The travels of Justin

我昨天晚上（2007年4月5日）在南昌大学北区逸夫馆报告厅看《南昌大学第十四届校园歌手大赛》。比赛由主办南昌大学学生会。我昨天下午不知道南大有比赛，然后朋友来就告诉我。我有一点空，所以我们一起去比赛。去大赛比我一个人在房间学习非常有意思，当然！我听过最多大赛的歌，但是我听不懂。我印象是都歌手好听。只有一个人唱一首英文歌：《I Believe I can Fly》（原文歌手：R. Kelly）。他感情唱歌唱得强烈，非常好！我现在不可以唱中文歌，以后。。。不知道。哈哈！慢慢来。。。

The other day I took a walk on Zhong Shan Road (中山路 zhōngshānlù) which is part of the shopping centre of Nanchang. I’ve never gone shopping there, but I still enjoy the area with it’s crowds of shoppers and activity.
Zhong Shan Road is dotted with mostly middle-aged ladies trying to grab my attention with cries [...]

As the temperature continues to drop in Nanchang, my friends in Canada continually remind me that, while it’s much colder in Canada, they wouldn’t want to live with the cold of Nanchang.
My friend in Dawson Creek, BC recently told me about temperatures of -37°C (with windchill) and a good 5 feet (1.5 meters) of snow. [...]

One of the classes I enjoy the least is our listening class (听力). If you recall, my class is an absolute beginner class. After enjoying more than a year in China, my experience makes the initial classes terribly boring for me. Indeed I was warned by my Nanchang teachers that the first couple months would [...]

“Hello,” said the little girl. I guessed her age to be less than 10-years old as I looked up from my dinner.
Sitting alone in a quiet corner of CBC Chicken I smiled as I replied: “hello.”
“What is your favourite colour,” she asked after a slight pause. Obviously curious about the bearded foreigner, she felt confident [...]

I arrived home from dinner yesterday to find no water in my house. The pipes are totally silent when the sink is turned on. I haven’t seen a single drop of water in about 24-hours.
It’s really normal for the water pressure to be non-existent for long periods of time. I have slowly learned that from [...]

A city block in China is huge compared to those in North America. Often the area within a Nanchang city block will contain a small maze of streets connecting the random collection of buildings.

A quiet hidden street
Another foreigner introduced me to a small restaurant that was in an area hidden from me until I was [...]

After more than a year without a computer, I finally conceeded to the fact that I’ll be in Asia for another 2-years at least and I really need a computer. For a variety of technical reasons and handy features (like the built-in camera), I chose to buy an Apple MacBook. Nanchang has a small compter [...]

For a moment I thought the dog was doing a trick. A mop was hanging from the steel structure in where a small street intersects a nice shopping district around our university. The dog was holding onto the mop with his teeth. I almost expected people to start clapping at the strength and endurance for [...]

I’m sick today. 不好！I missed class and don’t feel optimistic about tomorrow. Speaking a foreign language is hard enough without having your ears plug up so you can’t even hear yourself!
In Tianjin I had purchased three sets of flash cards that each have 100 cards to help learn 汉字 (Chinese simplified characters). I don’t use [...]