Chinese

We found a Chinese restaurant we really like here. The food is good and inexpensive and the owner is very friendly and Alex enjoyed speaking Chinese with him. The had an entire conversation in Chinese that lasted about 15 minutes and I was really thrilled to find that I understood about 80% of it. It was nothing super complex, questions like where are we from, how long they have been here and why France. It is nice to know that I can still understand some Chinese. It also made me realize how complicated French is in comparison. Conjugating verbs, feminine and masculine words, present passe compose imparfait, all combine to make one very complex language. Reading and writing Chinese is of course difficult but Alex says that there is a definite logic to it and once you understand that it makes is easier (I have yet to understand it).

In general my experience is going well. My auntie Keeka pretty much summed up exactly how I feel; she said (more or less) "some days it feels like the biggest adventure of your life and others you wonder what in the world you are doing there". She spent a year, maybe more I can't remember, in France when she was my age so she can relate better than anyone.