The Audio Blog of Steven Sirski

Got the NeZha pins! Very understanding customer service. Workout in! Legs and chest + a 40 minute run… on the treadmill. Have I really been running 6.44 kms for the last few years or was that all a lie? Post-workout brunch AND took dinner to go! Some colleagues used to HATE when people did this from a breakfast buffet! Language podcast up! Episode 33! Paid into my Canadian bank account but… how do...

I swear these days fly by faster… but maybe it’s just cause I’m moving more. Working on Episode 33 of the Language Vlog podcast. Should have it up soon. New vids up on the vlog. In touch with another guest for the big podcast. Gotta get those older episodes done already! This weekend!? TSLA and AAPL bouncing, along with other big names. Got those Agents KINDA working. Some tweaks and simplificatio...

Back in the Changping and certainly feeling better. Microphone stand brought in! Hope it works. Spent much of the weekend working on an Agent - A Chinese and Russian Agent by way of Zapier’s automation. I want a daily email in my target language. Some big concert this weekend, and still some girls showed up to class with makeup on and piercings in their face they didn’t have last week. Canada head...

It’s the Solstice! Happy Spring! Nice day out aaaaaand… first sunburn already? WHY? Walked home from the university recording yet another walk n talk / lookaround vlog. Watched El Estepario Siberiano’s video about how much he makes through his CHANNELS! Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. He makes more of his money from MERCH sales through his channel. Instagram? Nothing. (He uses copyrighted work.) Ti...

Hey it’s 20/2025! Tomorrow’s the solstice! Feeling much better! Bit of a workout in as well today. Getting things done despite bouncing around between classes etc. Can’t help but think that modern tech sure makes things a lot easier than ever. But, is this sustainable? No. Something will have to give at some point.  LOTS of tech shares oversold, including AAPL. SHOULD’VE held onto BYD! That stock...

They’re released! The JFK files are released! Who has time to go through them?! What was the other set he was going to release? Doubts on peer-reviewed journals: https://www.wsj.com/business/media/scientific-journals-quality-publishers-6399fc95? https://www.wsj.com/science/whats-wrong-with-peer-review-e5d2d428? Should I write a book about teaching English overseas? It might be funny, or it might j...

Tuesday is the new chill day - nothing going on. Lunch with the colleagues, talking about ages, life experiences. Most are in the 20s, but the other English teacher is a bit older and was teaching at a university in the Philippines before coming over here. Her FIRST TIME in China! Still feeling rough, but managing. No real strength. Big university beside the hotel and LOTS of Hello Bikes there… ca...

The luck of the Irish and it’s St. Patrick’s Day! Sick on the weekend, was it the snow, the students or the tanghulu? Painful day so barely a token work out. And Canadian energy getting a reprieve. How’s gold? Donate to the show! PayPal link below! https://www.paypal.me/stevensirski?locale.x=en_CA *** Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com And on Notion: https://stevensirski.notion.site/SSAB-T...

Beware the Ides of March! Or something like that. Thanks Shakespeare. (It’s tomorrow.) Back in Shuangjing, went for a run, feeling rather sluggish. This is a new schedule I’m getting used to. Stock market correction, so what? Good time to buy. China turning around. GOLD over $3000 USD, Bitcoin down to $84,000 USD. Vlogs are’t landing, a couple hundred views, so very little generated by way of adse...

Selfies with essays? The new way to learn names aaaand figure out who actually knows what they’re talking about. How do you deal with an unresponsive class? Let em go! They barely got through the warm up, I don’t know if they actually understood they had a test, and only one out of three group leaders actually turned up! 😂😂 Dropped by the campus bookstore aaaaand… bought a Russian textbook in Ch...

SSAB - March 12, 2025 Up at 530 or so. Getting used to the new routine.  Edited a podcast and posted it. Videos up and out! Podcast up and out! New vlog on the YouTube channel about my first impressions back in the classroom. New podcast out, Episode 31, on Spotify for the Language Podcast. Workout in. Chest and legs. Am I doing enough? Run done! only 5.5 km cause I wanted to get to breakfast.  Ca...

Someone’s smoking on my floor… Up at 5.45 to get things done: Russian, workout, stretching aaaaand breakfast! Came back at lunch to record the latest Language Vlog podcast… only seems to be in the hotel that my throat doesn’t hold up. Classes going as well as you could expect, today talked about topic sentences, supporting details and organizing ideas in an outline. Gotta remember, these kids have...

Back at it for another week, what am I even doing? 5.45 for the success? Get up! Morning routine: Russian, working out, running.  Morning workout done: 20 min bike+Chinese reading, circuit work, 45 min run… was it 6.44 km or less? Back to Changping. Only takes 50 minutes to get here on Mondays, but took an hour and a half on Friday. New Substack up, new video up, gotta work on the language vlog pc...

Back in the Shuangjing, but feeling a little bit under the weather. Just knackered from this week. Am coughing a little and the throat doesn’t like these ling days. Managed to get the weighted run done AND 100 pull ups etc, but slow going and only did HALF of the pull ups with the vest on. Is this age, mindset or just a bad day? Had lunch with one of the HR ladies, she spent a year in HK getting a...

Throat is definitely stressed. Snatch and grab breakfast! Came back to do laundry. Lu Xun (狂人日记 - “Diary of a worker” but Wikipedia tells me it’s “Diary of a Madman”) - an example of contemporary Chinese writing, had never heard of him before but he’s mentioned in the PPTs - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diary_of_a_Madman_(Lu_Xun) Apparently I gotta start making my own PPTs! starting in Week 3...

今日惊蛰 昆虫苏醒，译得好棒！ The insects awaken!  Apparently it’s the beginning of insect season. Late night, early morning, could I make it back for breakfast?!! Got some things done this morning: gym, squats, lunges, some chest, 20 min run for about 2.5km… should’ve done more. This is an unsustainable lifestyle. Looking at TikTok ads and Shopify, still looking around to see what’s available. Ne...

Finding a new groove. How’s the hotel? Did get to the gym today but… yea, hotel gym. In the evening. Breakfast buffets, missed them, but didn’t. I always liked the idea of having a three-hour breakfast. Problem is? When do you find the time? How much can you possibly eat? Conversation classes today. At first went slow and took my time. Then… two minutes and out. NEXT! Quite a few Beijingers, Hangz...

Welcome to March, and welcome back to class. The classroom that is. Sitting in Changping, it’s a little 荒凉 huangliang (desolate). Same with the university, but it does have enough. Supermarkets, canteens, and modern tech in the classroom. It’s about 20 minutes by bike from the hotel. Took a cab up with a suitcase full of stuff. Figured I’d take some old stuff with me, use it, get rid of it. Spok...

End of the month! Well, it’s official - done and done and badges handed in! Busy morning: Russian reading, bike ride 10 min (fast), deadlifts (100kg x 5, 105kg x 5) Morning class x 2 115 pull ups, 230 push ups, 345 squats Pengyou came over for a bit to catch up. Night time run? 6.53 km in 54.50. Saw a guy who used to live on the compound, now lives one compound over. Apparently got divorced. Getti...

22K and counting! New YouTube monetization level UNLOCKED! Join in a Shopify store? With what?! Can we trust those websites that promote Chinese wholesale? Looking at Chinese websites found on XiaoHongShu for Chine wholesalers… most are inaccessible and not operational! Lightinthebox (LITB) - stock has tanked and basically offers the most generic shopping experience you could imagine: it’s sourcin...

18,000 views! Almost at my target! Workouts in! Morning bench and squats, afternoon run 6.46km in 41.21 (getting warm out there!), then 20 minutes of slam ball work. Thinking about businesses and websites, Shopify? Could I create a storefront on Shopify that promotes Chinese language learning products? What about other products from China? Does it have to be China? Donate to the show! PayPal link...

How many times can you say the same thing in a day? THREE CLASSES all about language syntax. Luckily I’ve got a lot of material to work with AND I skipped the whole description of prepositional phrases, predicates and adverbs. Bad? Well, how do you make any of that stuff crystal clear to a group whose first language isn’t English? New Chinese language check up on the YouTube channel.  New podcast...

After an eight year hiatus, to the day almost!, a return to the classroom! Online at least. Voice is sore, haven’t talked that much that often in a long time. Not sure it will be the same in person as it is online. I kinda like online since it can be done so quickly, but then you just need to talk cause not sure if the students even understand what’s going on. Also, quite sure even more now that t...

Out with one, and in with the other. Meetings, and greetings, onto the next! Workouts in! X3! Morning: deadlifts, rows, shouldersAfternoon: 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 squatsEvening: 6.55 km run in 53.16, no extras todayWhat’s the new job like? What’s the schedule? And Alibaba go boom! Up! Donate to the show! PayPal link below!https://www.paypal.me/stevensirski?locale.x=en_CA***Show notes n tr...

Nothing like a day without running water! Why? Cause it’s the semi-annual rip up the concrete fest! And so ends one chapter, and begins another. Last day and thinking: did I do the right thing? Is this the right move? Welp, only time will tell, but I can say that this is not the next big thing, this is just for now. So, now, what about China? Do I stay or do I go? Is the country going to get bette...