Here is a picture of our Christmas tree. It is a live tree made of lucky bamboo.
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This is sort of a repeat for those of you on facebook, but WE GOT SNOW!!!
Being from the American South (where schools close for flurries), this is a pretty big deal. We were so excited to wake up Sunday morning to a real winter wonderland. Of course, we immediately bundled up and ran outside with our cameras, filled with hometown paranoia that it would all disappear by lunchtime.
It has been a full 3 days now and things are still white around here, by the way.
Lots of families were outside building snowmen. The kids were all so cute and proud of their creations. Our neighbors said that although it snows quite a bit in Qingdao, the first snow is always the best consistency for building a snowman. Hmm, good to know.
By the end of our photo session, I was freezing! I don’t think I have every been so cold in my life, but I’m not complaining. It was beautiful, and it looks like we are heading for a white Christmas in China.
You know that saying, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?” Well, I am living proof of that little adage. I started my Chinese language lessons a couple of weeks ago and it is REALLY difficult. First of all, the language uses sounds that never come out of our mouths in English and my tongue is really confused. Second, the language uses “tones” for each syllable. So depending on how you “sing” the syllable, it can have up to five meanings. (The word ‘ma’ can mean mother or horse. oops!) And lastly, I’m just old…and you know, new tricks and all…
So in order not to go crazy and throw my Chinese book off the balcony, I have learned to appreciate small victories when it comes to this new challenge.
We moved into our new apartment recently (more on that later), and for weeks, I have been trying to tell the taxi driver how to take me home (in Mandarin). Every time I attempted the 4 character name of my complex, the driver would look at me with a huge question mark above his head, and I would resort to plan B…pointing.
Not wanting to let the language win, I continued with this routine day after day. Always trying, always failing…until this week. I jumped into the cab and said Jin Hai Guang Chang (with appropriate tonage, of course), and held my breath waiting for the quizzical stare. But alas! He just gave me a quick nod, and drove me straight home! Woohoo!!
Now, on to perfecting “where’s the bathroom.”