Chinese check-in

I forgot to mention in my last monthly update that I had just finished reading A Brief History of China: Dynasty, Revolution, and Transformation. It's generally solid and entertaining to read, but annoyingly apologetic. I don't mean it's full of apologia, I mean every couple chapters the author has to tell you how sorry he is that this is a brief history and he can't do real justice to all the essential people of whichever era it is.

This weekend I hit a HelloChinese lesson group with sports-related phrases. I don't follow international sports much, but I am aware that this is ironically happening during a World Cup which China failed to qualify for.