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Life in China #15 Shopping Malls

In the large cities, there is an abundance of malls. Turn to your left, a mall. Turn to your right another mall. Look up? That towering building may indeed be a mall.

There is literally a mall around every corner, with 3 within walking distance of my university. Back at home, we have one mall in our city and it's a 45 min bus ride to get there.

It's quite a nice mall, but China's 10 floor malls just make my head spin.

Life in China #16 The Goodbye

People often talk about the great love of their life, but I think this can also apply to places. Because this city has captured my heart in a way like no other, and the thought of this magical chapter coming to an end is bittersweet.

All the people I met, all the friends I made, all the unforgettable experiences we had. All good things must come to an end.

However, where one chapter ends, a new chapter begins so here's to whatever comes next. 🥂💖

July 2024 Reading List 📚🎧☕

Done:

Beartown by Fredrik Backman (Finally found the time to start and finish, not really what I was expecting when it was first recommended but a solid read overall).

Geisha: A Life by Mineko Iwasaki. (An interesting read, although I found the structure and content a little all over the place is some areas.)

Current:

Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (opted for the english translation because the orginal may cause me to give up on german)

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene (Maybe this is the month when I finally finish this book. I fear this may turn into the Master and Margarita situation, except there's no cat this time)

To-read:

The Twins by Saskia Sarginson (re-reading this again, this is a solid summer read)

Confucianism: The 4 Books and 5 classics (This one may take a while, almost 3000 pages)

As usual, feel free to drop some recommendations please!

S-Verbs in Chinese

(Reposting this again because something went really wrong with the editing, my apologies)

Most common Verbs in Chinese starting with S!

Satisfy - 满足 - mǎnzú

Save - 保存- bǎocún

Say - 说 - shuō

See -见 - jiàn

Seek - 寻找 - xúnzhǎo

Sell ​​- 卖 - mài

Send - 发送 - fāsòng

Serve - 服务 - fúwù

Settle - 解决 - jiějué

Scan - 扫描 - sǎomiáo

Scrape -刮 - guā

Shake - 摇 - yáo

Share - 分享 - fēnxiǎng

Shoot (a weapon) - 开枪 - kāi qiāng

Show (a performance) - 表现 - biǎoxiàn

Shrink - 缩小 - suōxiǎo

Shut (a window, door) - 关闭 - guānbì

Sing - 唱 - chàng

Sit - 坐 - zuò

Sleep - 睡觉 - shuìjiào

Slide - 滑 - huá

Stand up - 站起来 - zhàn qǐlái

Start - 开始 - kāishǐ

Stay - 留 - liu

Steal - 偷- tōu

Stick - 贴 - tiē

Stop - 停止 - tíngzhǐ

Stretch - 伸展 - shēnzhǎn

Strike - 打击 - dǎjí

Study - 学习 - xuéxí

Succeed - 成功 - chénggōng

Suffer - 受苦 - shòukǔ

Suggest - 建议 - jiànyì

Supply - 提供 - tígōng

Support - 支持 - zhīchí

Suppose - 假设 - jiǎshè

Survive - 生存 - sūngcún

Swear (to pledge) - 发誓 - fāshì

Sweat - 出汗 - chūhàn

Sweep -打扫 - dǎsǎo

Swim - 游泳 - yóuyǒng

Symbolize - 标志 - biāozhì

The 母 Character

Another character breakdown, and this time it's 母!

母 (mǔ)

Mother 母亲

Used for some female relative e.g. 祖母 (paternal grandma)

Used to specify female animals e.g. 母牛，母象，母马

每 (měi)

Every, each e.g. 每天 everyday

海 (hǎi)

A big lake or sea 大海

Many people, a large crowd 人海

毒 (dú)

A toxin or a poison or a venom

An adjective, poisonous/venomous e.g. 毒蛇 (a venomous snake)

A cruel person

A verb, to poison something/one

梅 (méi)

A plum. Apparently 李子 (also plum) is used more often in northern China, and 梅子 in the south.

Plum flower or a plum blossom, the national flower of China (fun fact!) 梅花 (méihuā）

敏 (mǐn)

Quick, agile

Quick-witted, smart

悔 (huǐ)

To regret, feel remorse

霉 (méi)

Mould, mildew

An adjective - mouldy

A verb - to go mouldy/bad

莓 (méi)

A berry e.g. 草莓 (cǎoméi) a strawberry

酶 (méi)

An enzyme

珻 (méi)

Fine jade

痗 (mèi)

A literary Chinese verb meaning to get ill from anxiety or worrying

Slavic roots western mind turns 1 year old today!

It's been exactly a year since my very first post as slavic roots western mind, and looking back it's been a good year. I'm thankful for everyone for sticking around and supporting me, here's to hoping for more years like this!🥂

Post-China advice #1

When leaving China make sure to withdraw money from your Chinese bank account, because many banks don't allow you to transfer money abroad unless you actually physically go to said bank and transfer it from there in person.

In theory you can withdraw it at an atm abroad, but not many support chinese cards.

I had some money left so now the only way to get it out is to either remove it when/if I go back to China or to purchase something from a Chinese site and have it sent all the way here.

Option number 2 isn't too bad actually, I have my eye on this really nice steamer so that I can make some baozi and jiaozi properly, but the point stands. Especially if it's a large amount, make sure to either withdraw it as cash or to send it back home if you're leaving.

T - Verbs in Chinese

Tackle (an issue) - 处理 (chǔlǐ)

Take - 拿 (ná)

Talk - 说 (shuō)

Target - 瞄准 (miáozhǔn)

Teach - 教 (jiāo)

Tell - 告诉 (gàosù)

Terminate - 终止 (zhōngzhǐ)

Testify - 作证 (zuòzhèng)

Thank - 感谢 (gǎnxiè)

Think - 想 (xiǎng)

Threaten - 威胁 (wēixié)

Throw - 扔 (rēng)

Tie - 系 (jì)

Tighten - 紧 (jǐn)

Tolerate - 容忍 (róngrěn)

Touch - 触摸 (chùmō)

Train - 训练 (xùnliàn)

Transfer - 转移 (zhuǎnyí)

Transform - 转变 (zhuǎnbiàn)

Translate - 翻译 (fānyì)

Transmit - 传送 (chuánsòng)

Travel - 旅行 (lǚxíng)

Tremble - 颤抖 (chàndǒu)

Trigger - 触发 (chùfā)

Trust - 信任 (xìnrèn)

Try - 尝试 (chángshì)

Type - 打字 (dǎzì)

Back to uni to-dos: Final year edition

This will be my final year at university, which in itself is honestly unbelievable. Here's a list of things to do before and during your final year, although anyone can benefit from this advice!

1.Review your graduation requirements Make sure that everything is on track grade-wise and that you have enough credits to graduate. If there are any issues, meet with your academic advisor so that you have enough time to fix everything and graduate hassle-free.

2. Fix your sleep schedule before your classes are due to start. You can't be productive if you're always sleep-deprived and running on coffee. Your final year is especially important, so you need to be able to focus, which is practically impossible if you're sleep-deprived.

3. Exchange contact details with your favorite professors, advisors, etc. This may be a cultural thing, but here it's quite usual to remain in contact with your professors. You don't have to be facebook friends, but having someone you can ask for advice or request a LinkedIn recommendation from may be useful, which leads me to the next point.

4. Update your LinkedIn & other profiles This includes updating your email address to something more professional because the email address you had since you were 12 is unlikely to be all that professional now. Add any experience that you may have, whether it's an internship, freelancing or a job placement etc.

5. Plan what comes after or review your plan Are you jumping into a masters degree? Freelancing? Working abroad? Not many people have a 100% finished plan, but it does help to research your options and have an understanding of what you want to do after. Things change and as the past year has shown, some previously considered options are definitely not it.

6. Career fairs and networking events Chances are you may have attended some, but for final years these things are especially important. You have a chance to personally meet recruiters and to exchange contact details which may come in handy in the future. Obviously you can do that via LinkedIn, but I for one think that talking in person can add more of a personal touch. Regarding networking in general, it doesn't necessarily have to be a formal affair. Sure there are those formal meetings but they don't always have to be. There are plenty of facebook groups e.g. marketing, women in finance etc. which you can join and ask for mentoring, advice or even if you can meet up for a coffee and a chat. Alternatively, your university most likely has a careers/guidance office where you can find out about any networking meetings or organizations that have events going on.

7. Create an application schedule Many firms open their graduate student program applications at a certain time, so depending on where you're applying, or if you're skipping that, a schedule is a good idea. If you're targeting different sectors then your resume will have to be altered a bit to make it appropriate for the job that you're applying for. Many jobs also require cover letters, so it may be a good idea to have a rough template so that you know what exactly it is that you're supposed to include and then edit accordingly.

8. Try to get some work experience It doesn't have to be full-time at an office type of work, but any experience is good. Freelance language tutor, an internship, volunteer work, writing for your uni's paper. Experience doesn't automatically guarantee you a job, but it can be beneficial in standing out or giving you an extra boost.

9. Try to get some extra qualifications A language proficiency test, a coursera course (there are quite a lot of free ones), a LinkedIn powerpoint course, Code First Girls javascript course (also free!). You can add quite a lot of skills to your LinkedIn profile, but you do need to be able to back them up. These extra courses and qualification aren't just good for your resume, but they're also a good way for you to develop new skills and develop new interests. And who knows where they might end up taking you. My teachers former student ended up finding herself a husband on a study abroad language program in Korea and now they're happily married and living in Japan I think.

10. Make the most of it Uni certainly has it's ups and downs, but for most it's a pretty rewarding and occasionally enlightening journey. You may have different feelings towards it, but it is coming to an end so make some good memories.

11. Remember that life will go on after uni Many people may feel odd after graduating, you just spent 3-4 years living your life as a student and now you're not. Your previous routines that worked before may not work anymore. You may not be as close to your former dormmates. You may drift apart from your college bestie. But life goes on. Many things may stay the same and even more things may change and that's ok.

And now, a few months later I finally saw the new Major Grom movie Майор Гром: Игра and I have ponderings.

Overall a pretty solid movie, I had no idea what it would be about as I blocked all tags to avoid spoilers. The plot was a tad chaotic and to some extent more violent (literally, first few minutes in and bam! chaos) and unlike the previous movie, it didn't really have that particular flavour of comedy to back it up. It was almost 3 hours long but the fast-pace was enough to keep the momentum going. There were also a few cameos that had me going??? Because there were definitely a few celebrities that I did not expect to feature in this movie.

Chaos aside, the storyline was interesting as there were a few directions going on at once, and as an action movie it's definitely good. Thing is, I don't know if it was intended to be an action movie as it looks like one but it feels like it's supposed to have a more nuanced plot? Maybe it's just me but anyone who watched this movie feel free to share your thoughts.

The soundtrack was epic, Sergey Shnurov's Dragon was just 10/10 and now my playlist has once again expanded. There were other songs but this song that they used during the credits really stuck in my head.

I won't spoil it, but overall it's heavier than the previous Major Grom movie, so whilst I can recommend watching it, be aware that it can get a tad gory in my opinion.

Apparently a new Major Grom/Майор Гром movie just came out (like a week ago) and now I have to wait until it's available to watch online in good quality because I refuse to besmirch this potential masterpiece by watching it in 360p with barely distinguishable audio.

U- Verbs in Chinese

Unbuckle - 解开 (Jiěkāi) Uncork - 开瓶 (Kāi píng） Uncover - 揭开 (Jiēkāi) Underestimate - 低估 (Dīgū) Undergo - 经历 (Jīnglì) Underline - 强调 (Qiángdiào) Understand - 理解 (Lǐjiě) Undress - 脱衣服 (Tuōyīfú) Unfollow - 取关 (Qǔguān) Uninstall - 卸载 (Xièzǎi) Unite - 团结 (Tuánjié) Unleash - 发动 (Fādòng) Unlock - 解锁 (Jiěsuǒ) Unplug - 拔掉 (Bádiào) Unsubscribe - 退订 (Tuìdìng) Unwind (relax) - 放松 (Fàngsōng) Update - 更新 (Gēngxīn) Upgrade - 升级 (Shēngjí) Use - 使用 (Shǐyòng) Utilize - 利用 (Lìyòng)

I only just now realized that there is a season 5 of bungo stray dogs and that I completely missed out on it because I was too busy with my exams, then busy preparing for China and then actually being busy in China when it first came out, and now being busy with uni.

No wonder people get so many ideas on a train!

Being on vacation and not watching TV and then attempting to avoid spoilers is like dodging air

I'm so close to finishing this outline for my novel but just realized I've forgotten what happened at the beginning so now I'm like wait where should these characters end up (and my handwriting is abysmal so oops).

You'd think that being sick and taking a moment to slow down would allow you to write more but my brain got foggy and said zzzzz so now I'm behind on my outline.

I love seeing drama unfold in a different language cause I may not be able to understand what you're saying but oh boy can I read body language.

Remember, don't go on a trip with an extrovert unless you're willing to talk with them 24/7.

This guy in the passport line kept bending down to tie his shoe every time there was a pause and it took him six tries to finish like dude we're not going anywhere important yet just wait five seconds