Wow! I can’t quite believe I’m here. I started making this blog in August 2025, thinking it would take me a couple of weeks at most. I’ve seen a lot of options for pre-made websites where you can just insert your own content, or even completely AI-generated websites nowadays (scary), but I overestimated my abilities and just decided I could do it by watching Youtube tutorials. I never would have expected, between the spouts of motivation and slumps of anxiety-induced procrastination, that it would take 5 months, 4 cities, and about a thousand cups of tea to complete. But, as they (me) say, progress is progress, no matter how small, and we are finally here! If you see any massive flaws with the website you know why, and if you’re a professional website developer please avert your gaze.
哇！我不敢相信我在這裡了。我在2025年8月開始做這個博客時，以爲最多花幾個星期就能完成。我看到了很多已經做好的網站的選擇，只要把自己的内容放進去。現今還有完全AI做的網站（很可怕），可是我高估了自己的能力，決定看YouTube教學應該就好了。沒想到，在短期動力和焦慮拖延中間，竟然花了五個月，住了四個城市和喝了差不多一千杯茶才完成。可是，像人們（自己）說，小小的一步也是往前。而，我們終於到這裡了。如果你看到網站有什麽巨大的問題，你知道原因。如果你是專業網站開發者，請你別看。
I decided to make this blog as I have missed being online and creating things. If you’re relatively new to my life, I used to have an Instagram account where I would regularly post makeup looks. It was colourful and whimsical and I loved doing it, but the thought of posting selfies online nowadays fills me with irrational dread, as I’m sure a lot of you can relate to. As I’m back in the UK for a while and wanting to keep up my Chinese writing ability as much as I can, I thought that making a blog would be a great way to dip my toes back into the big scary internet world. Not only can I maybe find a little community again, but I can also use my own posts as weekly translation homework – two birds one stone! (There’s gotta be a Chinese idiom for that, good luck Translator Jess).
我決定做這個博客是因爲我想念上網和創作自己的東西。如果你是對我還不太熟悉的人，我以前有一個IG賬號，在那裡常常把妝容照片分享了。我創作的東西都是又彩色又怪癖的。我那時真愛做，可是目前對把自拍放在網路上，這就讓我充滿恐懼 （我覺得應該有很多人認同)。現在我已經回到英國一段時間，想要保持中文寫作能力，所以我覺得做一個博客是重新經驗這個巨大和可怕的網路世界的好方法。我不僅可以再次有機會找到社群感，而且能用自己的文章當作每周翻譯作業 – 一舉兩得！（我找到了成語！）
Here’s the schedule that I hope to follow with this blog!:
1st Tuesday: A story/recommendation from my time in China/Taiwan
2nd Tuesday: Creative Corner
3rd Tuesday: A personal or random topic
4th Tuesday: Book Club
5th Tuesday (if there is one): Coffeeshop review!
一下是我希望能遵循的時間表！：
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第一個星期二：中國或台灣的故事或推薦
第二個星期二：創意小角落
第三個星期二：個人或隨機話題
第四個星期二: 讀書會
第五個星期二 （如果有的話）：咖啡店推薦！
Story/Recommendation from China/Taiwan
As you probably know by now, I lived in China for 1 year and Taiwan for around 2 years total, so I definitely have a lot of stories to tell from my time there. I had some pretty crazy experiences in China particularly, but if I want to write about those I’ll probably have to come clean to my mum first… Taiwan was a lot more domestic and calm, with lots of exploring little towns and chatting to old aunties and uncles, so maybe I’ll start with that. Next week I’ll be talking about how I came to study Chinese in the first place, and why I moved to China, I hope you’ll like it. 😊
中國或台灣的故事或推薦
你應該已經知道，我以前住在中國一年了，還有台灣一共大約兩年，所以我一定有很多有趣的故事可以分享。特別是在中國，我有一些瘋狂的經驗，可是如果我想要分享，我先該對我媽媽坦白。。。台灣則比較輕鬆，平靜，我花了很多時間在鄉村小鎮探索，和跟阿姨叔叔聊天，所以我有可能會在那裡開始。下個星期我會討論我爲什麽開始學中文，以及爲什麽搬到中國了，希望你們會喜歡。 😊
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Creative Corner
This will be a space where I can talk about my many creative pursuits and little hobbies, like painting, making jewellery, yoga, hiking, makeup, journalling, living sustainably, travelling etc! I’ve disconnected from my creative soul a little bit recently, and miss doing all my hobbies, so I’m hoping if I share my journeys and woes, I’ll feel more motivated to make things and share my experiences again. I recently watched a Hitomi Mochizuki video where she spoke about being brave enough to suck at something and still share it with people, which is something I really need to work on as a chronic perfectionist! You can watch her video here.
創意小角落
這是我分享自己各種創作和小愛好的地方。比如説，畫畫，做珠寶，瑜伽，爬山，寫日記，永續生活，旅行等等！最近我有點疏離自己的創作靈魂，也很想念做各種的愛好，所以我希望如果我分享我的旅程和小問題，會讓我再有動力創作和更想分享我的經驗。我最近看到了Hitomi Mochizuki的影片，她談到如果自己不擅長地做什麽，可是還跟別人分享，這是需要特別的勇敢。對我慢性完美主義者來説，是非常要學習的概念！在這裏可以看她的影片.
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Personal/Random Topics
Like this post! Where I can just ramble on about any topic I find interesting. Perhaps something personal like my plans for the future (eek!), or how I’m finding life post-university. Or, just chatting about a random topic to force me to learn new Chinese vocabulary. I remember when I was studying Chinese in the UK or Taiwan we would have classes on topics like cryptocurrency, surrogacy, nuclear power and so on, but I don’t think I’ll pick topics quite as random as that hahaha. I love learning about space and nature, so maybe we can learn some scientific vocabulary together. (I did write an essay about Taiwanese blue-tailed skinks once though, so I’m a bit of a hypocrite.)
個人或隨機話題
就像這個文章！我可以隨意談到什麽有趣的話題。 可能是個人的話題，比如説我對未來的計劃 （啊！），或者我大學畢業後的生活怎麽樣。也可能是隨便的話題，迫使自己學習生詞。我記得以前在英國和台灣學習中文時，我們的課程主題包括加密貨幣，代理孕母，核能等等這樣的話題，可是我覺得我應該不會選那麽隨機的話題哈哈哈。我非常愛學習關於太空和大自然的知識，所以我們可以在一起學習一些科學詞匯。（不過，我以前寫過一篇關於台灣的白斑石龍子的文章，所以我有點虛偽。）
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Book Club
I’m particularly excited about the monthly book club! The books will be in English, and won’t necessarily have anything to do with the Chinese-speaking world. I particularly love books from British, Taiwanese and Norwegian authors, and will pick books from a range of genres. If you’d like to join along this month, you can read ‘The Ferryman and his Wife’ by Frode Grytten with me! It follows Nils Vik the ferryman, who takes his final trip out to the fjord. He runs into the people who have had an impact on him during his life, as he explores what makes life meaningful. I may or may not have already read it, and it may or may not have instantly become one of my favourite books. I’d love for you to join along and share your thoughts when I post my review on Tuesday 24th!
讀書會
我特別期待分享我的讀書會！書籍會是英文書，也不一定會跟中國世界有關。我特別喜歡英國，台灣和挪威的作家，也會選不同類型的書。如果你想一起讀這個月的書，你可以看Frode Grytten的《渡船夫和他的妻子》！故事是關於渡船夫Nils Vik的最後一次去峽灣渡船，在他的旅程中碰到在他的生命中對他有影響的人，並探索生命的意義。我可能已經看完了，也可能馬上成爲我最喜歡的書之一。我很希望你會讀這本書，並在24日星期二分享你的看法！
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Coffeeshop Reviews
If we are lucky enough to have 5 Tuesdays in a month, then the fifth one will be a coffeeshop review! I spend an embarrassingly large amount of time in coffeeshops, although unfortunately I am not one of the people who can tell the difference between beans from Costa Rica versus Guatemala, I just love the vibes and sitting down with an oat latte to read my book or get some work done. I love being around people without the expectation of talking to anyone, so just being alone in a coffeeshop with other customers in there is enough to fill my social battery. Taiwan has some of the best coffeeshops I’ve ever been to in my life, from the huge cities to the tiny rural villages. I’ve also found some amazing ones in the UK and Norway, so I look forward to sharing them with you! Look forward to reading about them in March, June, September and December!
咖啡店推薦
運氣好的話，我們會有五個星期二，那第五個就會是咖啡店推薦！我在咖啡店花的時間真的太長了，可是我不是那種能分別哥斯達黎加咖啡豆和瓜地馬拉豆的人，我只喜歡那樣的氣氛，坐下喝一杯燕麥奶拿鐵和看我的書或做一些小工作就好了。我很喜歡坐在別人的旁邊喝咖啡，可是不需要説話這種感覺。所以，一個人去咖啡店很容易補充自己的社交能量。台灣有我喝過最棒的咖啡店，從大城市到小鎮都有。我也在英國和挪威找到了一些很棒的咖啡店，所以我很期待跟你們分享！三月，六月，九月，十二月請你期待！
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Well, that’s all from me this week. Please do let me know if you find anything wrong with my translations or the website in general (I have so many alerts on my WordPress dashboard and have no idea what they mean), and I hope you enjoyed!
See you next week! ✦
好啦，第一個星期就先到這裡。如果你發現我的翻譯或網站有什麽問題，請你告訴我（我的WordPress後臺有太多提醒，可是我完全不懂是什麽意思），我希望你喜歡這篇文章！
下個星期見！✦
This is such a beautifully written blog post, I wish I had something like this during my Chinese learning journey. I am particularly excited for the book club posts. 加油!
Thank you so much!! I really appreciate it 🙂