Things that still baffle me two years later...

1) Names
Believe it or not, something as simple as names are quite hard to learn. Speaking and listening isn't too bad but the character set for names is very different than the characters used in normal speech and writing. This works great when reading because you immediately know you are reading a name or a transliteration. It's not great when you just want to mention someone's name in a brief WeChat message and you spend 10 minutes trying to find out what the stroke order is, how to pronounce it, or how to get the darn Chinese input to display the rare character you need.

2) Handwritten Chinese
It looks like this:

ngansiumui.com

If someone writes an address, recipe, or any sort of quick note for you; expect something like cursive or running script. My address on my apartment contract was incorrect and I didn't realize it for an entire month until I was standing in the police station being told I couldn't register. Nonetheless, it took an entire extra week to sort out the mess, all thanks to Handwritten Chinese! And I can't really blame em'. Who wants to spend a minute per character everytime you want to put something down in ink?

3) Small talk
Those couple of minutes waiting for and riding the elevator, standing at the counter waiting for an order, or the random person who starts a convo at the bus stop. It doesn't matter where in the world you are, it seems inescapable. For the language learner, it's a real test of skill. All the shorthand, idioms, and language oddities spring forth as you only have a few words, so they ought to be meaningful, right?

4) Advertisements
I could swear I'm partially fluent up and down and all day long, but play a TV or radio ad (even with transcript) and I'd fail like 75% of the time. Just like small talk, time is important and no word is wasted. When I think about commercials back home and not only just how little sense they usually make, but how many cultural references and play on words are included; I think I can confidently put Advertisements somewhere in the super native-level advanced learner category.


4) Song lyrics/Poems
I can hardly decipher these in my mother tongue, so maybe this one isn't too surprising. 

I will be adding to this post as more come to mind. To be continued...