jing jing

*It's pronounced "tsing tsing" (Try combining 't' and 's' into one sound. Then add 'ing' on the end.)

Tonight Sandy (one of the Chinese teachers we work with) came over to play Wackee 6 and eat french toast with us. She's great. I love playing with Sandy. She liked our french toast (with peanut butter, or jam, or bananas, or honey, or brown sugar...or any mixture of the above you please... in lieu of maple syrup) very much. We joked and laughed at then pulled out the cards.

Now for those of you who know me well, you will know what a major tragedy it was when I realized part of my yellow wackee 6 deck is stuck together. Yes ladies and gentleman. The YELLOW deck. MY yellow deck. Leading me to believe that something got onto them... (this was a recent discovery... as in tonight.) I had to play with the red deck, and let me tell you... it just wasn't the same. The de-stickification process of my beloved cards has already been begun... but I have this fear in my heart that my cards will never be the same again -- assuming I can even get them successfully unstuck. Please wish me luck, cross your fingers or something, because if I lose my yellow Wackee 6 deck... I'm not even going to complete that train of thought because it is a thought too horrible to contemplate.

Hem hem. Despite this tragedy, the evening was not a complete blowout. Because Sandy gave us all Chinese names. Glance back at the title please.

              (.......pausing while you glace up.......)

Yes. That is me. My Chinese name. Jing Jing. Said in the first tone. Isn't it pretty? (If you say it with a horrible American accent it doesn't nearly as nice as when you say it properly, so please attempt for my sake.)

In English my name means 'shining star.' When trying to explain what it meant Sandy started to sing "twinkle twinkle little star" --- it was so cute.

So yes. I now have a legit Chinese name. First thing I had to do? Tell you about it of course :)

A few Chinese words

that I am not likely to forget anytime soon:

#1.  xie xie (shay shay)  Translation: Thank You
I use this one a lot. People have quit laughing at me when I use it. Hooray!

#2. ni hao (nee how) Translation: Hello
One of the most common we hear :) I'll bet you even knew this one. 

#3. li (lee) Translation: Pear
This one is just easy to remember. Ha! (And you thought these were all going to be common words.)

#4. duo shao qian (doh sh-ow she-en) Translation: How much is it?
Comes in handy when shopping. And how, you may ask, do I understand the price? Usually they type it into a calculator so that we can see it.

#5. tai gui le (tie gway luh) Translation: It's too expensive
Also very helpful. Especially when bargaining.

#6. ping shui (ping shu-way) Translation: Bottle Water
I remember that ping=bottle thanks to Carrie and Camille, and water is just one that needs to be memorized.

#7. jiaoshi (luh-ow shu) Translation: Teacher
When multiple adorable children look up at you frequently throughout each day and plead "jaioshi, jaioshi"   yeah ---- you wouldn't forget it either.

*Please note. All pronunciations are approximate, and made up by yours truly. Don't rely on them please. :)
**Also note: if you decide to pronounce these with the wrong tones, then they might not mean these translations at all. Haha. Chinese is tough....