Recently I joined an online community (talkxian.com) that is geared toward English speakers living in Xi’an. There are both expats and locals visiting the site, bantering and helping each other out on the online forum. For the most part it is a fun and friendly community.
One of the things I missed from my Austin days is the weekly Chinese Language Meetup group that I used to go to every Tuesday. It was a great way for like-minded language lovers to get together and help each other with our language needs. I met many wonderful people through that group, they made my Austin experience so much more enjoyable. Not only that, my Mandarin improved greatly because I had an outlet to practice in. I miss you guys Austin Chinese Language group!
On TalkXian.com, there was a group created called the “Language Exchange” group, which I assumed was created to get people to come together and help each other learn a different language. But they did not have regular meetings or organized events, which was what I was looking for. After recruiting the help of some older members of the site (Thanks Ed and Rita Wendy!), we were able to organize a weekly meetup group that meets on Thursdays at various locations around town.
Here is a video of our second language exchange meetup. We had a great time making fun of each other as they try to read the “script” I prepared for them. Good times!
Leave a Reply