User Comments - marchey
marchey
Posted on: ChinesePod Hall of Famers
January 09, 2012, 07:36 AMChinesepod has been there for more than 6 years, wow. And I have been studying Chinese for 7,5 years. Progress has been slow, but I have been enjoying every bit of it. Thanks to Chinesepod. I started listening at the end of 2005 and I was still taking evening classes then. Chinesepod then was not what it has become today. Lessons were not very structured, levels were not very well defined, the website was nice but not as functional as what we have today. This operation has become so professional.
I joined as a paying member in february 2006 and I have no intention of quitting. There is still so much to learn :-) . Maybe I will pay your offices a visit when I am in Shanghai next time.
Marc (from Belgium).
P.S. We have the best chocolate in the world, 哈哈哈
Posted on: Ordering Fancy Coffee
June 06, 2011, 03:15 PMI agree. Coffee is way too expensive in China. And quality is certainly not guaranteed. In some places the waiters just don't have a clue. I feel it will take a long time before there will be a real coffee culture in China. When I visit China I often get my cuppa at mcdonalds, cheap and not too bad if they make a fresh pot for you.
Posted on: Apartment Hunting
August 19, 2010, 07:16 AM@azzote: I agree. I am reviewing all lessons at intermediate level right now. I remember having tried this lesson before, when it was just published and it was still way beyond my level. Chinesepod has evolved a lot, it is all so professional now. And yes, this lesson is really looow- intermediate. ;-)
Marc
Posted on: Going to Wudang Mountain
December 24, 2009, 11:46 AMBeen there 2 years ago and I plan to return there in april 2010 with a group of friends. Great place!
Marc
Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 6: Up-and-Comer in the Office
December 28, 2008, 07:24 AMI think it is ok for the expansion section to be a bit more challenging. So a few extra words belonging to the same context as the lesson is what would be appropriate in my opinion. This time however it was particularly challenging.
Marc
Posted on: Chinese Hospitality and Finding Vegetarian Food
December 21, 2008, 06:43 AMI am a vegetarian and for me it has never been a problem to find suitable dishes. However, I could not have done it on my own, I was lucky enough to have a chinese person by my side to do the explaining. It is true that in some restaurants it is more of a problem than in other restaurants. Part of the problem is that most of the restaurants are relatively inflexible about their menu. They have all these vegetables in their kitchen and they have so many vegetable dishes that have meat added one way or the other and it takes a lot of explaining and convincing to get them to modify their dishes slightly so that they are suitable.
Marc
Posted on: Trip to the Vegetable Market
November 30, 2008, 09:18 PMGreat lesson.
Great video.
Still not sure who Nigel is btw. maybe it is some sort of inside joke. So, am I missing something?
Marc
Posted on: Asking for Leave
November 16, 2008, 09:04 PMI guess that here in Europe we are very lucky with holidays. In Belgium we are maybe particularly lucky.
We have 10 days of for official holidays, like Christmas, Newyear, 1 May, etc. These holidays are guaranteed, meaning that even if they fall during a weekend you get them anyway on another day.
On top of that we have paid holiday. In most jobs this is around 22 days (working days, not calendar days) every year. So it is around 4,5 weeks. Some sectors have more and sometimes you get a few extra days depending on your age. I am a governement worker and I have 28 days.
On top of this, but really depending on what kind of work you do and depending on the company organisation and sector, you can get compensation for overtime. I have to work 7 hours and 36 minutes every day, but I have the freedom to start between 7:30 and 9:00 in the morning and stop between 15:36(!) and 18:00 in the evening. This means that every day I will have a debit of credit of x minutes. These I can take more or less at my leasure up to 2 days per month. So basically, if I play it right, I can combine all this and get up to 2 months of holiday every year...
Oh, I forgot to tell we never work (governement) between Christmas and Newyear. This doesn't count as a holiday, but we are home anyway.
Marc
Posted on: Military Training
October 23, 2008, 10:29 AMI have seen it in Wuhan, in the technical 'university'. Quite impressive sight: thousands of students on the grass field in front of the school building in uniforms, parctising.
BTW, Chinese universities are totally different from what we have here in Europe. Here it is about freedom and taking first steps towards independent life (side note: In Belgium there are no entrance exams except for students who want to become medical doctors. If you feel that you want to go to university, you just have to pay the fees (about 1.000 USD) and go. Of course a lot of students fail in the first year, but at least everyone has the chance to take a shot at it). In China, with the dorms and heavy lesson schedule, going to university is really like attending secondary school. Except that you are all over 18's. I just can not imagine what a culture shock it must be for those many Chinese university students who go on to universities abroad for further studies.
Marc
Posted on: The Tea Scam
June 05, 2012, 12:41 PMWhen I was in Shanghai last year I found the number of times you are approached by people for all kind of scams when you walk around on your own in Nanjing lu , quite ridiculous. Sometimes you have like one guy more or less waiting for another to give up, so that he can have a go at it. Can't remember the shirt I was wearing. But I guess that a 50+ year old walking the streets on his own is just considered to be an easy target.
Marc