This recent post on the PandaGator blog offers a personal experience about an interesting concrete example of the kinds of sacrifices and adjustments some make to further their service in the Chinese field.
For those for whom English is not their native tongue, this dictionary page tells us that “nuts” does not necessarily mean “insane; crazy”, since another meaning is “extremely enthusiastic”.
I have recently come across a couple of interesting blogs written by fellow students of Chinese, who happen to be from Florida, USA. Here are the links, along with some excerpts from their About pages:
http://stephenanddianna.com/
“This website is dedicated to providing useful information for preparing, traveling and living in Taiwan. Hopefully, this online blog will answer alot of questions and mysteries about living in Taiwan. Plus we wanted a way to keep in touch with our family and friends. Send us an email if you’d like and just drop a comment. We hope you can live and enjoy this experience with us.”
http://pandagator.info/blog/
“This blog is dedicated to those learning Mandarin Chinese. Learning another language is not just about vocabulary and grammar, it’s also about the people who speak it. Their language is inextricably tied in with their history, their food, and their land.
“I also write about my own experience learning Mandarin as someone who lives on the other side of the world in Florida, USA. I comment on the unique challenges this sometimes presents.”
(Note that there is other content on this site besides the blog. It is listed in the Blogroll section on the right.)
