Airports and China
Jan 05, 2025 8:31 am
Happy New Year and Welcome to 2025!
And welcome to this week's edition of the language vlog newsletter! :D
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Back to Beijing and back to work... if it was there! A sure slow down as it seems Beijing has begun emptying out in preparation for the Spring Festival in a couple of weeks.
The flights back were uneventful, a good thing when travelling, but I was surprised at how long it took to get from Vancouver to Seoul. When I left Beijing a while back and needed to transfer through Seoul, it took about nine hours to fly from Seoul to Vancouver. However, on this return trip, it took almost twelve hours to fly from Vancouver to Seoul. Quite the distance!
So, how did I keep myself occupied?
Well, aside from eating and snacking on the available cookies, I managed to watch the war movie 1917, then a few episodes of Succession, followed by another few episodes of the Big Bang Theory Season 1. Other than that, since I was sitting in the window seat, my flight was spent monitoring the movements of the lady sitting in the aisle seat so I could also get out!
How have your travels been? Going anywhere?
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Nonetheless, it was a good week for publishing as we managed to produce a short each and every day of the week:
- Carpet or no carpet in an airport?
- Annyeonghaseyo from Incheon Airport in Seoul, South Korea!
- Сію сію посіваю - Happy New Year!
- Why DID I Come to CHINA?!
- Why am I STILL in China?? - The Short Reason
- What Would Make Me Leave China?!
- EXTRA: Chinese Course by Email LAUNCHED!
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Our first two videos of the week, made as I was en route back to China, were about the airport experience.
It might seem like a silly argument to make, but it's a detail I've noticed having travelled through many parts of China and stopping over in other airports for transfers: carpets.
Why would anyone want a carpet in a place that they have to wheel luggage over?
Be that as it may, all over the airports and train stations I've been to in China have granite tiles for flooring. However, when you arrive in Seoul, you're greeted with a thick, green carpet that makes dragging wheeled suitcases a touch difficult.
But South Korea isn't the only place that has carpeting. Vancouver has it and so does Singapore Changi. Yet those carpets seem to be easier to move luggage across. What gives?
I have no idea, but I'd be curious to hear your experience in airports around the world: carpet or no carpet?
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Next up was the New Year!
I managed to get back to Beijing just in time for New Year's Eve and promptly fell asleep. I did wake up for 11.57 pm, watched the clock turn over 12.00, and then promptly went back to bed. Up at 3 again.
However, one New Year's tradition we had in my family while growing up was to go around to the elders' homes and wish them well. We'd do this by standing at their doorway and reciting a tradition Ukrainian poem while shaking a jar full of wheat or grains. The poem went something like this:
Сію, сію, посіваю
З Новим роком всіх вітаю!
Щоб Вам весело жилося,
Щоб задумане збулося,
Щоб ніколи не хворіли,
Щоб нічого не боліло,
Щоб у праці все горіло Та й в кишені шелестіло!
Щоб, як квіти, Ви цвіли Та сто років прожили!
I sow, I sow, I sow
I congratulate everyone on the New Year!
So that you live happily,
So that your plans come true,
So that you never get sick,
So that nothing hurts,
So that everything burns in your work And rustles in your pocket!
So that, like flowers, you bloom And live a hundred years!
We'd get a little bit of money for our efforts and then we'd be on to the next house!
(I need to note that the version above is a little bit different from the version I remember my Dad reciting. I haven't been able to find the version he used, but the sentiment is the same.)
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The next three videos of the week all dealt with some of the reasons why I came to China and remain here to this day.
Why did I come to China? Jobs, money and I'd never been before.
Why am I still in China? Job, money, and where else would I go?
What would make me leave China? Visa issues, family matters, or a better opportunity.
Now, I should also point out that I've managed to accumulate a bunch of stuff over my time here, much of which is not very valuable and, moreover, things I'd like to get to at some point in time. But when?
Next, since I really don't want to pack to even find a cheaper apartment to rent, looking for a job or an apartment in another city or country seems all the more a dreadful thing to do. Adventure be damned, I kinda like my ensconcement!
So, what would make you get and go away from the place you are today?
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And finally finally, it's here! The Chinese Course by Email!
This is something we've been working on for a few months and was inspired by one reader who said I should create Chinese learning materials for people who've never learned the language before but are interested in getting started.
Doing some research with people I know who've learned the language and continue to study it, I asked them what they wished they had known so many years ago when they first began. The result was vocabulary and learning the Hanzi, or Chinese characters. So I combined a few ideas together and, with the help of good ol' ChatGPT, crafted this course by email that introduces some basic topics and vocabulary to people who want to begin their Chinese language journey.
The course won't make you fluent and it hardly touches on grammar, but it will make you familiar with common Chinese characters and, more importantly, pester you every day to AT LEAST LOOK at the email. I consider this "extensive exposure".
Not to be daunted, we've also started creating videos that accompany each mini-lesson which will be shared with those taking the course.
Sign up today and get started on your Chinese learning journey!
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We'll leave it there for this week! Thanks for reading!
Any comments, concerns, questions or suggestions? Drop us a line either by replying to this email or heading over to our YouTube channel to comment on a video. We'll get back to you.
Thanks for reading and let us know if there's anything we can help you with!
-Steve