italki has been a part of my life for quite some time. According to my account, I’ve been a member since 2013. To be honest, I don’t really remember when and how I heard about it. But I started using […]
The Fujian Tulou are earth-packed roundhouses, some of them over 1000 years old, and homes to indigenous Hakka families. The buildings date as far back as the 13th century and house up to 800 people. Despite the fact they’re made […]
I’ve always loved pancakes and they’re probably the first food I learned how to cook. Every Friday we would have pancakes: sometimes for dinner, sometimes for supper. Cooked first by my Dad who passed the recipes down to my sisters […]
HSKK stands for Hanyu Shuiping Kouyu Kaoshi (Chinese Standard Speaking Exam) and it’s the spoken Chinese proficiency test. The exam has three levels: Basic, Intermediate and Advanced. HSKK Intermediate is similar in level to HSK 4, so I decided to […]
Where do you think this photo was taken? No, it’s not Easter Island, but Poland, the Arkady Fiedler museum (Polish language only). As a child, I went there many times. Both my mum and my grandma really liked Arkady Fiedler’s […]
We’re somewhere in the Ouirgane National Park, in the Atlas Mountains of Western Morocco. The room smells slightly musty, despite the lack of humidity here. My legs are tired, after a long day’s hiking and I’m slightly dehydrated. So I’m […]
The Add1Challenge was one of the major factors in overcoming my shyness when it comes to speaking languages (known as speaking block). You see, there are some people that have zero problems when starting to speak in a foreign language. […]
It’s almost 12 years since I visited Sabah, Borneo (Malaysia). This was the first time I ventured anywhere outside of Europe and New York, and the first time I went on a true adventure holiday. It’s also one of my […]
My initial impression of Fuqing was much the same as many Chinese cities I’ve been to. A sprawling mass of concrete apartment blocks and wide noisy roads. My wife and I had planned to visit for the weekend. But on […]
I know from personal experience how difficult it can be to make friends abroad. But if you’re moving or have moved abroad, you probably have a good reason for doing so. Perhaps it’s because of a job, a relationship, or […]