A glimpse of my desk. I am cramming Chinese into my head, absolutely cramming. I more or less confidently recognise over 600 characters from Heisig, which well-thumbed volumes you don’t see in this pile here because they are in constant use. I am the top of my league in Duolingo and set to take first prize in about 24 hours. I think I could pass HSK 1 now if I had to (the exam is actually in September) and I have set my sights on HSK 2 for the new year.

The elephant desk tidy isn’t explicitly Chinese, unless it was made there. It just arrived today and I love it. The trunk forms a stand for your 手机