Zǒng, The Cute Alien Monster

Learning a language with a non-Roman script provides an added layer of stimulation. I wouldn't exactly call it intellectual stimulation, since it's more often a case of juvenile amusement.

Here's one of the recent characters I came across:

总 zǒng ("total").

When used in a word like 总是 zǒng shì, it means "always". Duolingo's example was topical.

为什么 你 总是 看 手机 wèishéme nǐ zǒngshì kàn shǒujī ("Why do you always look at your phone?")

My mind was elsewhere. The character instantly conjured up a picture of a cute alien monster with antennae and a tail.

I don't know how good my Chinese is going to be, but I'm enjoying the ride and smelling the roses along the way. The méiguīs from planet Zonguo do smell xiāng.