Fifty words in, the surprise isn’t the tones — it’s how much grammar hides inside single characters. You learn 我 (I), 你 (you), 好 (good), and suddenly 你好 means hello and you’ve built a sentence from parts you already own.
The wall isn’t the characters. It’s believing you’ll remember them tomorrow.
This territory is where I’ll keep the wins and the wall, in the open.