The Audio Blog of Steven Sirski

Halloween as an expat experience. // THE VIRUS returns, will we be allowed back into Beijing if we leave? // USA's National Institutes of Health (NIH) discloses it's been funding virus research... oops? // Chinese study progress... time to hit the books? Will I make it before February or March of next year? And where can I even use this language if not in China? // Have a good start of week! // st...

How to order a full cup of coffee in Chinese? // Off to Wenshu Buddhist Temple, does a stopover at a temple count for anything in the Universal Order? // Over to Qing Yang Palace // Temple, Taoist Temple. Lao Zu was sitting there. He wrote the Tao Te Cheng, one of the main books of Taoism. // Then off to JinLi Street, similar to Beijing's Nanlu Guxiang street, but with ear cleaners! // Got my ears...

Chinese studies in the morning: characters, reading, socializing. // Depression and anxiety: these topics pop up from time to time. How to deal with them? // Have a good weekend and make sure to be good to yourself! // stevensirski.com

Headache to start the day!  //  Off to see the pandas!  //  Big ones, small ones, white and black ones and red ones too! I remember when pandas were sent as visitors to my home town back some years ago. What do I remember of that time? Footprints and ice cream.  //  Walked the whole park, took a full day, learned a little about how they are born and grow and... how th...

Deep clean of the apartment! Why? Got a new washing machine soooo, if the old one needs to go, chances are its surroundings haven't been touched in a while. Nine hours later, everything (most) things are clean. Baking soda and vinegar all day! Would professional cleaners do any better?  //  Aaaaaaand, it's that time of year again: shopping season! Alibaba kicks off its flagship APP's, Ta...

All about the document renewal process in Beijing! Get the paperwork, get the photos, fill in the papers IN BLACK INK, wait in line, submit the paper, don't lose the paper, pick up your passport in a week's time. And... next year don't forget to renew your passport! // Show notes on stevensirski.com!

Moving day, and it's raining again! No surprise there. ChongQing >> Chengdu.  //  Bought tickets online, train delayed, no Starbucks.  //  Hotel downtown, Chengdu is smaller, People's Park is busy with Elders playing cards, talking, and making deals?  //  Kuan Zhai XiangZi (wide and narrow alleyway, which are called hutongs in Beijing) for the afternoon.  //  Cycled down to Great Leap Chengdu to s...

It's COLD in Beijing! Temperatures have dropped seemingly OVERNIGHT!  //  Uploading more Episodes for last week!  //  Visa renewal process beings, always fun to go through, especially when transiting through train stations and airports!  //  New Apple computers, since when did "MAX" become better than "PRO"?  //  DJI might release a new drone in the coming w...

Late start, tired legs and feet. // Off to the Art Gallery, neat temporary collection of oil paintings. // Burning noodles. // The mask situation. // Southern tip of ChongQing City for a bookstore in a dying mall. // Then off to a famous tea house. Got interviewed? // Art district, university students everywhere. // Pig knuckle for dinner. // Old Street isn't old. // Night cap and an excited taxi...

Back in the Beej and recovering from the very busy journey! Is it possible to travel and publish? How do you keep sane and organized? Schedule over presence of the moment? Deadlines or dates? All things to think about if you're looking to publish on the move. // stevensirski.com

Planned: Three Gorges Museum and an Art Gallery. Got: Govt Museum, house and the Museum. // Neat metro stop built into its surroundings, including a forest park. // China ChongQing Three Gorges Museum is huge! Four floors, interesting to see. Learned about the city's bombing in World War 2. // Jiang Hu Cai for dinner: oily and spicey. // Have a good one! // stevensirski.com

What is your daily schedule like when you travel? Get up and get out, that's why it's sometimes good to have a travel group taking you around. // Got a painting done! Never done that before! // LOTS of walking, mostly downtown ChongQing. It's just shopping. Who buys this stuff? // Climbed a building without an elevator, lots of girls dressed up for those pics, don't know why. // Yugang Temple then...

Smoking smoking smoking, snoring snoring snoring! is true! 2.5 hrs of sleep total! // Cabin couple was nice to talk to. // Arrived in ChongQing, rain rain rain! // Hostel is almost empty! Hilly city! // In bed by 10! // Have a good one! // stevensirski.com

Smoking smoking smoking, snoring snoring snoring! That's how the hard sleeper train to ChongQing was described to me! And, given the price, 389 for a bed, yet flights could be had for 400, you might wonder why I chose this method. It's a bit more visceral, I think. Not as dirty as I thought it would be, but there is a lot of smoking. Not as noisy, but it is getting late and cell phone coverage has...

Pre-travel checklist? GoPro, drone, and a phone, right? // 18 hours to ChongQing on a Saturday night, should be interesting who we meet. // Four days ChongQing, four days Chengdu, as long as nothing changes with the health situation. // Only need a NAT if arriving from medium- to high-risk area. // Will try to post throughout, want to document the trip. A sign of the times. Follow me on Twitter @T...

Cheaper to ChongQing? Only 18 hrs on the train? Later departure and only a small difference in arrival time?! // New HSK test prep book, is it enough? Brings my total HSK 5 textbook total to seven, including four textbooks and three prep books. // Do you need days off after a vacation? I think it's a good idea. // Getting ready! // Have a great Thursday! // stevensirski.com

Travel prep begins, tickets, hostels, hotels, scheduling. Chengdu >> ChongQing? // How do people even pack for a vacation? I'm not used to this short of trip! Is this what it's like being old? Or is this what it's like to be settled? // Dogs are back on the compound so things have gotten noisier. // Looking forward to warmer weather down South. // Also got some Python done: Snake, Pong, Turt...

THREE HOUR WAR MOVIE! Battle of Changjin. Good movie / story, no cheesey love lines. Patriotic, the US doesn't win, but certainly not anti-War. Takes place during Korean War. CG is noticeable but not distracting, sound is good. Long, but well paced. Would recommend to see. // Have a good Tuesday! // stevensirski.com

It's sooooooo quiiiieeeeeettttt! And it's nice. I ended up taking the weekend off from my studies as it was just so nice and quiet around the compound that I didn't feel like letting go a chance to enjoy some peace and quiet. It's what I think a sensory deprivation tank would be like.  //  Did take some time to play around with Logic Pro this weekend and came up with few tunes. No surprise, the be...

National Day Golden Week beings! Qing Jie Kuai le as they say on the Chinese socials!  //  Feeling the crunch as my studies are taking a lot of time each day, but I'm seeing progress and there is an end to each, mid-October for Python, and the end of the units for HSK 5 vocab.  //  More turtle work in Python. Want to also work on simpler projects to test my abilities on the fou...

Episode 27 is done, up and posted on my website stevensirski.com. Take a look, have a listen, with the New Age of Decay!  //  Spent FOUR HOURS in contact with the Chinese language today, sounds like a lot, right? 30 min vocabulary, 30 min short video, 30 min reading, 90 min movie (watched Red Sorghum), 60 min classssssss! The good thing is that my head didn't feel tired, I only moved on...

Kuaishou, Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok), or Bilibili? Which one would you choose? There are some differences, but all provide similar types of short video content. Anyone actually use Snapchat for something useful? Even the dramas available on Kuaishou put Snapchat to shame.  //  Python progress as I've started working with Object Oriented Programming aaaaand.... the Turtle! Got that working...

BIRDS! // Are people heading out for National Day break already? // Skipping rope is now a subject to be studied, how many skips can you do in a minute? // Programming #FAIL as I could barely string together a few lines of code to access a value in a dictionary. At least I got some of the program breakdown correct! // Have a good day! // stevensirski.com

Gotta fix Anchor RSS feed, it's not working. // SSP27 recorded and being edited, to be released later this week! // Finally finished that comic book! Now back to the magazines. // New blog post up! // Is there ever a good time to watch a plane crash documentary? // Have a good start of week! // stevensirski.com

Sept 20, 2021: USA publishes lots of books about future tech, what about in China? // Red room with posters all around it outlining the duties of a good Party Member. What does it take to join the Party? Could that ever exist in Canada? // Found a good podcast to listen to in Chinese, slow, relevant. // Saturday was the air defense siren, could barely hear it. (Sound clip at end of Episode.) // Ti...