summer chinese practice

i did study chinese this summer.  i had about two weeks worth of daily lessons, which were very good.  i don't usually get this much interaction in chinese because i teach in english and i work with people who mostly speak english.  my lessons were great in terms of getting to listen to and interact in chinese.  i failed in the area of really learning to read anymore chinese this summer though, which had originally been one of my goals.  i made stacks of vocabulary cards of words that i know how to say but can't read.  there were just too many of them and i got overwhelmed. what do you do when in order to read you have to memorize what every single word looks like?  there is no such thing as phonics in chinese.  for some reason learning to a read is a really important part of language learning to me too.  so if i can't read, i really feel like i'm missing something significant in my chinese ability.  and the longer i don't actually learn to read these words, the more and more words i will know that i can't read.  i need to get over this and learn how to read one word a day.  or one word a week.  or something.

but if i want to feel good about my chinese ability, the thing to do is talk to taxi drivers.  this seems to happen a lot more in the summer too, since a lot of my colleagues are gone during the summer, i end up taking a lot more taxis by myself.  taxi drivers are some of the most encouraging people to talk to.  it's usually pretty easy to tell if it's the kind of person who will actually try to communicate and not totally give up if i don't understand one word in a sentence or something.  usually i can start a conversation with, "are you a wuxi person?" (are originally from wuxi?) and go from there.  here is how a typical conversation this summer went:

me: are you a wuxi person?
taxi driver: no, i'm from anhui.
me: ohhh.  i have been there.
td: did you go to the yellow mountains?
me: yes, i did.  it was beautiful.
td: your chinese is so good!
me: have you been to the yellow mountains?
td: yes, i have.  have you been to beijing?
me: yes, i've been there.
(discussion of other places in china i have been.)
td: your chinese is so good!!
me: i've lived here for three years.
td: do you like it here?
me: yes, this is a good city.
td: where do you work?
me: at an international school.
td: do you teach english?
me: no, i use english to teach high school math.
td: wow, you are so clever!!!

or, an alternate conversation ending:
td: how old are you?
me: 27.
td: you are so beautiful. do you have a boyfriend?
me: no.
td: i have a son who goes to the university.  he is studying english.
me: [thankful we are at the final destination]