God Is an Astronaut In early 2008, the band embarked on their first tour of the United States. On the day they were set to return home, $20,000 worth of equipment was stolen from their van in New Jersey. Their equipment was not insured and a tour that had reportedly already cost the band $20,000 to organize had suddenly doubled in cost. However, they have since returned to the United States selling out shows in both New York and Los Angeles. God Is an Astronaut God Is An Astronaut is an Irish post-rock band from County Wicklow, formed in 2002 by Niels and Torsten
Chinese as a foreign language Chinese as a foreign language Chinese as a foreign or second language is the study of the Chinese varieties by non-native speakers. Increased interest in China from those outside has led to a corresponding interest in the study of Standard Chinese ("Mandarin") as a foreign language, the official language of mainland China and Taiwan. However, the teaching of Chinese both within and outside China is not a recent phenomenon. Westerners began learning different Chinese varieties in the 16th century. Within China, Mandarin became the official language in the early 20th century. Mandarin also became the official language of Taiwan when