筷子 chopsticks... and holiday plans...

Yesterday I have bought a pair of wonderful wooden chopsticks. My very first, haha. With help of youtube videos and Internet I'm learning how to use them.

筷子 kuàizi

Today is saturday, the weather is good, I had a nice dinner.
Everything is cool... Yet I would like to see following movies, novelties I missed:
- "Maleficent"
- "Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier"
- "X-Men: Days of Future Past"
- "The Amazing Spider-Man 2"

And to read following books:
- A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow
- A Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold
- A Feast for Crows: Shadows of Death
- A Feast for Crows: Web of Intrigues
- A Dance with Dragons Part 1
- A Dance with Dragons Part 2
- Anna Karenina

But I have to study to my exam from English literature. A lot of materials. I like literature but suddennly, when it's an abligatory thing... haha, i have to take a grip on myself!

And those pleasures above... I have to wait until holidays. Holiday plans! But that's all western things... Not good. I have to decide on something eastern.

so... after some thinking I decided to watch and read:

Films:
- Harakiri/Seppuku (1962)
- House of Flying Daggers

Books:
- Norvegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu
- Doughter of the River by Ying Hong (random chinese book)

Polish, English, Chinese

It may drive you crazy. Polish, English, Chinese - all three have different counting unit system...

(i'll write about it later, i just don't want to forget the topic to write)

100 = bǎi 百 
1000 = qiān 千 
10,000 = wàn 万 
100,000,000 = yì 亿

HSK A1

• Well, today let's check the requirements of HSK A1.

According to Wiki-God... mostly quick oveview for me...

1. Part od Speech...

a) Adverbs 

✓ negation of yǒu 有 is méiyǒu 没有 

✓ the "all" dōu 都 adverb (subject+都+verb phrase OR subject+都+adjective, also dōu 都 as "both"  e.g. 我们 两 个 都 爱 你)

✓ the "also" yě 也 adverb (also/too meaning... subject +也+verb phrase... then, subject+也+adverb+adjective, 你也很高... remember 我也是)

b) Conjuctions

✓ expressing "and" with hé 和 (nouns only, noun1+和+noun2

✓ offering choices with háishi 还是 (subject+verb+optionA+还是+optionB)

c) Numbers

✓ measure word ge 个 (number+个+noun, can be omitted when only 1, e.g. 你是个好老师。)

✓ structure od dates
✓ structure of days of the week (sunday = 星期日/星期天
上个星期三 last wednesday
这个星期三 this wednesday
下个星期三 next wednesday
我每个星期三  every wednesay)
✓ structure of numbers
一百 = 100
qiān 千 = 1000
wàn 万 = 10,000
yì 亿 = 100,000,000
✓ structure of times
diǎn zhōng 点钟 = o'clock
上午 = a.m.
下午 = p.m
一刻 = 15 minutes
bàn 半 = half hour, e.g. wǔ 下午两点半 14:30

d) Particles

e) Verbs - auxiliary verbs

f) Verbs - verb phrases

• 1 Parts of Speech
  • 1.1 Adverbs
  • 1.2 Conjunctions
  • 1.3 Numbers
  • 1.4 Particles
  • 1.5 Verbs
    • 1.5.1 Auxiliary verbs
    • 1.5.2 Verb phrases
• 2 Grammatical Structures
  • 2.1 Basics
  • 2.2 Question Forms
• 3 Comparisons
  • 3.1 Numbers

update - deadline before Eastern

C'mon...

deadline April 24th

I have to write some paper about Chinese adjectives, 7-10  pages, Times New Roman 12. I have hardly any materials. This is my biggest problem.

deadline before 24th April

Of course all in English. Here I don't have to bother too much, but there I have to be very careful about all that gramatical frames.

This is kinda awkard. Lately every night before I finally fall asleep my mind goes wild about grammar structures. seriously.

five cardinal directions...

five cardinal directions...

东 dōng (east)
西 xī (west)
南 nán (south)
北 běi (north)
中 zhōng (center)

东北 dōngběi (northeast)
西北 xīběi (northwest)
东南 dōngnán (southeast)
西南 xīnán (southwest)

positions...

左 zuǒ (left)
右yòu (right)
上 (up)
下 (down)

里 lǐ (inside)
外 (outside)

foreigner

Well...
I'm doing a research how do Chinese people call foreigners.
I'm white, i'm Caucasian but not an Englishman, just a Pole. 

addition and modification 21.03.2013
My chinese teacher said in broken english: 
Foreigner never be called as 外人。The one who studied in China can also be defined as 华漂。

so we have:
外国人  wàiguórén (this word is 100% correct. neutral, normal word)
老外 lǎowài (I think it's more common than 外国人. It can have both neutral and pejorative meaning, it depends... But it's shorter so probably more comfy, I guess.)
华漂 huápiāo (quite special meaning, foreigner who is living and working in China; literally "China vagabond". Living and working... also studying)

高加索人 gāojiāsuǒrén - Caucasian
白种人 báizhǒngrén - Caucasian
西方人 xīfāngrén - Westerner 
欧洲人 ōuzhōurén - European 


and sommething big at the end... INSULTS. well, i would rather not, but if somebody's gonna insult me, i want to be aware.

洋鬼子 yáng guǐzi - "foreign devil"
鬼佬 guǐlǎo - "ghost" or "ghost guy"
红毛鬼子 hóng máo guǐzi - "red fur devil"
蛮子 mán zi - "foreign barbarians"