Blogging in Chinese -first attempt

A lot of people have told me I should start blogging in Chinese. I am reluctant to this because of many reasons, where the main ones are: 1. My written Chinese is so bad that it is embarrassing (after 1.5 years of university studies I still write very simple sentences), 2. It would take me ages to write a Chinese blog post every day. 3. I believe a majority of you blog readers cannot read Chinese? And 4. (this is a shallow one!) I am not sure if I could handle all the critique from everyone reading my Chinese writings saying 'this suuuuucks!'. 

But then again, life is all about putting yourself out there and learning how to deal with difficult situations, right? If life was all sugar sweat it wouldn't be any fun. Also, maybe everyone's criticism can help me develop my Chinese writing skills, and/or if nothing else, at least give me some thicker skin (when it comes to learning this language). So, I've decided to give you all an example of what one of my Chinese blog posts could look like. It's in fact one of my homework essays. Every week we are asked to write at least 2 essays (in different classes) and hand in. The topics varies. In this essay below the idea was to write about a friend of ours who has some strange/special habits. 

For all of you who cannot read Chinese, you are not missing out on any sort of master piece. This is simply a very simplistic tale about my friend Tess, who (since she was a kid) has had this kind of crazy appetite and basically eats 24-7 (no, no, I promise, it is NOT about me, really, it is about HER!), and despite her eating more than 5 grown up men (in a day), she's still stick thin and always hungry. When I typed it up on the computer I realized that it actually IS quite a good way to practice my Chinese writing skills... so who knows, maybe eventually, when I feel more comfortable about writing in Chinese, I will start an additional blog, all in Chinese (although that one I wouldn't be able to update as often as this one, obviously!). 

know I still have a looooong way to go before I can compose something read-worthy in Chinese, but hey, you have to start somewhere, right? 

我的很特别的朋友。

我有一个朋友， 吃什么都特别有意思。因为她老饿，而总是需要吃饭。你可能觉得 ”一直很饿的人没有怎么特别，” 但让我告诉你: 这个朋友的吃饭习惯很糟糕！

她很喜欢睡懒觉。 她的床旁边有一张桌子， 桌子上至少有三个小吃。 小吃一般是比较甜的东西， 比如: 蛋糕， 薄脆饼干糖果，等等。。。 每天早上她吃得比较少。她自己觉得是因为不喜欢吃早饭。 我认为是因为她在夜里已经吃了好多了！

到十点以前她都吃得很少。但十点后， 她得食欲越来越好了。 那时她经常会去买一个快餐，但半个小时后她又饿了。虽然我对她说: ”你应该要吃好的菜， 比如面包， 面条， 等等，” 但她并不听我。反而， 常常去买巧克力。

午饭的时候， 她更希望去麦当劳吃饭。我们都知道麦当劳的饭对身体的坏处，所以一般没有人愿意陪她去。午饭后她马上就打算去哪儿吃晚饭。在一个下午一直在吃小吃。 晚饭经常去外地吃饭， 或在家里做土豆跟肉丸 （瑞典的特色菜）。 她的食欲天天如此。 可她的身体从小到现在再也没有变化。

你看这篇文章可能会想 ”怎么， 你的朋友吃甜的东西， 很多人跟她一样。”但你还不知道， 尽管我的朋友爱吃饭，但她很瘦。 她比我瘦。比中国女孩瘦。不管怎么样吃， 她都不会增加体重。她每天吃的东西比男人吃的东西还多。但她的比较特别的食欲不会影响她的身材。

我们都很羡慕她。我天天吃的东西比较好，而且经常去健身房锻炼身体。如果我每天吃的东西跟她一样我马上会肥胖。 生活真不公平啊。。。

有一天我问我的朋友: ”你在生活上最怕什么？” 她的回答让我很吃惊。她说: ”我最怕增加体重。要是我胖的话 没有办法， 我一点也不知道如何减肥。 而且，我很讨厌锻炼身体。”

她说这样的话让我笑。 我们的生活真不一样， 这会让生活更有意思。

And here she is, the eater, the legend: Tess (second from left). This is an old photo taken from when I visited her in London 2005.