Just How Good Is Your Memory?

The next time that I say that one of the reasons that I started learning Chinese was to read literature in Chinese, remind me to come back to this blog, and come back to Chapter 17 in my second textbook. I will immediately remember just how painful it really is. Let me explain why I am saying this.

Every night, we have to preview tomorrows lesson, which includes learning the words, reading the text, and becoming familiar with the grammar. I read the text for today last night, and it was painful. The entire thing described flowers and the moonlight on a lake at night. Basically, it was literature to the extreme. Somehow, this didn't set off any alarm bells in my head. Not at the moment, any way. Clearly, I am not as smart as my new glasses make me look.

The alarm bells finally went off as soon as we started class. The entire class, and yes, the entire day, was all about metaphors and personification. I don't even like doing those in English, much less in Chinese. Not to mention, Chinese literature is almost impossible to learn. Most of the rules that we have been learning for the past couple of years with regards to Chinese grammar and measure words, all of sudden no longer apply to Chinese literature. It is another language within a language. Sure, it is beautiful, anybody will tell you that (sometimes they will even harp on and on and on about it) but dear god, there is a time when enough is just enough.

I have found that my biggest problem with learning literature, and trying to imitate it, is that I am just not touchy feeling/cheesy enough to really get into it. During our conversational class, for example, we spent the entire time thinking up metaphors and personifications. One of the questions was "A perfect marriage is like..." and we had to think something up. My first instinct? "A happy marriage is like... A HAPPY MARRIAGE." The moonlight is like the moonlight, the sunlight is like the sunlight. I am pretty sure a person's eyes are just their eyes, not akin to the warmth of a summer breeze, or deep as the seven seas. I just don't have that artsy streak to me. I have a feeling that this is going to be a problem sometime in the near future (READ: test that I have in the morning.) Oh bugger.

I was torn when class ended today. On the one hand, I was absolutely over the moon, because I was starving and wanted lunch. On the other hand, being done with class meant that I needed to go outside, and it was a horrible day outside. You could feel the smog and the humidity pressing down on you. It was like walking through mud. There was also the promise of rain. You could feel it on your skin. On these kinds of days, I think that it is simply best to stay inside all day, and to go out as infrequently as possible. Just a suggestion.

During my one on one class with my teacher, we spent more time trying to make up metaphors. In addition to that, I had to give a book report on a book of my choice. What else could I choose? Obviously, it was The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; one, because it is an amazing book, and two, it is the book that I can remember the most vividly right now, because it is the one that I have read most recently. Well, that trilogy, anyway. I hadn't really prepared for it all that well (as I have to do it for real tomorrow) but I thought that I pulled it off pretty well. Confidence boost! It was actually a pretty low key class, because my teacher was exhausted, and I would have rather been back in my dorm. Good times.

Today was my rest day from the gym, so I spent the rest of the afternoon studying, and reading. I have finally finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest. Amazing. I can't believe I am done with the series though, and that there aren't going to be anymore. It is such an amazing book. If you haven't read it, you need to stop reading this and start reading that. No joke.

Studying actually went pretty well. Our grammar this week is not all that hard, and I have prepared the book report for tomorrow. The hardest part? Memorization. I have the Kong Yiji paragraph down to pat, but it's the literature one that worries me. It's hard to memorize something when there is no story to follow. It is strictly a descriptive paragraph, so the words aren't nearly as fun to say. I think I have got it mostly down. If I can just say all the words in the right order, I will be happy. It's hard! Tones are another matter completely. I haven't quite gotten to the point where I can remember both tones, and the words. It's one or the other, and frankly, I am more worried about characters. I like to think that I have my priorities in a row...

And now, I am going to put myself and my rather large head ache to sleep. It's that time of the night. Besides, as well all know, it's better to get some sleep before a test than to stay up all night trying to study. If I don't know it by now, I'm not going to know it.