China, Charlie, and the rest

Chinese is hard. Why am I learning it? Because I thought to myself one day, 'my life isn't really complicated enough. What can I do that'll remedy that?' And obviously Chinese was the answer. The tones are kicking my arse right now. Mind you, the textbook is always good for some comic relief. You can tell it was written by an Englishman, because the first chapter is all about the weather. It is also refreshingly honest - where Japanese textbooks are uniformly sweetness and light and all about happy international communication, the following sentence appears in Lesson 3:

王太太不喜歓學外國話、他常説：外國人吃外國飯、應該説外國話。中國人吃中國飯、應該説中國話！

Which roughly translated means "Mrs. Wang doesn't like learning foreign languages. She often says, 'Foreigners eat foreign food, so they should speak foreign languages. Chinese eat Chinese food, so they should speak Chinese'". Wonderful. When it comes down to it, the Japanese and Chinese are basically the same (i.e., get the f*ck away, you filthy foreigner), but at least the Chinese have the decency to admit it.

In other news, I had a follow-up appointment with the doctor about my heart thing a few weeks ago. Everything is normal, including my thyroid, which I had thought might be a possible cause of the problem. I asked if there was anything I should or shouldn't do, and the doc said I should pay attention to my caffeine and alcohol intake. And cocaine. If I use it. Which I don't. Obviously. Not sure how she thinks I can afford it on a GSAS (or, actually, WEAI) fellowship. I wouldn't even know where to start.

I just hope the FBI aren't reading this.