My Chinese Name

So, by far the coolest thing I got for Christmas was my Chinese name. I was visiting friends in Shi Yan, and on Christmas day we had a party. (I didn't get to blog all this at Christmas time because my internet was down.) There were of course Americans and Chinese, but also Germans, Brits, a man from Gibraltar, from Cameroon, etc. I met there a Chinese woman named Louise, which is my middle name. That got us started talking about names, and she asked if I had a Chinese name, a question I've had many times before. I told her I didn't, and she did what no Chinese person had yet: offered to name me!

My name is Tang Sha, the two characters above. (The tones are 2nd and 1st, respectively, for those that care.) This "tang" sounds like the word for sweet or candy, and we all know about my sweet tooth! However this character means the Tang Dynasty. "Sha" contains the character for sand, which is good, because I love the beach. This character has no modern meaning, but is common in girls' names, the Chinese say it sounds good. This "sha" also is the first character used when the Chinese write phonetically "Shakespeare" using characters.

Now I can write and say my Chinese name, so I've been using it much more often. So: I'm Tang Sha. Nice to meet you!

Chinese New Year

I've been looking for a way to convey the essence of the Chinese New Year experience to you all. Well, I have it! I would like to have this posted directly on my site, but I'm not clever like that, so follow this link:

http://china.freepgs.com/pictures/Fireworks/Fireworks.wmv

A friend of mine took this video a week ago Saturday, at midnight on New Year's Eve. My experience was similar, but much closer up! I wish you could hear it. Now the fireworks have calmed down a bit, but there's still lots to see every night. I love you all!

Now I'm in for it...

It's all about ME!

So, I've realized that I don't usually post pictures of myself. It seems normal to me, because I usually want to show you what I see, rather than show you myself. But, it's been about six months, and you may have forgotten what I look like. Besides, this month is my birthday, so I think I can get away with it!

This is my birthday cake.

This is me, on my birthday. I have to say that I have no idea how to cut a cake. Finally someone took mercy on me and took the knife away.

This is me with a coconut. Here you can buy a coconut right on the street, and they will drill a hole in it, and put a straw in so you can drink the coconut milk fresh. Fresh coconut milk tastes a lot different from canned; it's not as sweet, it tastes more earthy.

This is at my school. On your left is Suzy, who teaches English, and on your right is Cindy, my teacher!

Everyday Chinese: Lesson One

Nide kuzi zenme le?

What happened to your trousers?

For those of you that may believe this is silly, you need only speak, and I will post a picture of my textbook page where this very sentence appears!