I could recognize “door” and “small” in the phrase–which makes sense–but I kept getting “specialized” when I would try to type it into the translator program.

I finally figured out the last word, and tried again.

专门    =    zhuan men  =  “specialized”

小组    =    xiao zu   =   “group”

The stupid software had the wrong “panel”…  It’s talking about a committee!

I’ve set my goal at ten words a day.  I spend about an hour in the morning learning the new words and reviewing the ones I’ve already learned.   I then write them down in a notebook (writing helps me to remember), and I review them throughout the day.  So far, it’s going okay–though I’ve run into some funny mistakes.  For example… the word was “light” in the category “Home and Household”.   My assumption was that it meant “light bulb”.    Nope.  It meant “not heavy”.   A student pointed out the mistake and gave me the word for light bulb.  So… bonus word for the day.  :)

(The word for “not heavy” is qing 轻.  The word for “lamp/light bulb” is deng 灯)

• The USA is know as Mei Guo (美国).  It means “Beautiful Kingdom”.
• China is Zhong Guo (中国).  It means “Middle Kingdom”.
• The average young housewife in Kunshan, if moved to Madison, would probably be mistaken for a prostitute.
• Learning Chinese is actually learning 2 different languages–one written, one spoken.  Because they use ideograms (each “character” represents a complete word or idea), you can’t “sound out” the words.  You have to learn the spoken and written versions separately.
• The way the Chinese language “thinks”–for lack of a better word–is interesting.  The ideograph for “heart” (心), for example:  Xiao xin (小心), literally “little heart”, means “caution” or “beware”.  Zhong xin (中心), literally “middle heart”, means “center”–such as “city center” (市中心)
• I learned a new idiom last weekend:  ren shan ren hai (人山人海).  Literally:  People mountain people sea.  It means “a lot of people, a big crowd”.  Our  version would be “a sea of people” or “people as far as the eye can see”.
• “Long time no see”, almost certainly, came from Chinese.
• I have been here for 9 months, and I still have not chosen a Chinese name.  I think I’ve finally decided:  Huo Long (火龙).  It means “Fire Dragon”.  A friend had suggested “Long”, but I just couldn’t bring myself to say “Hi, I’m Long” with a straight face.  :)  I do, however, like the idea of the dragon.  Dragons are revered in China, and represent passion, wisdom, and strength.  Adding “fire” ties in with “Blaze”.  So… I’m thinking that “Huo Long” is a good name.  And.. it doesn’t hurt that it’s easy to write.  :)

Walking across the street from work, I waited for the 2 cars to fly through the red light coming from the left.

I watched the police car on the right tweet his siren and fly through.

And then… two young women on an electric scooter bounced off of me.   They hit the pavement.   I… swayed  a bit.   There was a skinned knee and a broken basket on their part.  On my part… umm… my grocery bag tore a bit.

One more thing to check off my list of “things that must be done for the “complete” China experience.”

I and another American teacher, Jeffery, were chosen as team leaders.   We each had a team of 6 people armed with “laser” guns.  The park has a “mountain” (smaller than the Baraboo bluffs, and easier to climb around on).  One team would defend the mountain while the other attacked.  For the 2nd game, we switched sides.  For the 3rd game, it was “protect the general” — if Jeffery or I “died”, the game was over.  We all had a good time, but it by the end, I was in pain.

After that, we had a short break, then we all met up for dinner.  Most of the food was a bit too spicy for me, so I ended up having an almost entirely vegetarian meal.  I mean… when the arugula and cabbage are almost too spicy, you know you’re eating a Chinese meal.  Then… there were things like fish-head soup and cow stomach that I just wasn’t willing to try.

I didn’t get any photos of the war, but I’ll ask around and see if I can get some from those that took some.

Several discussions lately have dealt with why Chinese women want a western man for a husband.  Most of it has to do with money–westerners are seen as rich–but there’s also the fact that westerners aren’t Chinese.  I didn’t think about it much,  but sitting in a cab yesterday it suddenly hit me:

I am “an exotic foreigner”.   Looks like the shoe’s on the other foot.

Yes, that’s the actual size of the spoon.

We walked around for a while, then sat and played a few card games.  Oddly enough, it turns out that both American and China have a game called “Go Fish”.  They’re similar, but different enough to tell that they come from different cultures.

Then, back up for some more walking.  It was about 3 hours, altogether.  We probably walked about 2km, maybe a little more.

After that, I offered to buy a light lunch.  We decided to go to Ao Zao Noodle.  It’s at the end of the road I live on, it’s an historic restaurant (almost 150 years old), and I’ve wanted to eat there for a while.  Great!   … except… we get there and they don’t actually open for another half hour.  {sigh}  Oh well, another time.  We ended up eating at a tiny place down near my apartment.  Not bad.

Only 2 downsides to the afternoon–well… 1 downside with results in 2 places:

I am, once again, the forgetful idiot who doesn’t realize that a sunny day in March is still enough to give you a sunburn.   Especially if you’re bald and you don’t wear a hat.  So… my (rock-filled) head is a nice shiny shade of crimson this evening.  And… something that I don’t  think has ever happened before… my lips are sunburned.   Nothing serious in either area, just… weird.

So, crimson carapace notwithstanding, I mark this down as a really good day.

P.S.  No photos.  I deliberately left my camera at home, and I didn’t pull out my phone to take any either.  I was having a good time talking with a friend (who also happens to be a lovely lady) and I felt like just enjoying that.

The resulting dehydration is pretty crappy, too.

Following it up with a full-body arthritis flare up, however, is just plain rude!