Learning Mandarin

Well as you might have read just before this I am back in learning mode with Mandarin being the language of choice. This was a two fold decision: one being that I like the idea, so why the heck not??! The other is a more mercenary notion of mine. It's a very simple piece of logic...there are a lot of Chinese in the world, they have a growing economy and a booming real estate sector at the moment. As one of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia,India and China) it is ripe for investment. And that my friends is why I have started in on the Chinese language. Oh and looks really cool on the old c.v. At the moment I'm about half way to two thirds of the way through the first level. I'm taking it slow and steady to absorb as much as possible and I'm am finding it surprisingly enjoyable. Which might have something to do with the method, I don't know. Actually I might even be confident enough to use it if I ever get over there.....how COOL is that??