I've been self studying Chinese for almost two years now and thinking of applying to do the HSK examination... Does anyone have any experience of doing the HSK out of a formal setting (i.e. University or structured course)? Aside from practising with my friends does anyone have an useful resources? Finally, any idea how much it costs and if there is a centre in Shenzhen, Hong Kong or Guangzhou that does it (I assume so)!

At the hair dressers... some key phrases to listen out for when you're going for a hair cut! I went to have my hair cut in a hair dressers in Shenzhen today and had the obligatory hair washing and massage that came with it. I know how to ask for my hair cut, washed and my head massaged and can say if the water is hot, cold or if I feel comfortable or not. As for hair styles, lengths of hair and anything else I have no idea! When the guy asked how I wanted my hair (I heard ‘。。。。。。。。。。。怎么样’) cut I gestured at my head with my fingers at the length I was happy with and said ‘不多’ so he wouldn't cut too much off. What are the common things that people ask and are given the responses to in hair dressers in China? I think answers to this could help other 老外 in China. Thanks!

How to go beyond mediocre Chinese... I've been living in China for 10 months and have developed a reasonable degree of competency in Chinese speaking, listening and reading by learning myself through constantly asking questions, making notes, studying books, using QQ, Skype and MSN, listening to Chinese songs, watching Chinese films etc. I can get around China very easily, buy and negotiate price, make jokes and have basic conversations with people about a variety of topics... now I'm worried my language learning will 'plateau' because I don't 'need' to learn any more to get by since the people I work with have great English and I know enough Chinese to communicate on a day to day basis with anyone else. I've also bough children's books and am learning to write Chinese myself. Any suggestions as to how I can push myself towards becoming a fluent speaker, reader, writer and listener? Is a formal course necessary?By the way, I live in China (except for the next few weeks) so talking with native speakers is not a problem- most of my friends are Chinese, but speak okay to excellent English.

Is there a web site where you can get pinyin lyrics (歌词) to popular Chinese songs as well as 中文？ My friends can do this for me, but it would be great to be self reliant and save time if I could find the pinyin straight away. I can understand quite a few symbols now but not enough to understand whole songs. 谢谢你！