๐ September update & dates for your diary
Monthly meet-up details, dinners, new intermediate content
Hello all:
Iโve not been great at keeping in touch with you recently. Please accept my apologies.
August was a crazy month. I took my family on hols to China.
It was great to be back there and closer to the things I write about.
Like actually trying to order a coffee in a Luckin Coffee outlet in Lanzhou (Didnโt go wellโฆ.).
A highlight was going back to Xiahe ๅคๆฒณ in southern Gansu, which is where I began an epic walk across Qinghai, western Sichuan, and Yunnan 20 years ago.
At that time there were only two hotels in what was a tiny dusty town clinging on to the edge of a huge temple complex, surrounded by green mountains.
Xiahe is now a small city with clean paved roads, street lights, loads of hotels, a huge blue sports centre, and more.
There was something else which blew my mind even more than all of those changes.
Something new to Xiahe this year according to the locals.
Itโs called cosplay, or ๆ ๆ lว pฤi.
I wrote about Cosplay here last August which is one of my favourite newsletter issues.
If youโre new to the idea, cosplay is when tourists dress-up in local traditional costume, have make-up professionally done, and have their pictures taken professionally at tourist sites in that area, such as temples.
Xiahe is now also full of cosplay studios, or ๆ ๆๅบ lว pฤi diร n, and cosplayers.
So, what should we doโฆ?
No, we didnโt get dressed upโฆ.
We photo-bombed!
๐
Dates for your diary
Anyway, Iโm looking forward to getting back into our calendar of events.
Dates for your diary below.
Click the links to RSVP or find all events on the Slow Chinese calendar.
Monthly meet-up
This monthโs live member meet-up on Zoom will be this Wednesday:
Thereโs no specific agenda. I thought it would be just good to catch up, bring any questions youโd like to discuss.
Iโll also give an updated review of the member resources on the Notion site, including the new intermediate content (see below).
Leave a comment on this post if you have any questions to send us before the session.
Member Dinners
If youโre in one of these cities and youโd like to connect with like-minded language learners, try one of our member dinners:
Thu 28 Sep: Member dinner in Bern
Fri 29 Sep: Member dinner in Barcelona
Tue 10 Oct: Member dinner in Frankfurt
Thu 9 Nov: Member dinner in London
๐จโ๐Beta Testing Intermediate Content
In yesterdayโs newsletter I mentioned Iโm trying ways to adapt the newsletter to intermediate level content.
This link to the member site is where youโll find the full intermediate lesson from yesterdayโs newsletter including audio, a short text, word list, and exercises.
There are two lessons to choose from on this page which is in the member site.
If you have 2 minutes, and if you havenโt done so yet, Iโd love to know what you think!
Please share your feedback here.
Thatโs it from me for now.
Hope to see some of you on Wednesday evening! (Iโll be sending out a recording after if you canโt make the live session).
As always thanks so much for supporting my work. I really appreciate it.
Cheers,
Andrew
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Ps - Iโll be running a course in October including six live sessions, followed by a 21-day reading challenge. Join the waiting list here if youโre interested!