tl;dw:
Homework for this weekend included taking pictures of the characters we had learned so far. I think there are 57 so far, but I wrote them all willy-nilly and I might have miscounted. I could just keep them in the classroom, but I think it’s better to share my work for the world to see. PREPARE TO BE INSPIRED!
Oh, right off the bat we have a jackpot. There’s 火(huo3, fire), 水(shui3, water), 口(kou3, mouth), I think I see a few 一(yi1, 1), there’s a 下(xia4, down), looks like some 人(ren2, person), a 方(fang1, direction) on the first line of the second paragraph, and I think that’s 手(shou3, hand) in the middle of the line below.
If I’m right, that’s 8 right there.
Oh, a book with 在(zai4, at/in) right on the cover. 9!
中山大学(Zhong1shan1da4xue2, Sun Yat-sen University, characters alone mean center/middle, mountain, big, and study respectively), on a road barrier. The last character is in traditional form, so we’ll count just the first three. Up to 12, then!
Half of the big characters are relevant. We have 心(xin1, heart) and 头(tou2, head). When is preceded by 小(xiao3, small), it’s usually used to warn you of something, like YOU ARE SECONDS AWAY FROM DEATH. Anyway, 14.
口(kou3, mouth) again. Every repost is repost repost.
We have 上(shang4, up), 下, and 人. Oh, what’s that behind it? I see 月(yue4, moon/month) and 日(ri4, sun/day) in the date back there! 17!
天(tian1, day) is part of a place name here. There’s 南(nan2, south) as well. Also, 方 makes some more appearances. 19
Mexico contains 西(xi1, west)! 20!
Bewildering English notwithstanding, here’s another small jackpot. There’s 我(wo3, I/me) in the first line of the text and elsewhere, and the next line starts with another 在, 两(liang3, two), and another 天. 22
There are some 不(bu4, not) and a 工(gong1, work), as well as another 火 at this construction site. 24.
Oh, look, I found this invitation. I’m not even going through all of this, but new characters are 国(guo2, country), 六(liu4, 6), 十(shi4, 10), 三(san1, 3), 二(er4, 2), 九(jiu3, 9), 八(ba1, 8), and 五(wu3, 5). We’re up to 32, mostly thanks to numbers.
Our TV has a game as one of its channels. It made Rachelle happy. New ones here: 左(zuo3, left), 右(you4, right), and it looks like 目(mu4, eye). 35.
Older pic from Shamian Island. There’s 北(bei3, north) for 36.
Now we can count 学. 37.
And the “please don’t pee on the floor” sign looks to contain 文(wen2, written language) for 38.
I had seen 个(ge4, a measure word), 多(duo1, many), and 厂(chang3, workhouse), but did not have my camera ready. Alas.
