Apparently A New Major Grom/ Movie Just Came Out (like A Week Ago) And Now I Have To Wait Until It's

Apparently a new Major Grom/Майор Гром movie just came out (like a week ago) and now I have to wait until it's available to watch online in good quality because I refuse to besmirch this potential masterpiece by watching it in 360p with barely distinguishable audio.

Life in China #14 Milktea

Having tried out quite a few milk tea brands, I can confidently say that KFC does the best milk tea by far (yes I'm aware that there is an abundance of milk-tea and tea stores in China but KFC's just has that something)

I don't know why, maybe it's the simplicity or the almost-perfect sugar balance but whenever I want milk-tea I order from KFC, one of the many things that I will miss once I go back home, to a land of milktea-free KFC's.

Chinese Solar Calendar: 小暑 Minor Heat

You may have heard about the Chinese Lunar calendar, but what's the solar calendar?

The Lunar Calendar is based on the phases of the moon, divided into 12 months. It's used for determining festivals e.g. Spring Festival/Chinese New Year.

The Solar Calendar however, is based on the Earth's orbit around the Sun, and it's divided into 24 phases, each lasting around 15 days.

Historically, this has been used for agriculture and specific seasonal activities, as each new season would be an indicator of a change in the weather and allow farmers to plan and prepare accordingly.

Currently we're about to enter 小暑 (Xiǎoshǔ) Minor Heat, so here are some customs and interesting information about this upcoming time period!

小暑 Minor Heat is the 11th solar phase and it starts approximately from July 6-8. Minor Heat, like its' name, has relatively hot and humid weather, with thunderstorms and monsoons being quite common. The weather and rainfall may vary, as northern regions in China tend to be colder with their rainy seasons starting later.

Food:

Eel, Mung bean soup, lotus roots and lotus leaf porridge, watermelon rind dew.

Customs:

"Eating New Food Custom" 食新习俗 (Shíxīn xísú). This is an old custom where some regions would use newly harvested rice and wheat to make flour, from which they would make various breads and noodles and share them with friends and family for good fortune and a good harvest.

"Eating Dumplings" 吃饺子 (Chī jiǎozi). Relatively self-explanatory. This period of time is quite hot and people tend to be not as hungry, which is why dumplings are considered to be the best food to stimulate hunger. I for one can't think of an occasion where I would refuse dumplings, so this may indeed be true.

Drying things on the 6th day of the 6th lunar month. Drying paintings and clothes is believed to prevent them from being by insects

Proverbs:

雨打小暑头，四十五天不用牛 (Yǔ dǎ xiǎoshǔ tóu, sìshíwǔ tiān bùyòng niú): If it rains at the start of Minnor Heat, no cattle will be needed for 45 days.

小暑交大暑，热得无处躲 (Xiǎoshǔ jiāodà shǔ, rè dé wú chù duǒ): From Lesser Heat to Greater Heat, it's so hot that there's no place to hide.

The 佥 Characters

A quick guide to the different characters using 佥!

脸 (liǎn) 1. Face 2. The front part of something e.g. a shop 3. Self-respect

险 (xiǎn) 1. Insurance e.g. Health insurance, car insurance 2. A place difficult to access

验 (yàn) 1. To check, test or inspect something e.g. a blood test, to check a passport

剑 (jiàn) 1. A sword, dagger or sabre

检 (jiǎn) 1. To check, inspect or examine something

签 (qiān) 1. To sign something e.g. a contract, a document

捡 (jiǎn) 1. To gather or collect something

俭 (jiǎn) 1. This is an adjective meaning frugal

睑 (jiǎn) 1. An eyelid: Upper eyelid - 上睑 Lower eyelid - 下睑

佥 (qiān) 1. This character isn't really used that often, but in classical Chinese it's used to mean together

S-Verbs in Chinese

(Reposting this again because something went really wrong with the editing, my apologies)

Most common Verbs in Chinese starting with S!

Satisfy - 满足 - mǎnzú

Save - 保存- bǎocún

Say - 说 - shuō

See -见 - jiàn

Seek - 寻找 - xúnzhǎo

Sell ​​- 卖 - mài

Send - 发送 - fāsòng

Serve - 服务 - fúwù

Settle - 解决 - jiějué

Scan - 扫描 - sǎomiáo

Scrape -刮 - guā

Shake - 摇 - yáo

Share - 分享 - fēnxiǎng

Shoot (a weapon) - 开枪 - kāi qiāng

Show (a performance) - 表现 - biǎoxiàn

Shrink - 缩小 - suōxiǎo

Shut (a window, door) - 关闭 - guānbì

Sing - 唱 - chàng

Sit - 坐 - zuò

Sleep - 睡觉 - shuìjiào

Slide - 滑 - huá

Stand up - 站起来 - zhàn qǐlái

Start - 开始 - kāishǐ

Stay - 留 - liu

Steal - 偷- tōu

Stick - 贴 - tiē

Stop - 停止 - tíngzhǐ

Stretch - 伸展 - shēnzhǎn

Strike - 打击 - dǎjí

Study - 学习 - xuéxí

Succeed - 成功 - chénggōng

Suffer - 受苦 - shòukǔ

Suggest - 建议 - jiànyì

Supply - 提供 - tígōng

Support - 支持 - zhīchí

Suppose - 假设 - jiǎshè

Survive - 生存 - sūngcún

Swear (to pledge) - 发誓 - fāshì

Sweat - 出汗 - chūhàn

Sweep -打扫 - dǎsǎo

Swim - 游泳 - yóuyǒng

Symbolize - 标志 - biāozhì

Re: Playlist - It's partly done and avaliable here on youtube for anyone interested!

It's mostly 2000-2016ish songs for now, but my beloved 70s-90s hits will be added once I have some more spare time.

It includes english versions of the songs by the artists, one or two that are a mixture of Russian and another language aka 2003, and a slightly embarrassing amount of Sergey Lazarev songs.

Note: Some songs aka Voyage may include some explicit language, just as a heads up.

Enjoy!

Call me biased but 1970s-2000s was the peak of russian music. Not that there aren't any good songs now, but there's just something about music from time period that really gets me.