Cpod-Skype-meetup!

don´t forget it´s start is saturday 15.03 = tomorrow (for me) er...since I have to work tomorrow until 14:30, I´m starting of a bit late...but I´m online ASAP after coming home :-) again the forum discussion link: http://forum.chinesepod.com/viewtopic.php?t=2317&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

We're on again. Skype Weekend for May is on RIGHT NOW! Strike up your Skype, look for some fellow students, and start chatting -- only in English (so that nobody gets scared) -- to get to know each other as classmates. Friendships might lead to study stuff later on, but for now, let's just get to know each other as people, within our comfort zones.

How am I going to speak in Chinese when I can't even write a proper English sentence! I meant, how do I get a list of Poddies who want to practice Chinese?

well, I´d check out the forum thread and add the names you find there. And you can go through the threads at the conversations section and go to the profile of the persons you wanna talk to; if they have the skypebutton enabled you can click at it (if you hover over the button, you can see the skypename in the bottom of the left side of your browser even though the button itself might say I´m not telling ^_^ )

And another one is just around the corner! April's Skype weekend is coming up in a couple of days, a little earlier this month. It's the weekend closest to the middle of the month, which makes it this weekend. Yes, it's this weekend.

sorry, couldn´t join this time...我真很忙了 BTW welcome back...did you check out your knitting lesson yet?

I got Skype installed but I think I was too late.. lol.. oh well.. may be next time.. I'll keep my eyes peeled for another skype event. In the mean time, if any Newbie level skypers want to have a bash at it, let me know.

Relax, we speak English on Skype Weekend. The idea is to meet other poddies, regardless of level, and get to know each other. If you want to practise Mandarin together, fine, go organise that yourself, maybe after you've become relaxed talking with some fellow students in English. No pressure to perform! We're just saying hello and chatting. Excuter, yes I saw the knitting lesson and it's wonderful, even listened to it once before my hard disk crashed and I lost the lot. It'll be a week before I get the computer back, fixed and empty, but hey it won't take long to fill it up again! :-) And there'll be plenty of time to reinstall Skype before May's Skype weekend. If you're wondering when the next one is, it's always on the weekend that is closest to the middle of the month. May has 31 days, and the 16th falls on a Friday, so the closest weekend to the middle of the month will be... that's right, you got it, 17-18 May.

Oh ok.. I thought you would all sit there and talk in mandarin.. :) Well that takes the pressure off a little. I do however want to get to know some people to practise my mandarin with.. I think this is the only thing that's really holding me back at the moment.. beign able to speak more in mandarin with people who are able to give me constructive comments

how to join this meet up? Why not hold this meet up every week?

OK I have Skype now! It is on. How do I get a list of people who Poddies who want to practice Chinese?

Hi casie, here is the link to the forum discussion about the skype meetup: http://forum.chinesepod.com/viewtopic.php?t=2317 you can go there and add those who commented there...if you have skype and they accept the adding request (you should mention that you´re a cpoddy) BTW if you added s.b. to your skype contact list you can see if he/she is online (so you might contact them just for fun...) and the mid-month weekend setup is just to give everyone the time to fit it into the schedule.

... and to cover the gap of timezones. ^_^

excuter, Thanks, I think i will try to join the next meet-up.

Yeah, I don't have Skype up and running all the time, but I can manage to make sure it's there and ready during that one weekend per month, so, for example, if you wanted to contact me (or anyone with similar habits) that's the known best time to try. Alas, my replacement hard disk has been delayed again so I'm stuck with using a text-screen server for at least another week. No Skype for Aunty (nor pictures, podcasts, etc) for at least another week. Sigh...

oh, poor AuntySue! No skype but at least you have Chinesepod. Btw, I did heard that Jenny and Aric mentioned you in the Saturday show, I guess it was an old one, but the fact is that Jenny, Aric and other folks from Chinesepod are familiar with you!^_^

Hey AuntySue, did you check if the jumpers of the replacement hard disk are in the correct position? Have you thought about buying a external USB harddrive for backups? They aren´t that expensive and I´m very happy with the two I have.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions, excuter, but the problem's a bit different. The old tiny hard drive died completely, and I have ordered a new big one, but they are waiting for more stock to arrive. Backups are great, but you need to have a computer with a disk and running an operating system before you can use them, and I don't. Besides, I backup the stuff that I can't replace, and I stopped backing up podcast mp3s a year ago. Nothing to play them on right now anyway. Add to that I've just moved house and haven't unpacked yet, and that I'm reaching the recovery end of some illness and injuries, yeah let it all happen at once, bring on, let's see what else life can throw at me, I'll bloody well tough it out. That tunnel has a lovely bright light at the end of it, nothing's gonna take that away, and patience will see me through to the very end..

offcourse there has to be a operating system on it, but if you have an external USB harddrive it wuld run it from there automatically... please don´t go into the light! Your time still has not come! There are so many things waiting for you (a new hard drive with plenty of space, cpodlessons, skypeweekends, work, food, gardening, hot weather and cold beer...) °_^

I have not been to my college's English Corner for a long time, Cpod skype meet up reminds me about that. We students often go to English Corner on Thursday night and chat free in English.(I co-found Our FeiYang English Corner with my English teacher for about more than three years.) We really enjoyed those wonderful time there altought our English are not so good, we sometimes switch English into Chinese too. LOL^_^