This morning I decided go review the first Mandarin unit I studied, Self-Introduction, and focus on writing. Much of my time has been devoted to listening and speaking, but I hadn't yet tried transcribing what I hear. The platform that I'm using to study, Mandarin Cafe, allows me to watch a dialogue then write what I hear (in pinyin). I liked this challenge since I've already mastered the vocabulary and grammar for this unit, but had a hard time distinguishing words like you (have) and yao (want), and spelling simple, common words like liu (six), which I previously anglicized incorrectly as leo. Repetitively writing the words allowed me to quickly recognize my mistakes, and I think that knowing the spelling will also help me with pronunciation (even more so if I can remember to add the tonal markings to the words!). 
     One thing I still find confusing is how to space words when writing in pinyin. For example, I've seen the word China written as zhong guo or zhongguo, and both forms seem to be accepted. 
     I successfully communicated with locals on three occasions yesterday. The first when buying coffee and asking for it to be ground at a specific setting (shi wu or 15), and the second meeting a friend for drinks. During both of these interactions, I used only one or two words at a time with a lot of gestures. Nevertheless, I was happy to be understood.
     My third interaction took place over the period of an hour when some workers came to my apartment to fix some problems. Here I was able to use full sentences (full of mistakes), but was well understood. I had to pull out my Chinese notes at one point to remember how to say the days of the week and one worker was thrilled to see the Chinese-English translations and tried to learn a few words in English himself. I realized after they left that I had been saying one phrase incorrectly over and over. In English we often say, "I don't like..." or "I would like" to be polite, but in Chinese you need to use yao (want) instead of xihuan (like), with some exceptions. So, instead of saying, "I don't want this," (wo bu yao zhege),  I kept saying, "I don't like this" (wo bu xihuan zhege). 

Resources:
That’s Mandarin Co. Ltd. “Mandarin Café.” Learn Smarter Chinese, 1.63.0, That’s Mandarin
     Co. Ltd., https://new.mandarincafe.com/app/#!/home. 

     This morning I reviewed the lesson, Making an Appointment, which I originally covered back in May. I thought it was appropriate since yesterday I confirmed restarting my lessons at That's Mandarin next Tuesday. The majority of the arrangements were made in English, so I thought the best place to start my review would be around a subject that I could use immediately. I used the Mandarin Cafe site to review three dialogues then complete vocabulary and general quizzes. At the beginning, I relied heavily on my notes, but as the time went by, I became less dependent on them. 
     The biggest challenge today was pronouncing words beginning with x such as xi (west), xian (first), and xiang (would like), but after many attempts, the software recognized what I was saying.
     Yesterday, I administered an English entrance exam for a 6-year old boy who had very little English. I was able to use single words here and there to make him comfortable, and at the end asked him, "nide mama shi zai nar ma?" intending to ask where his mother was. Even if I wasn't 100% accurate, he gestured towards the direction where she was sitting, so I consider my interaction a success! I also overheard his mother asking him if he'd thanked the teacher (I recognized the words xie xie (thank you) and laoshi (teacher)) and let her know that he had indeed thanked me. Baby steps!!

It's happening! My lessons are booked!

​References:
That’s Mandarin Co. Ltd. “Mandarin Café.” Learn Smarter Chinese, 1.63.0, That’s Mandarin 
​     Co. Ltd., https://new.mandarincafe.com/app/#!/home.

     Living abroad for the past twelve years has been living a dream. In each country I've lived, I've immersed myself in the culture through friendships, travel, and adventure. The gateway to this has always been language. Malagasy (one of the national languages of Madagascar) was hard, but the ability to communicate in rural areas was exhilarating.  Arabic was even tougher, but the friendships I formed with my teachers and the looks on my students faces when I learned new phrases was priceless. Chinese is a whole new level of challenge, but I can't wait to see the rewards speaking this language will bring.
     I took a few private Chinese classes at home last October and realized that the timing and format wasn't working for me. After the Spring Festival in February, I tried again - this time in a small group setting at a school 45 minutes away. I loved meeting new people and learning with them in a new area of Beijing. So, I decided to return to the school (after a eight-week break) to pick up from where I left. Yesterday I contacted the school, That's Mandarin, to arrange 1-hour lessons, twice a week and hope to start on Monday. In addition, I plan reviewing my material over breakfast each morning through their platform, Mandarin Cafe. It has a great place to review lessons, watch dialogues, and practice vocabulary.     At least once a week, I'm going to practice my Chinese in a new environment, preferably restaurants where I can also try new cuisines. Last night, I went to The Blue Bank, a jazz club not far from where I live. Although it wasn't culturally Chinese, I was able to speak with the waiter in the language. I used mostly one or two word phrases and a lot of gesturing, but was proud to communicate what I wanted.
​     One challenge that did arise, however, was that the person I was with, a foreigner who is fluent in Chinese, wanted to speak for me. I realized that this will probably happen a lot in the next little while as people genuinely want to help, so I'll need to make sure that everyone understands my goal and how they can help me reach it.
     Below is a table that I created that outlines how I plan to monitor my progress in learning Mandarin.