Basic guide to watch repair startup
The first thing you need to start up a workplace for watch repair is a clean room or a spare room. You will then need to purchase a bench to work on it, a flat and square edged table is recommended.
The table top should be clean and flat so that any bits (watch parts) lying around can be detected easily.
Next, you need an adjustable chair so that you can work comfortably at different heights with a straight back.
A fluorescent table lamp is needed to lit up the working place, prefer a small table lamp that is not bulky to actually fill up most of your working bench space.
You should also ensure there are no other things placed on the floor that will hinder your search if ever you accidentally dropped some parts. A clean and neat floor is recommended so that the parts can be easily located and swept up.
Basic tools needed to start up include a brush to wipe away dirt, screwdrivers of different diameters and dust blower. You will also need oilers, magnification glasses, movement holders, tweezers and pliers.
After acquiring the basic tools, you might also want to have a cleaning machine that can be brought second hand. Cleaning machine is used for command cleaning, rinsing steps. A watchmaker's lathe is also needed for cutting, polishing. Once you have all the required basic tools, you can be on your way to watch repairing.
To start on watch repair, it is recommended to read up more books on watch repair and serving. You can buy videos or books online or even attend a short course at any of the watch and clock serving school. Watch repair call for patience and time, because time is needed to slowly dismantle the parts and after the washing and cleaning steps you will have to put back everything in place.


Reference Information to Ease Your Chinese Character Study
Chinese characters seem the most difficult part for foreign friends to learn the Chinese language. In my opinion, the main reason for that may be Chinese characters look very different from their quarter parts in the Roman languages: each character represents not only the pronunciation, but a certain meaning. Many a complaint comes from that Chinese characters are so unlike each other that you have to learn them one by one, and there are so many to memory, and that when encountering a new character, the previous knowledge of other ones helps little, you can neither pronounce it directly nor guess what it means. Actually, there really are some connections between Chinese characters, all composed in a defined way. You are unable to discover that probably because the numbers of the characters you know are too limited, or you didn't learn them in the Chinese perspective.
Chinese characters are the writing system to record the Chinese language. With a history as long as 8,000 years at least, it's perhaps the oldest surviving writing system in the world. An old Chinese legend said that Chinese characters were invented by Cangjie, a historian official under the legendary emperor, Huangdi in 2600 BC. Obviously, the fable cannot possibly be true, for the creation of a great writing system made of so many characters are such a huge project, too huge to be one single person's accomplishment. But perhaps Cangjie really made some contributions in the existing Chinese writing system: instead of the inventor, he might be a collector and collator of scattered Chinese characters in ancient China. Thanks to many a contributor like Cangjie and the common people using and spreading characters, a complete well-developed writing system had finally come to birth. The indisputably evidence is Chinese character inscriptions found on turtle shells dating back to the Shang dynasty (1766-1123 BC), formally called Oracle bone script. Of the 4,600 known Oracle bone logographs, about 1,000 can be identified with later Chinese characters, and the other unidentifiable ones are mostly the names of people, places or clans.
In view of formation, written Chinese is a script of ideograms. Xu Shen, in the Eastern Han Dynasty (121 AD), was a distinguished scholar who had attained unparalleled fame for his etymological dictionary entitled Shuo Wen Jie Zi, whose literal meaning is "explaining written language and parsing words". In Shuo wen, Chinese characters are classified into six categories, namely pictogram, ideograph, logical aggregates, pictophonetic compounds, borrowing and associate transformation. However, the last twos are often omitted, for the characters of these categories have been created before but somehow borrowed to represent another meaning, or detached into separate words. Generally, Chinese characters fall into four categories in view of their origin.
Pictograms (Xiang4 xing2 zi4)
Pictograms are the earliest characters to create, and they usually reflect the shape of physical objects. Examples include the sun, the moon, a woman, fire. From this picture-drawing method, the other character forming principles were subsequently developed. Over a long history, pictograms have evolved from irregular drawing into a definite form, most simplified by losing certain strokes to make ease of writing. Therefore, to see the actual picture of what it represents, you must have a lot of imagination as well as knowledge of the origin of the character and its evolution. However, only a very small portion of Chinese characters falls into this category, not more than 5 percent.
Ideograph (Zhi3 shi4 zi4)
Also called a simple indicative, Ideograph usually describes an abstract concept. It's a combination of indicators, or adds an indicator to a pictograph. For example, a short horizontal bar on top of a circular arc represents an idea of up or on top of. Another example: placing an indicative horizontal bar at the lower part of a pictogram for wood, makes an ideograph for "root". Like pictograms, the number of this category is also small, less than 2 percent.
Logical aggregates (Hui4 yi4 zi1)
It is a combination of pictograms to represent a meaning, rather like telling a little story. A pictograph for person on the left with a pictogram for wood on the right makes a aggregate for "rest". This story-telling formation is relatively easier to learn, yet most of aggregates have been reformed into phonetic compounds, or just replaced by them.
Pictophonetic compounds (Xing2 sheng1 zi4)
Also called semantic-phonetic compounds, just as the name implies, it combines a semantic element with a phonetic element, taking the meaning from one and the phonetics from the other. For instance, the character for ocean with a pronunciation of yang2 is a combination of a semantic classifier which means "water" with the phonetic component yang2, referring to goat or sheep on its own. This last group of characters is the largest in modern Chinese, making up around 90% of all Chinese characters.
The superiority of phonetic-compounds over the first three categories lies in its unique phonetic components, for many an object and concept are hard to express through photographs or ideograms, and its association with the character pronunciation helps Chinese vocabulary extends much faster than logical aggregates. Therefore, most newly created characters take this more scientific formation approach.
However, over the centuries evolution, the Chinese language has undertaken such a great change, that most pictophonetic compounds don't pronounce as its phonetic elements any longer, and the semantic components appear even not relevant to its current meaning. Only when knowing the origin and evolution of the character, you can understand its formation. For example, the phonetic-compound for cargo or goods takes the character for shell as the semantic element, and that's because shells used to be a medium of exchange in ancient China, like the currency.
I do hope the above information can be of some help in your study of Chinese characters. Please tell me what you think about it, so I could be a better help in the future writing. Thank you!

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Lily Chao is the author of EaseChinese.com at http://www.easechinese.com, a website providing a collection of reviews and recommendations of Chinese language learning resources, and more. She is also a would-be TCSL (Teaching Chinese as a Second Language) teacher, living and studying in Beijing, China.


What are the Steps to Study Abroad and How to Study Abroad?
A semester on a ship visiting countries around the world. A summer ecology program in Costa Rica. Learning French in Cameroon for two weeks during winter session. Study abroad lets you take classes in a foreign country, go on cultural excursions and learn about different cultures—all the while receiving college credit at your home university. You also have the opportunity to intern, work or even volunteer abroad.
It doesn't matter if you're a business student or an engineering student, interested in biology or foreign languages—study abroad is for everyone. If you're a little unsure about studying in a foreign country, you're not alone. Most students are unsure about going abroad at first. But after they return home they describe their trip as a life-changing experience they'd repeat in a heart beat. You can findout more about this post at
www.diversityabroad.com
Studying abroad takes planning to succeed. Start the process by following these steps: (1) Meet with your Study Abroad or Academic Advisor
Each school has different policies for studying abroad. Your school may even have different policies for different majors. Meet with your study abroad or academic advisor to discuss your interest in going abroad. Your advisor can help you understand how study abroad fits in with your academic plan.
(2) Research Study Abroad Programs
Choose a program that fits your academic and personal goals for going abroad. See Choosing the Right Program
(3) Apply for Study Abroad Programs
Programs fill up quickly. Apply for two or three programs as soon as possible, or at least a few months prior to the application deadline. Review the application carefully. If your school is the program's sponsor, see your study abroad advisor for specific application information. For all other programs, contact the program administrator directly for application questions and deadline.
(4) Get Study Abroad Courses Approved
Once you have applied, see your academic or study abroad advisor as soon as possible. Discuss with them what classes you will take abroad. You must have your classes approved before going abroad. That will ensure that you get credit for the classes you'll take abroad.
(5) Apply for Financial Aid
Apply early for scholarships, grants, federal or personal student loans to study abroad. Ask your study abroad advisor about grants your school may provide. If you are not going to a school-sponsored program, contact your program and ask about financial aid. See Study Abroad Financial Aid.
(6) Prepare for the Adventure
You've chosen your program, and you have your classes approved. Now it's time to plan your trip. Follow these steps:
· Get your passport (and visa if necessary)
· Learn how to protect your health and safety abroad
·Get discounted student airfare
·Get travel insurance
·Get your International Student ID
·Pack properly
· Arrange your personal business before you leave
You can find out more about this post at: www.diversityabroad.com