Just Discovered The Graverobbers Chronicles (Dom Bj) And Now I'm Obsessed, Both With The Tv Series (accidentally

Just discovered the 盗墓笔记 Graverobbers Chronicles (Dàomù bǐjì) and now I'm obsessed, both with the tv series (accidentally skipped around 2 prequels and now I'm figuring it out as I watch Ultimate Note) and now the books.

At the time of writing this, I am on episode 15/37 and dear God. The amount of craziness and plot twists is just the perfect amount to keep me entertained.

The books are in Chinese so it'll be a good reading practise as reading news articles and graded readers can get repetitive sometimes. Literary Chinese is quite different from the usual textbook or daily Chinese, so this is definitely an interesting challenge.

Here's the link to the site, it's one of the best sites for Chinese novels that I've seen to date and I highly recommend it.

Oh got it! I'm still sorting through it, but so far the best source I found was Inner Mongolia University's course on Open163. They have a good beginners course, but the only possible snag is that they use the traditional script rather than the cyrilic. Most of the chinese courses also actually use the traditional script, which they do teach but it does make things a bit more challenging imo.

Discovered that there are regular flights between Germany and Mongolia so decided to give Mongolian another try. I was pleasantly shocked to discover that there are now more and better learning resources available.

My main mistake was relying solely on english teaching material, I completely forgot that I know other languages e.g. Chinese and the resources found on Baidu look promising.

I might make a post with the resources and material at some point, but for now I need to sort out what's useful and what's not suitable yet.

Who knows, perhaps a summer exploring Mongolia isn't such a distant ethereal dream after all.

In my area autumn comes slowly. The main indicators are that the hot wind slowly cools down into something more soothing and gentle, the leaves slowly but surely turn orangey-yellow, the pace of life becomes more steady and settled, and the cats become fluffier and chubbier, resembling little fur balls.

Back to uni to-dos: Final year edition

This will be my final year at university, which in itself is honestly unbelievable. Here's a list of things to do before and during your final year, although anyone can benefit from this advice!

1.Review your graduation requirements Make sure that everything is on track grade-wise and that you have enough credits to graduate. If there are any issues, meet with your academic advisor so that you have enough time to fix everything and graduate hassle-free.

2. Fix your sleep schedule before your classes are due to start. You can't be productive if you're always sleep-deprived and running on coffee. Your final year is especially important, so you need to be able to focus, which is practically impossible if you're sleep-deprived.

3. Exchange contact details with your favorite professors, advisors, etc. This may be a cultural thing, but here it's quite usual to remain in contact with your professors. You don't have to be facebook friends, but having someone you can ask for advice or request a LinkedIn recommendation from may be useful, which leads me to the next point.

4. Update your LinkedIn & other profiles This includes updating your email address to something more professional because the email address you had since you were 12 is unlikely to be all that professional now. Add any experience that you may have, whether it's an internship, freelancing or a job placement etc.

5. Plan what comes after or review your plan Are you jumping into a masters degree? Freelancing? Working abroad? Not many people have a 100% finished plan, but it does help to research your options and have an understanding of what you want to do after. Things change and as the past year has shown, some previously considered options are definitely not it.

6. Career fairs and networking events Chances are you may have attended some, but for final years these things are especially important. You have a chance to personally meet recruiters and to exchange contact details which may come in handy in the future. Obviously you can do that via LinkedIn, but I for one think that talking in person can add more of a personal touch. Regarding networking in general, it doesn't necessarily have to be a formal affair. Sure there are those formal meetings but they don't always have to be. There are plenty of facebook groups e.g. marketing, women in finance etc. which you can join and ask for mentoring, advice or even if you can meet up for a coffee and a chat. Alternatively, your university most likely has a careers/guidance office where you can find out about any networking meetings or organizations that have events going on.

7. Create an application schedule Many firms open their graduate student program applications at a certain time, so depending on where you're applying, or if you're skipping that, a schedule is a good idea. If you're targeting different sectors then your resume will have to be altered a bit to make it appropriate for the job that you're applying for. Many jobs also require cover letters, so it may be a good idea to have a rough template so that you know what exactly it is that you're supposed to include and then edit accordingly.

8. Try to get some work experience It doesn't have to be full-time at an office type of work, but any experience is good. Freelance language tutor, an internship, volunteer work, writing for your uni's paper. Experience doesn't automatically guarantee you a job, but it can be beneficial in standing out or giving you an extra boost.

9. Try to get some extra qualifications A language proficiency test, a coursera course (there are quite a lot of free ones), a LinkedIn powerpoint course, Code First Girls javascript course (also free!). You can add quite a lot of skills to your LinkedIn profile, but you do need to be able to back them up. These extra courses and qualification aren't just good for your resume, but they're also a good way for you to develop new skills and develop new interests. And who knows where they might end up taking you. My teachers former student ended up finding herself a husband on a study abroad language program in Korea and now they're happily married and living in Japan I think.

10. Make the most of it Uni certainly has it's ups and downs, but for most it's a pretty rewarding and occasionally enlightening journey. You may have different feelings towards it, but it is coming to an end so make some good memories.

11. Remember that life will go on after uni Many people may feel odd after graduating, you just spent 3-4 years living your life as a student and now you're not. Your previous routines that worked before may not work anymore. You may not be as close to your former dormmates. You may drift apart from your college bestie. But life goes on. Many things may stay the same and even more things may change and that's ok.

The 母 Character

Another character breakdown, and this time it's 母!

母 (mǔ)

Mother 母亲

Used for some female relative e.g. 祖母 (paternal grandma)

Used to specify female animals e.g. 母牛，母象，母马

每 (měi)

Every, each e.g. 每天 everyday

海 (hǎi)

A big lake or sea 大海

Many people, a large crowd 人海

毒 (dú)

A toxin or a poison or a venom

An adjective, poisonous/venomous e.g. 毒蛇 (a venomous snake)

A cruel person

A verb, to poison something/one

梅 (méi)

A plum. Apparently 李子 (also plum) is used more often in northern China, and 梅子 in the south.

Plum flower or a plum blossom, the national flower of China (fun fact!) 梅花 (méihuā）

敏 (mǐn)

Quick, agile

Quick-witted, smart

悔 (huǐ)

To regret, feel remorse

霉 (méi)

Mould, mildew

An adjective - mouldy

A verb - to go mouldy/bad

莓 (méi)

A berry e.g. 草莓 (cǎoméi) a strawberry

酶 (méi)

An enzyme

珻 (méi)

Fine jade

痗 (mèi)

A literary Chinese verb meaning to get ill from anxiety or worrying

Main types of Chinese Opera pt. 1

There are many different types of chinese opera, so here are some of the main ones!

Peking Opera 京剧 (Jīngjù)

This is probably one of the most well-known operas, originating from Beijing during the Qing dynasty. There are 4 main roles:

1.生 (shēng), which is usually an older dignified male character such as a scholar, which can be divided into older, younger and martial 生 aka 武生 (wǔshēng)

2. 旦 (dàn), a female role which was previously played by men as women were not allowed to perform during the Qing dynasty, but nowadays both men and women can play this role. This role has several subtypes:

闺门旦 (guīméndàn), a young unmarried high-status virtuous woman, whose main focus is singing.

正旦 (Zhèngdàn)/青衣 (Qīngyī), an elegant, middle-aged, usually married woman who mainly sings.

花旦 (Huādàn), a young woman who unlike the Guīméndàn focuses on speech and movement.

武旦 (Wǔdàn), this is a martial arts role with quite a lot of stunts and fighting with rare singing moments

刀马旦 (Dāomǎdàn), a young brave warrior, who usually focuses on acrobatics, singing and dancing unlike the Wǔdàn.

老旦 (Lǎodàn), is an older female role, usually with a lower singing voice.

彩旦 (Cǎi dàn), is more of a clown role, which is apparently more commonly performed by men

4. 净 (Jìng), a "rough man" role, usually has a vibrant and strong character, which has heavy face painting.

5. 丑 (chǒu), the clown role, which is one of the most physically demanding roles due to the acting and acrobatics combo, despite being considered as a minor role.

There are over 1400 stories used in Peking Opera, with 2 traditional types, civil and martial. Civil focuses on the relationship between the characters and is usually about normal daily occurrences, whereas martial is more about action and fighting. Another more modern type of differentiation divides the plays into traditional (pre-1949ish), plays created after 1949, and contemporary plays.

Kunqu Opera 昆曲 (kūnqǔ)

This is one of the oldest types of Chinese opera, originating from Kunshan, combining signing, dancing and martial arts. It features similar characters like the Peking Opera with another character 末 (Mò), who is an old man with a long beard.

However, there are some differences, as Kunqu uses softer, melodic music and different instruments such as the flute as the main accompanying instrument rather than Peking Opera's stringed instruments. The types of stories are also different, as Kunqu's focus more on the romantic and poetic aspect, exploring various classical stories. Peking Opera's stories tend to be a bit more varied as previously mentioned.

Traditionally, Kunqu was mostly for the upper-class as the stories performed were classical Chinese literature, and at the time not everyone had the opportunity to learn. This may be why Kunqu typically uses classic chinese, whereas Peking uses a combination of both classic and vernacular, making it more available for everyone.

Yue Opera 越剧 (yuèjù)

This opera is also known as Shaoxing opera, originating from Shaoxing, Zhejiang in early 1900s. Originally the performances featured only male actors but nowadays all-female performance troupes are becoming the standard. It's interestingly the 2nd most loved opera type, just after Peking Opera as it's slow and romantic form is perfect for love stories such as The Butterfly Lovers.

Yue Opera also features the usual set of character types e.g. 生，旦 etc. except they are usually played by women.

In terms of appearance, Yue Opera tends to go for a more subtle makeup look (as subtle as stage makeup can be) and simpler but nonetheless gorgeous costumes, in contrast to Peking Opera's dramatic and bursting colors.

Yue Opera usually relies on string instruments, with a smaller musical ensemble and musical accompaniment so that the performers singing is more clear unlike Peking Opera's stronger background music.