A Day of Firsts

Brock, Preston & I began our 8-week Chinese class today. What we're learning is that the Chinese language is very tonal. For instance, the word "ma" can mean four distinctly different things, ranging from mother to horse, depending on the voice inflection. The word "mei" can mean pretty, mold, or sister.

The Chinese language also has no tense (past/present/future). In English, we would say "I went to the store", "I go to the store" and "I will go to the store". In Chinese, all three would be "I go to the store" and in fact, "I go to the store" is not a complete sentence without a time frame attached, such as "I go to the store yesterday", "I go to the store today" or "I go to the store tomorrow".

Brock is doing exceptionally well and in fact, was called a genius by the instructor.

Then, later today, my mom came over and we (mostly she, but with some help from Brock & me) painted Shaling's room. It's the first time I think I've ever had pink on any walls of my house. Two walls are a medium shade of pink and two are a lighter shade of pink. Her bedspread is a multi-color floral pattern.

Mom also brought me a nightgown that I used to wear when I was about Shaling's age. It's got girls wearing pink, blue, and yellow dresses on it. I think I'm going to cut out squares to use in Shaling's quilt and good wishes book. Just a reminder that if you're going to participate, please get me your squares by the end of this month and your wishes for the book by the end of October.