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!

Your Five Minute Tropical Vacation

Ni leng ma? Are you cold? Then let's get out of the frozen north! Let's head for palm trees and white sand. It'll only take five minutes, I promise. And where is this promised land? China, of course! Look, there's the flag, even...

You may not believe it, but even in China you can find pretty flowers...

...baby coconuts...






...sparkling waters...






...and pretty girls!






I even found some cool people to go with us. Here's Jamie and Andrew. They're from New York state, and they teach in a city a few hours north of Wuhan. They're passing through Haikou on the way to Southeast Asia.






This is Sanya, the Chinese Hawaii, three hours south of Haikou. Though Haikou is sub-tropical, Sanya is south of the mountains in the trpoical zone, and when you pass through the tunnel through those mountains, it's a whole other world. The weather is improving in Haikou. The rain has stopped and the sun's out. When I go out in my t-shirt and flip-flops, the Haikouren don't even say ni hao (hello) to me, they say ni leng ma? are you cold? It's 75 degrees and they're all wearing sweaters, because this is their winter!

Are you tired from your swim in the sea? Okay, well, before you go, "have a rest" as the Chinese say, and have a good look across the Pacific...zai jian!

Sightseeing in Wuhan

As an aside, here are some pictures from my sightseeing in Wuhan that I've been meaning to post. These first two are from the Ancient Lute Pavilion. It's a garden made to commemorate the ancient Chinese story of two friends. Long ago, a Chinese official was traveling on business when he heard the sound of someone playing the lute (a stringed instrument) beautifully. He snuck up close to listen, and the musician saw him. They talked long into the night and became good friends. They lived far from each other, but agreed to meet in the same spot one year from that day. Faithfully, the musician returned one year later, to the very hour, but the official was not there. Concerned, the musician sought him and discovered he had died. In his grief, the musician smashed his lute and swore never to play again, to honor his friend's memory.

China's full of round doors and I love them. This next picture is from one of the Buddhist temples in Wuhan. I love the architecture, and the details put into the stone carvings.

This is also from the Buddhist temple. They're turtles! There was a pool in the center chock-a-bock full of turtles.

That's all. There are more pictures I could show you, but they're on my computer back in Wuhan. I happened to have these with me. Ta ta!

back in the saddle again

So I never thought I would be a snowbird! This year Chinese New Year is late, February 18, but I still have six weeks with no classes, so I have temporarily relocated to Hainan Island, a province of China. Hainan is just south of the mainland China, off the West coast. I'm told it's roughly the same latitude as Hawaii, though it's a bit cooler here than I think Hawaii is wont to be. Nevr mind, though, I'm here to work! I found a small language school run by a man who studied for his MBA in England. Usually they teach English to Chinese people, but they occastionally teach Chinese to waiguoren like me! After four days of class, I want very much to tell you that wo bu shi laoshi, wo shi xuesheng. Wo xueshi Hanyu, ye shuo de Yinyu. Qu nar? Ni chi le ma? Man zuo! That means "I'm not a teacher, I'm a student, I study Chiense but speak English. Where are you going? Have you eaten? Take care!" Okay, it's not the I Ching, but it'll have to do. In case you're wondering where all the cool Chinese characters are, that was Pinyin (not Pigeon!) which is a system of writing Chinese words with Roman letters (our ABC's). The system was devised by the Chinese themselves in an attempt to standardize pronunciation. Chinese is the only major non-phonetic language in the world, which means that how it's written has nothing to do with how it sounds. So learning Chinese is like learning two language, because you have to memorize the meaning of the word, and then the character. I'm not bothering too much with the characters yet, since I'm only planning on being here four weeks.

When not studying with Teacher Cindy, I have been wandering around Haikou city. The main tourist spot is Sanya, about four hours south by bus. But Haikou, (which means "mouth of the sea") is very lovely. The people are super friendly, and this city of 500,000 seems downright homelike after my 8 million closest friends residing in Wuhan. The pace here is slower, the weather's warm, and you never have to wait for a taxi. Not that you need one, it's easy to walk most places, and there are herds of friendly Haikouren that will give you a lift in their pedicab, three wheeler, or on the back of their motorcycle. No, mom, I won't be riding on the back of any motorcycles. It's a good place for experimenting, so following is a list of the things I've never done before that I've done since I came to Haikou on Sunday:

* Made a friend on the bus. : )

* Lost an earring. : (

* Eaten pineapple on a stick : )

I know you can't believe that one. I actually liked it too. The world's not ending, I'm sure I'll go back to hating pineapple eventaully, it just tastes better here!

* Eaten oysters : (

I think they were oysters.

* Ate a bowl full of cold coconut milk with watermelon and papaya..... : )

*......and also pasta, soybeans barley, and jello cubes in it. : (

Not as bad as it sounds, really. I could go for some now.

* And, of course studied Chinese! : ) : )

Anyway, I'm quite enjoying myself, even though I'm missing out on the snow not only in the Northwest but also in Wuhan. That's probably just as well, since my snow boots are in my parents' basement. I hope everyone is warm and safe, I miss you, and I love you more than pineapple on a stick!

The Backdoor Culinary Tour of Modern China

Hey, good to see you! It's been awhile. Are you hungry? I'm starving. Let's see what there is to eat. Here's some old friend you'll probably recognize:





Even though I don't get up for it very often, my favorite meal is breakfast. These are steamed dumplings filled with pork sausage...



...but these are my favorite! They're dumplings filled with pork sausage and pan-fried. I go to the same place for breakfast almost every day.



I just went to the grocery store, let's see what's in the fridge. Oh, take a look at this. Yep, that's right, yougurt is a beverage in China. This one is strawberry, and it toally beats strawberry milk.



Oooh! This is the best ice cream bar in China.



I like these cookies. They're covered in black sesame seeds, and inside is a kind of sweet bean paste. Sounds gross, but they kinda taste like peanut butter.



My favorite thing here by far is all the fresh produce. Look at these tiny mandarin oranges!



These are called li in China, and nashi in Japan. In the US they are known as Asian Pears. They are crisp like apples and taste like lovely, fresh ripe pears.



This is xiao bai cai, Chinese cabbage. It's similar, but not quite the same as what I've seen in the US labelled as bok choy.This is a staple vegetable here.



Sounds good? Okay, let's cook some up. Lot's of garlic, of course, a quick trip in a wok...



So, now who gets the ice cream for dessert?

Chinese Independence

It's National Holday week here in China, which also coincides with the Moon Festival, a time to spend time with your family and enjoy the harvest moon. That's cause enough for a week off from school! Sunday night a friend got us some tickets to a fireworks display on the Yangtze. If there was ever any doubt that the Chinese invented fireworks, I can personally testify that it is true. For the finale there were fireworks exploding right out of the surface of the water! There was one set that exploded in traditional Chinese red paper lanterns that floated down with glowing streamers. I didn't get a very good picture of it, unfortuantely. Still, on the whole, they were...

"The finest rockets ever seen..."

"They burst in stars of blue and green..."

"And after thunder, golden showers..."

"Came falling like a rain of flowers."

Chinese Scenery

Let's go shopping! We'll need some cash. Chinese money is called yuan, and the coins (equivalent to dimes, but worth less) are called jiao. Jiao also come as bills. In slang yuan are called kwai and jiao are called ma.

This is outside a middle school near my college. Bicycles are a major form of transportation here in China. We aren't going very far, though, its just a couple minutes' walk.

Look, here's my favorite sign. "Keep off the grass" seems so heartless, by comparison.

Here's the fruit market, just a few steps from school.



What should we buy? Keep in touch to see...

Chinese Essay Excerpts

Last Friday I helped my postgraduate class choose English names and look up their meanings. Here are some quotes from my students' essays on "Does the meaning of your English name suit you?"

"I had read a paper on Alphabetism. I still remember some sentences from the paper. That is: the list for job interview, election ballot, conference speakers and attendees, all tend to be drawn up alphabetically, and the recipients loose interest as they plough through them. Consequently, I chose Austin."

"In the same time, I think beauty is not just the outlook, it includes the inner too. If you have more knowledge and behave gracefully, you will be more attractive."

"There is an old saying "People can't do anything without money, but money is not everything." In fact, happiness, true love, friendship, time, health are all valuable things and can never be bought with money...if you want money just for your own needs, you'll never be satisfied or happy."

"Bright eyes are a bridge to make the world and ourselves to know eachother."

"In my opinion, my Chinese name fits me better...it means the Changjiang River. My given name means "miss the lover." So my Chinese name means a person standing by the Changjiang river missing his lover. I think it is a very poetry name."

"In all, I think everyone loves his name as he loves his children. I love my name as well."

"Jasmine...contributes to many aspects of our daily life. I hope that when I walk up to you, I smell like a fragrant scent...I hope that I can also play an important role in peoples' daily life, as Jasmine."

"I consistently believe that nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

"As the old saying goes "the whole year's depends on a good start in spring." Farmers sow seeds in April, they also sow their hope. So April, a sowing season, is also a season filled with expectation. That just fits my character."

"In other words, setback is the mother of the brave."

"Learning is the eye of the mind and food for the soul, so "forever young" also means keep learning in our whole life."

"Do you think God who is the creator and ruler of the universe exists in real life? Frankly speaking, I don't believe in it. I think it's just a superstition. When you are in trouble, yourself is the only one who can help you, and sucess comes from hard work, instead of God's blessing."

"I have lots of friends. they all like me because whatever they do, I'll back them up. When they are in trouble, I'll give a hand and do whatever I can do. I like to help my friends because when I am helping them, I know that I am useful."

"Another reason I chose David as my English name is as follows: I'm a football (soccer) fan...among all the football stars, I like Beckham best. His football skills are not perfect, but useful. Always he helps another player to get a goal...the cause of England's team will feel pity in the future."

It sounds like I have a group of very intelligent students.

...and I can't get up.

Here's what it would look like if I fell out of my window...











Ouchie!

Meet the Gang

Oh, hey! I wasn't expecting you! But I'm glad you stopped by. I'm goining to visit some friends, and I'd like to introduce you.



This is Dustin, the other new English teacher at our university this year. He's a Texan. He's eating dopi (dopey) here, a common breakfast food: egg, sticky rice, chicken and mushrooms.

Geoff and Mary have been at WPU for one year. Here we are at their apartment with some of their Chinese friends.

This is my class of postgraduates taking elective English. They're my only class so far.

I only have one class currently because my other two class groups are freshmen. All freshmen in China start out college with a month of military training. I won't see my freshmen until the second week in October, after fall holiday.

Good to see you again!

Comments

By the way, sports fans, I changed my settings so now anyone can leave a comment. In a former life I had only allowed members of blogger to comment because I was getting spam comments. For the blog novices, to leave a comment, click on "comments" at the end of an entry. There you can see what other people have written. In the window on the right you can leave your own comment. I love to get feedback. Thanks!

Campus Walkabout

Hey! Glad you're here. Are you ready? Where would you like to go?



Alright, I'll just show you around. Just over here, not too far from my apartment is building #1, the Foreign Languages Department (woo hoo, we're #1!). This is where I teach all but one of my classes.

Okay, let's cut through the park. This is a nice little scenic area in the middle of campus.

Yep, there's the pagoda. That's the stereotypical image of China, but it's a form of arcitecture that isn't used much anymore, except in a decorative sense. There's seats inside, kind of like a gazebo, and it's surrounded by a pond with lilypads. At night, the pagoda lights up like a christmas tree.

This is the campus statue. It's name is something like "morning dew" or "dew and sunrise." My name for it is "It's so hot in Wuhan even the statue sweats."

Behind it is building #2, where I have just one class. This is the sight you see when you come in the front gates.

You have to go? Okay. Thanks for walking with me! I'll see you again soon.