1) I'm a 26 year old guy from norway. I have a certificate of completed apprenticeship in car mechanics but, currently I work as an operator in production. I have plans to go to china next year (or when I have the money) to attend a shaolin gongfu school. 2) I have always had a wish learning chinese but as the great underachiever I am, I haven't really started. Until now. There is many reasons why I want to learn chinese. Chinese culture is intriguing, it's one of the most spoken languages in the world and since it's completely different from my mother tongue it's quite the challenge. It's also great fun to be in the position of learning. Not to mention what Nelson Mandela said: "If you talk to a person in a language they understand, that goes to their head. If you talk to them in their own language, that goes to their heart." 3) I'm looking for patient professional language teachers and language partners(both natives and other students). It's a long long time since I ever studied anything, so my memory of grammar and good study techniques certainly needs brushing up.