One thing I learned that helps keep me going when I started learning Mandarin here in Beijing is that it’s the little “accomplishments” that give me a daily dose of joy.

Today, it was calling my favorite kao ya（Peking duck) restaurant near Chaoyang Park and making reservations for Chinese New Year dinner with my friends tonight.  

The first thing I had to do was look up the word “reserve” (yu ding) in my handy English-Chinese dictionary. And the word for “table” (zhuo zi). After that, it was a matter of taking a deep breath and summoning the confidence to place a phone call to the non-English speaking maitre d’ of the restaurant. Here goes nothing. Continue reading “Loving the Little Doses” →