I studied in a sort of Chinese school for 13 years. So that "sort of' means, I SHOULD know how to speak basic Mandarin right? NOT QUITE!! I studied in a Chinese school where we only get less than an hour of Chinese class daily. When you think about it, well - one hour a day, should be okay - but the problem is, at that time - it was pure memorization. The books that we used, were those traditional books that I honestly have no idea what is written in them. I see Chinese characters and they're just that - Chinese characters without meaning, nothing. It was not practical if you ask me. The words we were taught were not used in everyday conversation It was only during my 3rd or 4th year of high school that I realized how important knowing how to speak Chinese was. It was during a trip to the Chinese border from Hong Kong that while I was going around the mall, I was having a hard time communicating with people who looked like me. I was so frustrated that
tales of whatever things (from food to travel to mommy things to anything under the sun!) from a passionate story teller.. it just goes on and on and on ..