone for 1000's of Miles" for the second time this weekend and loved it. It is interesting from a linguistic point of view because of the inability of the main character who is Japanese to understand all those around him who are speaking 中文。 The dialogue was a bit too fast for me to understand much though. I saw a preview for "Saving Face" and understood a little of the dialogue.

再见
j