Community Rule Suggestions

As I’ve mentioned before, we have a language-learning community on Teams called ‘Chatting in Chinese and English’.

We chat with each other in both English and Chinese in Teams meetings on weekends.

There have been several misunderstandings regarding timing recently, so I would like to establish some community rules for us to follow.

Here are some suggestions:

  1. Before 8 p.m. on Thursday, Beijing time, post a message to confirm the meeting time. If no one posts a message to confirm the meeting, or if nobody else responds to the message within 24 hours confirming that they plan to attend the weekend meeting, then the meeting is cancelled.
  2. When confirming the meeting time, feel free to mention the topics you’d like to discuss.
  3.  Respect the language proficiency and cultural background of each member, and do not ridicule, discriminate against, or engage in personal attacks against others.
  4. Please avoid sensitive topics such as politics or religion, and be respectful of personal privacy.

Do you have any more suggestions? Feel free to let me know.

Thanks in advance!

A New Goal

Last night, I uploaded a new video to YouTube.

While watching it, I noticed something interesting: some of the words in the auto-generated subtitles didn’t match what I was trying to say. It made me laugh a lot, but it also made me realize that I had some issues with my pronunciation.

This morning, I decided to update my English learning approach.

From now on, I’ll dub my videos in English and then check the auto-generated subtitles afterward, instead of just writing video descriptions.

My new goal is to make sure the automatically recognized subtitles match exactly what I intended to say.

If you watch the video, feel free to laugh at my pronunciation like I did. I’d really appreciate any tips on how I can improve.

Renjiaxi Hiking Trail

I went hiking along the Renjiaxi trail last Saturday. It’s the second time I’ve hiked on this trail.

If you’ve been there in this season, you’ll know why I like it so much. Maybe this video I posted will give you a clue.

Not just because of the views, but also the delicious waxberries and the friendly locals.

On my way down the mountain, I ran into a local. He placed his full baskets of waxberries on the roadside and said to me, “Don’t be shy, help yourself as much as you like.” He was not trying to sell his waxberries. He told me that all the waxberries on his farm were for winemaking, not for selling as fruits.

He wasn’t the only local who offered me waxberries that day. The main crop in the village below the mountain is waxberries. If you strike up a conversation with the locals as you walk along, before you know it, you’ll be stuffed full.

The locals are professional. Every waxberry they gave me was perfectly ripe, sweeter than the ones I picked myself.

About monitoring physical activity and SMART

Why is it important that we monitor our physical activity levels? 为什么我们监测锻炼水平真的很重要呢?
–There’s increasing scientific evidence that monitoring our physical activity, helps us stay more active, and perhaps more importantly, become more active.
越来越多的科学证据表明,通过监测我们的身体活动, 它可以帮助我们保持做更加运动,也许更重要的是,可以变得更加活跃。 继续阅读“About monitoring physical activity and SMART”

Zongzi

I wrapped more than ten Zongzi last night.

They were very plain, filled with just sticky rice and millet. The cover was 箬叶 which I collected on the previous trail I hiked, a special type of bamboo leaves.

I sent some pictures of these Zongzi to my friends, and they were surprised because most Chinese people of our generation, and even the generation before us don’t know how to wrap Zongzi. 继续阅读“Zongzi”