User Comments - johns

Posted on: Learning the Lei Feng Song

I thoroughly enjoyed this lesson. You're not going to get this stuff in any other language course. I remain a huge fan of Jenny's teaching ability. Her enthusiasm and clear pronunciation makes her lessons all the more memorable. Great job!

Posted on: Surviving Winter and Singles Scene for Expat Girls

Western men represent a better way of life, i.e. wealth, a very attractive element in the local dating scene.

Chinese men cannot have the woman lead them: in height, wealth or status. The woman has to be subservient. This is a crude overstatement, perhaps. But, it should be noted that ex-pat women are not viewed as inferior, to my knowledge, just higher maintenance with much higher expectations.

The other factor is obviously physical size. Men, for the most part, like a woman that is significantly smaller than they are.

Posted on: Borrowing Money

I think there is a great sense of trust, sharing and hospitality among friends in China. I try to keep business and friendships simple. Money I lend is money I am ready to loose.

Posted on: Christmas Promotion

ChinesePod is a more relaxing and enjoyable way to gain a deeper understanding of Mandarin and Chinese culture than any other tool I know. Jenny, Ken, John, Amber, Connie, Pete...there is no shortage of different and fun personalities here. It keeps changing all of the time and this team is really a fun group.

Posted on: The Magic Word 让 (Ràng)

This was a good lesson for me and fun as always. I want to make a request for a lesson about the differences in the different forms of "but".

I can't seem to work out when you use one over the other. Thanks.

Posted on: Clarifying how to use "every" 每（měi）

I really enjoyed Songyian's Jacky Chan song. Learning some of these common tunes makes it a lot easier to remember certain sentence patterns.

Posted on: On the Way

I thought this was a classic lesson...very useful. Ken and Jenny are always great together.

Posted on: 练书法

This is too advanced for me. I would love to have the complete translation and follow it that way. Vera speaks very clearly.

Posted on: Moving House and Chinese Wineries

I was told that wine was a good present to buy as a gift for Chinese businessmen and that the sweet, winter wines grown in Canada and northern California were especially popular. They are about $80 a bottle but have always been well received. The first time, however, I purchased two bottles for my host who generously used it to toast me. I am not sure it was savored that way but it was fun nonetheless.

I travel sometimes with a man who was an executive with Budweiser and toured several very high quality breweries. Bud seems to be gaining in popularity and has purchased a number of Harbin breweries in Northern China.

This was a good lesson. I am sure that it will not be long before Chinese wine is just as good as any other.

Posted on: Chinatomy: Iconic Tunes and Hairy Crabs

I am never in Shanghai at the right time for hairy crab season but I have asked about them and never got a really good description of why they are so popular. Jenny is so good at giving you the full significance of any issue with complete candor. She had me laughing along with Amber and it was really cute.