![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Short catch up
Friday, 1 December 2023 10:06I’m a bit adrift right now, as the Mandarin Chinese class is coming to an end. We are to write a self introduction thingamajig and then record ourselves reading or reciting that. Which I’ve done already, but I haven’t uploaded that.
This course is a little different than other short courses (on whatever else) I’ve taken. They seem to be taking things rather seriously, with actual recording assignments and such. This text above is part of the final exam too. The writing is actually not needed, but here I’m actually cheating because I’m using my actual knowledge of traditional Chinese to write this… simplified Chinese text. And I really dislike simplified Chinese. There’s so much meaning taken out of the actual character.
And the weird thing is, there are some characters that are rather complicated, that I think a simplified version would help, but, there is no simplified version of that character. So it baffles me how they decide on what needs a simplified version and what does not.
I've applied for the next course that starts in January, but the time schedule of it is a little tricky for me. I'm now on the 20.15-21.45 schedule (choice of 18.45-20.15 and 20.15-21.45), which is just right for me to get off work, go home, have a quick bite and walk a quick walk with the wheelchair-bound dog, then drive off to school. For the next course there's no choice, but only 18.45-20.15 which barely gives me time to dash over directly from work and by bus, and then getting home by bus as well. And, it's going to be by balloting, I hope most of the students taking this first course are either exchange students or on-shift staff that can't change their schedule, and will not be applying to this next class. I'll know next week.
My Netflix binge watching has come to an end. Apparently, NCIS is only available up to Season 15 on Netflix. Other places to watch Season 16 and thereafter are on CBS Paramount+ and Amazon Prime, but these are really region locked. I can’t bypass with a VPN either because the app itself needs to come from the regional App Store.
Nothing to fear, I found a China (possibly bootleg) streaming site. Since it’s streaming only, no pre-downloading, so, I can now only watch that at home. So no more binging for now. My previous binge included “listening” to the episodes during my walk to work (like a podcast), and watching it over my lunch break.
I now have an audio book ready for this “having something to listen to” while I walk. I’ve come to the conclusion that non-fiction is something I can listen to as an audio book. The last audio book I had to give up on was a fiction thing and the narrator did voices and fake accents that that annoyed me so much I had to give up listening to it.
I haven't done more for my Taipei trip. I think I'm good. Meanwhile, as I was helping my Dad arrange his ad hoc Austria trip for after Christmas, I managed to get him a very good price on EVA air, so he can fly out from Macau (no need to make the extra trip to Hong Kong) and... the round trip Macau to Austria was like... just EUR 800 (USD 880)? I had to ask the agent a few times. "Is it just a one way? Is it not inclusive of taxes?" But no, it was everything included. And it gave him 2 piece luggage of 25kg each. He won't need the second luggage, but still, it was weird. I later found out it was a bare basic fare, so if I wanted to choose seats for him, I had to pay extra. It was just a little funky in the stopover in Taipei because it's only got a 1.5 hours connecting time, the baggage should be fine, but he'd need to rush out of the plane, so there I decided to pay him a seat that's as front as possible.
This course is a little different than other short courses (on whatever else) I’ve taken. They seem to be taking things rather seriously, with actual recording assignments and such. This text above is part of the final exam too. The writing is actually not needed, but here I’m actually cheating because I’m using my actual knowledge of traditional Chinese to write this… simplified Chinese text. And I really dislike simplified Chinese. There’s so much meaning taken out of the actual character.
And the weird thing is, there are some characters that are rather complicated, that I think a simplified version would help, but, there is no simplified version of that character. So it baffles me how they decide on what needs a simplified version and what does not.
I've applied for the next course that starts in January, but the time schedule of it is a little tricky for me. I'm now on the 20.15-21.45 schedule (choice of 18.45-20.15 and 20.15-21.45), which is just right for me to get off work, go home, have a quick bite and walk a quick walk with the wheelchair-bound dog, then drive off to school. For the next course there's no choice, but only 18.45-20.15 which barely gives me time to dash over directly from work and by bus, and then getting home by bus as well. And, it's going to be by balloting, I hope most of the students taking this first course are either exchange students or on-shift staff that can't change their schedule, and will not be applying to this next class. I'll know next week.
My Netflix binge watching has come to an end. Apparently, NCIS is only available up to Season 15 on Netflix. Other places to watch Season 16 and thereafter are on CBS Paramount+ and Amazon Prime, but these are really region locked. I can’t bypass with a VPN either because the app itself needs to come from the regional App Store.
Nothing to fear, I found a China (possibly bootleg) streaming site. Since it’s streaming only, no pre-downloading, so, I can now only watch that at home. So no more binging for now. My previous binge included “listening” to the episodes during my walk to work (like a podcast), and watching it over my lunch break.
I now have an audio book ready for this “having something to listen to” while I walk. I’ve come to the conclusion that non-fiction is something I can listen to as an audio book. The last audio book I had to give up on was a fiction thing and the narrator did voices and fake accents that that annoyed me so much I had to give up listening to it.
I haven't done more for my Taipei trip. I think I'm good. Meanwhile, as I was helping my Dad arrange his ad hoc Austria trip for after Christmas, I managed to get him a very good price on EVA air, so he can fly out from Macau (no need to make the extra trip to Hong Kong) and... the round trip Macau to Austria was like... just EUR 800 (USD 880)? I had to ask the agent a few times. "Is it just a one way? Is it not inclusive of taxes?" But no, it was everything included. And it gave him 2 piece luggage of 25kg each. He won't need the second luggage, but still, it was weird. I later found out it was a bare basic fare, so if I wanted to choose seats for him, I had to pay extra. It was just a little funky in the stopover in Taipei because it's only got a 1.5 hours connecting time, the baggage should be fine, but he'd need to rush out of the plane, so there I decided to pay him a seat that's as front as possible.
