From Sydney to Beijng... we got our power banks!

Jul 13, 2025 8:16 am

Heya, and welcome to this week's newsletter!

📢 This Week: Socks, Sydney, and Spicy Noodles

From laundry mishaps and travel adventures to culinary discoveries and character studies, this week's been a mix of everyday problems and exciting explorations. Oh ya, and those power banks? They CAN be forwarded to your next destination!

🎵 Listen to the Latest Podcast Episode

Available on Libsyn, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube

🎥 This Week's Videos

🧦 The leftover sock – Wrestling with washing machine mysteries and sock-eating lids. 👉 Watch here
🏙️ To the Rocks! – Exploring Sydney's iconic landmarks from The Rocks to the Opera House. 👉 Watch here
📝 Let's review Chinese characters! – Character practice sessions to keep the language skills sharp. 👉 Watch here
🍜 New Go-to Noodles! 麻辣香锅！ – Discovering a customizable spicy noodle dish on campus. 👉 Watch here
🌹 The Beijing Rose Garden (SOLVED!) – Finally cracking the code on those tricky garden characters. 👉 Watch here

🧦 The leftover sock

Some people might call this a first-world problem, but I need to know: how do you deal with socks getting stuck in washing machine lids? The top-loading washing machines are no problem, but the side-loading washing machines have a design flaw: socks get stuck! So, do you run another fast load or just rinse them by hand? More importantly, how do you prevent this from happening in the first place? If you've got a hack or solution, I'm all ears!

👉 Watch the full video

🏙️ To the Rocks!

Heading into the heart of Sydney, Australia, we visited some of the most iconic elements of the city's landscape and skyline. From the origins of the city within The Rocks district to the Sydney Harbour Bridge to the Opera House and everything in between, this was just a glimpse of the city at the edge of the world. There's something special about experiencing these landmarks firsthand rather than just seeing them in photos. (Yes, this is are-post of the previous video with a few tweaks to it.)

👉 Watch the full video

📝 Let's review Chinese characters!

And in a return to "normalcy" of a sorts, we tried to do a couple of live streams this past week. Wednesday's attempt was cut short by internet connection issues, but Friday's attempt went ahead very well... but no one was around to watch! No matter, we spent the time reviewing many of the flashcards that have been piling up in the DuChinese APP. How many did we get through? Oh, about 60 of the 800+. Guess we better get back to it.

👉 Watch the full video

🍜 New Go-to Noodles! 麻辣香锅！

My latest food adventure on campus had me try 麻辣香锅, a customizable noodle dish where I get to select all the ingredients. Noodles, lotus root, different meats, and plenty of vegetables. The whole pot cost about 43.77 yuan (around $8 Canadian), and they asked how spicy I wanted it. I went with 一点点辣 (a little bit spicy) – enough to make you sweat a little, not 洗澡辣 (shower sweating). The goal is 一点出汗 hot, not 洗澡 hot. Have you tried something like this? Would you give it a go?

👉 Watch the full video

🌹 The Beijing Rose Garden (SOLVED!)

What might be one of the last videos from Changping, Beijing – another visit to the Beijing Rose Garden 北京玫瑰园 to finally read through those characters. The main sign was straightforward: 北京玫瑰园 (Beijing Rose Garden). Up top read 天下太平，人生长寿 (Under the heavens, there's peace, and people live a long time). The corner characters were a little tougher to decipher until I turned to Xiaohongshu for answers: 甲申冬 (winter of 2004), 文海题 (written by 文海). Done and done.

👉 Watch the full video

Finally, last week I mentioned the new policy on power banks in China. At the time, we didn't know if we were going to be able to have them forwarded along or if they would be confiscated by the airport authorities. Turns out they CAN be forwarded to the next destination AND they can still be used on other public transport, including trains.