Every year since 2007, the Ateneo Celadon along with the Confucius Institute have encouraged Filipinos and Chinese-Filipinos alike to appreciate the wonderful Spring Film Festival brought about by the Chinese New Year celebration. Having been there when the first Spring Film festival was celebrated, I was a sophomore active in the Ateneo Celadon back then, this 6th year celebration which welcomes my animal – the Dragon, now presents 6 movies in celebration of the Chinese New Year. And it’s now all free admission!

As stated on the Ateneo Celadon website, where I will be taking information to repost on this blog,

Unlike previous years when a minimal admission fee was charged, this year’s festival will experiment with free admission.  Schools are welcome to bring their students for block screenings on a first-come, first-serve basis.

These are the movies that will be presented for this year’s Spring Film Festival..

Ocean Heaven 

Ocean Heaven is a family drama which features a father- Sam Wang (played by Jet Li), who is solely taking care of his autistic child- Dafu. Wang finds out that he has liver cancer and has a few days to live. Not only does Wang have to cope with his own suffering and impending death, he also has to deal with the heartache of leaving Dafu with no immediate family. This heartwarming film shows the challenges of being a single parent and how parents, even on their last days, would do anything just to ensure the safety and happiness of their children.

Fans of Jet Li will definitely be surprised to see him in this movie because this is the first to cast Li in a non-kung-fu film where he won the 2010 Wen Zhang Best Actor Award. The movie was also recognized by the Shanghai Media Awards, CCTV Movie Channel Media Awards 2010 and Golden Goblet Award. In July 2011, Li even named one of his charity projects as Ocean Heaven Project to help children with autism, cerebral palsy and other disorders.

Lost on Journey

Lost on Journey is a comedy film narrating Li Chenggong’s travel as he endures bad luck after bad luck just to celebrate New Year’s Eve with his family.  Li hops from a plane, to a train,to a bus, and to a boat in the desire to be with his family during the most important event of the year. And along the way, he meets a stranger Niu Geng who later helps him discover something important about himself and the goodness of other people. This movie is a funny presentation of how bad luck brought two different worlds together.

Country Wedding

Country Wedding tells a story of a couple who is about to get married with their families getting so excited to the point that their parents started to meddle with the wedding plans. The bride’s mother, insists on holding the wedding at a ritzy hotel in Beijing whereas, the groom’s father, being the director of a cooperative in a rural village, feels indebted to the community, wants to share the wedding to the whole village. The couple are getting in between as conflicts arise between the in-laws. This film is a funny portrayal of the clash of cultures between the city and country side.

Confucius

Confucius, known as the “Great Sage”, lived during the time when China’s dynasties were in chaos and engulfed by corruption and greed. He strongly believed that ethics and education will put all things to order. His wisdom was sought by different dynasty leaders but only to be abandoned after he dutifully served his purpose. The world knows so much of his teachings, but little is known of his hardships. This biographical drama shows the sufferings and pain Confucius endured and the principles he fervently kept that became the foundation of China’s ethics, morality and law. Starring Chow Yun-Fat as Confucius, Nominated for Best Actor at the 30th Hong Kong Film Awards. Other nominations include Best Cinematography,Art Design,Costume Design and Original Song.

Bodyguards and Assasins

In 1905, Hong Kong was under the British rule and revolution was on the rise. Sun Yat-Sen was set to land in Hong Kong to meet and to unify faction leaders to finally take down the corrupt and crumbling Qing Dynasty. Because of this, Dowager Cixi wanted Sun Yat-Sen assassinated. For the Chinese people who had been clamouring for freedom, they understood that keeping Sun Yat-Sen alive would mean keeping China’s hope to be liberated. Li Yutang, a businessman, gathered a tofu vendor, rickshaw pullers, a beggar and an orphan to serve as bodyguards. These bodyguards displayed their superb fighting skills as they battle it out with the assassins to protect Sun Yat-Sen,whom they haven’t even met.  This action-historical movie garnered numerous awards from the 4th Asian Film Awards,29th Hong Kong Film Awards,16th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards and 47^th Golden Horse Awards.

The King of Milu Deer

This 3D animated movie focuses on environment protection. It is a story of a white deer, Yoyo, who turned into a lady and made friends with Tzan-the prince of Kingdom of Clouds and Dreams. Tzan was ordered by the minister to search the Labyrinth Mountain to hunt for the Milu Deer to use it as a sacrifice to bring rains in the kingdom. But Tzan discovered the beauty of the Labyrinth Mountain and got closer to Yoyo. Together, they fought sea lizard monsters, fire,soldiers, and the evil Minister to save the wildlife and natural resources of the Labyrinth Mountain. This movie became the highest grossing Chinese Animated film of all time and received the Best Animated Film of the 13th Huabiao Awards.

Movie Schedule:

January 20, 2012 (Friday)
Country Wedding – 1:00PM
Lost on Journey – 3:00PM

January 21, 2012 (Saturday)
Lost on Journey – 1:30PM
Confucius – 3:30PM
Bodyguards & Assassins – 6:00PM
Ocean Heaven – 9:00PM

January 22, 2012 (Sunday)
Ocean Heaven – 1:30PM
The King of Milu Deer – 3:30PM
Confucius – 5:30PM
Bodyguards & Assassins – 8:00PM

January 23, 2012 (Monday)
Country Wedding – 1:30PM
Bodyguards & Assassins – 3:30PM
Ocean Heaven – 6:30PM
Lost on Journey – 8:30PM

January 24, 2012 (Tuesday)
Bodyguards & Assassins – 1:30PM
Lost on Journey – 4:30PM
Confucius – 6:30PM
The King of Milu Deer – 9:00PM

January 25, 2012 (Wednesday)
The King of Milu Deer – 1:30PM
Confucius – 3:30PM
Country Wedding – 6:00PM
Ocean Heaven – 8:00PM

January 26, 2012 (Thursday)
Lost on Journey – 1:30PM
Country Wedding – 3:30PM
The King of Milu Deer – 5:30PM
Confucius – 7:30PM

January 27, 2012 (Friday)
Ocean Heaven – 1:30PM
Confucius – 3:30PM
Lost on Journey – 5:30PM
Bodyguards & Assassins – 8:00PM

January 28, 2012 (Saturday)
The King of Milu Deer – 1:30PM
Ocean Heaven – 3:30PM
Lost on Journey – 5:30PM
Bodyguards & Assassins – 7:30PM

January 29, 2012 (Sunday)
Lost on Journey – 1:30PM
Country Wedding – 3:30PM
Bodyguards & Assassins – 5:30PM
Ocean Heaven – 8:30PM

OTHER ACTIVITIES (2nd Floor, Grand Atrium)

January 20-29
Chinese Painting Exhibit by the Confucius Institute Chinese Painting Students

January 22
Chinese Painting Workshops by Mr. Caesar Cheng and the Confucius Institute Chinese Painting Students

Contact Details:

Blue top from gift; Keys keys keys necklace from Accessorize;

Blue and brown quilted bowling bag from Mango; Black wedges from H&M

Hype this on Lookbook

So a couple of days ago, I had dinner with 2 of my friends from my Beijing days. One was my roommate during my one year stint there. The other was a friend I met during my second semester, who was on a semester-abroad program from his US university. And yes, we’re all Chinese-Filipinos. Putting that aside, we were there as a sort of reunion-slash-bonding because my friend (the one from the US) was on winter vacation and was back in the Philippines and was leaving a few days after. We all hadn’t seen much of each other in over half a year, so it was great just talking about the good old Beijing days, and the future as well.

One was working. One was going back to studying and was thinking of getting an internship. And then there was me, the one was going back to studying in China. Looking at the 3 of us was looking at my younger self watching The Joy Luck Club over and over again, wondering when I would reach that age where me and my friends would be discussing our lives and how we’d all be headed in different directions. It’s really funny how things pass by so quickly. Part of me believes that I’m still that 13 or 14 year old who was in a hurry to get to 15 and 16, and another part of me can’t believe I’m turning 24 this year. It’s really fascinating yet aggravating at the same time, to have time pass by so quickly.

This line of thought brings me back to a dinner I had with my ICA-AdMU girls a while back. It made me think, a couple of years from now, we would all be having dinner or lunch together just like that time, but with our husbands and kids.

This decision of mine to go back to China for another semester, coupled with seeing friends growing up and moving to other countries, as well as seeing friends get married or engaged, just further underlines the reality that we’re all moving away and leaving our nests. It’s a bit scary yet exciting at the same time, especially when we know that there are certain realities that we have to face alone. Just a few years ago, I was still nestled snuggly in my parents’ embrace, protected from the world around me. But seeing the me now, taking on the world one language at a time, deciding to go to China alone and continue with my studies and hopefully to eventually find work, it’s a thrilling and frightening experience.

Deep down, I still feel like a kid. I feel so naive and unsure of the world. But part of me knows that soon, whether I like it or not, reality will catch up and force me into the big bad world.

You know, sometimes I wish time would just stop, that I can enjoy whatever it is that I have and am experiencing right now. Sometimes I wish, things would just remain the way they are. Like how relationships with friends are, or how cute little cousins or nieces and nephews are better as babies and toddlers than when they are all grown up. I wish so many things will last forever, yet I wish that I can have many more of these same experiences for the future.

Oh reality. I feel like I’m me, but I’m looking at a me that I’m not familiar with.

Despite meeting the new year with a lot of stress-filled worries, and getting this and that illness along the way (for the past week), there is something I have been looking forward to for the past few days. I’ve recently encountered SHERLOCK, this amazing new BBC series that came out in 2010. With 3 episodes in the first season, and seemingly 3 episodes (with 2 episodes out so far) for this second season, it has gained some notice on my twitter feed for the past few days.

Based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous (and infamous) fictional character, Sherlock (the TV series) brings Sherlock Holmes to a modern setting. Think of it like CSI or NCIS or Bones, but instead of fancy gadgets and teams cooperating with one another to solve a crime, you have Sherlock with his wits and his friend colleague John Watson. Of course, Sherlock doesn’t just take on any case, he takes on the weirdest and most challenging ones. He’s calls himself a consultant detective, someone the police ask for help when cases are beyond the police’s ability. With a quick look around his surroundings, his deductions and cancelling out those that are not possibilities, he comes to his conclusion which is perfect more often than not.  He’s kind of like a British Sheldon Cooper, because he tends to think in a practical manner and does away with his feelings. He’s also very blunt and honest, in a manner that oftentimes insults other people. He has very little friends, though he is more well respected in his field than Sheldon is. Alike, yes. But not the same.

Moving on. Do you know who Sherlock’s character – Benedict Cumberbatch looks like? The main character from Merlin – Colin Morgan, who of course plays Merlin. The first time I saw the episode, I thought it was a grown up Colin Morgan, or one of those digitally enhanced age-adding effects where they make Colin look older.

Click image for source

Uncanny similarity right?! I thought it was just me imagining things, but apparently it’s quite well-known on the internet. And oh, another amazing thing, Benedict Cumberbatch sort of sounds like Alan Rickman. I thought it was another thing that I imagined in my head, with me being such a Merlin fan and sort of fancying Alan Rickman, but apparently it’s not just in my head! Listen to the video below.

So yes. It’s not all in my head. And if you think this is the end of my new addiction and discovery, wait till you listen to the voice playing on the youtube video below this paragraph. It’s heavenly. It’s an ideal choice for the voice you’d hear when listening to an audio book.

The only bad thing about finding myself addicted to this new series? Waiting for the next episode to come. It doesn’t help that there are only 3 episodes per season, and the last season before this came a year and a half ago. It’s as frustrating as waiting for the new season of Merlin to come out. 9-10months of waiting for the new season, not really a short wait, is it?

I cannot wait for Episode 3 of Season 2 to come out. But at the same time, I wish it wouldn’t come, so I wouldn’t have to wait so long for the next season. Even with an hour and half of viewing time per episode, it’s really not enough. I’ll have to satisfy myself with countless episodes of CSI, Bones, NCIS, and other similar shows till the next season arrives. Of course, there’s still Sherlock Holmes 2 which I haven’t gotten to watching yet.

1. The Book of Tomorrow by Celia Ahern (January 24, 2011)

2. My Country, My People by Lin Yutang

3. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

4. Darcy and Elizabeth: Nights and Days at Pemberley by Linda Berdoll

5. The Witching Hour by Anne Rice (May 3, 2011)

6. Jonah Sees Ghosts by Mark Sullivan (May 17, 2011)

7. A Song of Fire and Ice: A Game of Thrones [Book1] by George R. R. Martin (August 31, 2011)

8. The Book of Dragons  by Michael Hague (October 15, 2011)

9. Before Ever After by Samantha Sotto

10. A Song of Fire and Ice: A Clash of Kings [Book2] by George R. R. Martin (October 14, 2011)

11. A Song of Fire and Ice: A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow [Book3.1] by George R. R. Martin (November 3, 2011)

12. A Song of Fire and Ice: A Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold [Book3.2] by George R. R. Martin (November 21, 2011)

13. Danger Girl: The Ultimate Collection by J. Scott Campbell (October 25, 2011)

14. Love in the time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (December 3, 2011)

15. Midnight on Julia Street by Ciji Ware

16. The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan (December 23, 2011)

End of 2011, Total Books Read : 11books.

Other members of Project:50Leaves[2011]:

1. Tiff K

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Project 50Leaves Page

Books reviews can be found here

My 50Leaves 2010

My 50Leaves 2009

My Shelfari

My Goodreads

So, welcome to a post about photos of my Christmas Belen 2011. In the Philippines, we usually prepare this thing called a belen, which is basically a presentation of the nativity scene. There is no specific design that everyone must follow, though belens have the usual Mary + baby Jesus in a manger + Joseph and under a structure with a roof, often times people add animals and sometimes even the Three Maji. Here in our house in Dumaguete, my family tries to spruce up the decoration with something more than just adding Christmas lights to the belen, or using really intricately designed figures as Mary, Jesus and Joseph representations.

Enjoy the next few pictures…

The main part of our belen, with a nipa hut like structure.

It’s like its own Christmas town, lacking snow of course.

All lit up.

North Pole?

I think they used some of the figurines we have often bought for my grandparents over the past few years.

Adorable little thing, with a train that moves!

Look, a Cathedral on a Hill. Love how that background just makes it more realistic :)

That’s more or less how the outside of our house was decorated for Christmas. The design was thought up by my uncle who is an engineer and an architect.

How about you? How did you set up your Christmas decorations?

Banica River. Picture above taken by my aunt. December 17, 2011. Around 11am.

Just a few minutes ago, I spotted Dumaguete (where I’m presently living) on the news. Why? We, together with places like Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, were hit by a typhoon last Saturday. Massive rains and floods swept through certain areas of the city and the neighboring municipalities. I am quite lucky because the only discomfort I felt was the rains and being without electricity for about half a day. But for a lot of other people in Dumaguete, Tanjay, Valencia and other places, they weren’t as lucky. Even until now, they have problems like lack of drinking water, destroyed homes, and the like.

But as I’m not in those areas and only in Dumaguete, this is some of the information that I’ve been able to put together.

Things needed:

• Bottled Water
• Clothes (Underwear, T-shirts, Shorts, Pants, Bras)
• Canned Goods
• Noodles
• Blankets
• Toiletries (Toothbrush, toothpaste, toilet paper, etc.)

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) – Rizal Boulevard, Dumaguete

Address: Department of Social Welfare and Development Office, Rizal Boulevard, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, Philippines 6200

Tel: (035) 225-0637

For donations of goods, groceries and money, you can send your donations to: Mrs. Bernadita Bangay. Kindly address it to the DSWD office along Rizal Boulevard.

For donations of money, you can send your donations through Western Union, with Mrs. Marina C. Mendoza (CT Social Welfare and Development officer) as the claimant. Directions for above transaction is as follows: After sending the money, kindly call the DSWD office (number listed above) to confirm the receipt of the money by informing them of your control number.

To directly contact Task Force Dumaguete: Local (Within Negros Oriental) – dial 348. For those outside, I’m not yet sure but you may try adding the local area code to the number – 035348.

If you’re looking for relatives or friends within the Dumaguete area, you may call the DSWD to inquire. Please be advised that including the barangay where said person/people live/s will bear more fruitful results as the DSWD has direct contact to the barangay heads.

As of my phone call to the DSWD office awhile ago, the office told me that within Dumaguete, 19 barangays have been affected. The office didn’t give me a list of evacuation centers, but told me that if you’re looking for someone, the likeliest places they will be in are the closest barangay halls, nearest schools and nearest churches.

For more information that is not listed here, you may directly call the DSWD Office at (035) 225-0637.

Information available above was taken from my phone call with the DSWD Dumaguete Office on December 19, 2011.

Mary Immaculate Parish Dumaguete
San Jose Street, Dumaguete City (across from Lee Plaza Supermarket entrance)

In solidarity with our brothers and sisters affected by the recent typhoon Sendong and in this season of joy and giving, we appeal to your generous and kind hearts. We are asking if you could give clothing, bottled water, and food items like canned goods, rice, noodles, and others. Please drop by your items at the Parish office. Thank you so much. May the good Lord, the reason why we celebrate Christmas, bless your generosity a hundredfold..    -As taken from their facebook page

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Found another site where more information is posted, though not sure how reliable these are:

Evacuation centers in Dumaguete City where you can drop off care packages/relief goods: West City Elem. School, Cadawinonan Elem. School, Camanjac Elem. and National High School, and Junob Elem. School. You can also drop off donations at the ONe RESCUE-EMS base, Dumaguete Disaster Risk Reduction and Management base, DSWD-Dumaguete Office, Dumaguete City Health Office, Ground Floor of the Pastoral Center, Dumaguete Cathedral Compound.

Google Crisis Response shares the location of the evacuation centers, donation centers and updates from NDMRC. Please click here to view the information. If you are looking for missing people or know a missing person, please click the link at the said page “Person Finder.”

Evacuation Centers in Dumaguete City courtesy of Google Philippines and Google Crisis Management. Click here.

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I’ll try to update this once I have more information.

For more information on how to donate to other places that were affected by the typhoon and floods, whether you’re in the Philippines or abroad, kindly click on Jane Uymatiao.com to be redirected to another entry with more information, or Bayanihan Online’s entry.

So last November 19, Dumaguete celebrated the Sandurot Festival. So what is the Sandurot Festival all about, and what does it actually celebrate? Because I didn’t fully understand the explanation given to me when I asked, and because the internet has more information on it than I could possibly hope for, I just decided to google it and found something. According to this blog site called Philippine Landmarks,  Sandurot is derived from the Visayan word “Pakig-sandurot” which means fellowship and reaching out, which is basically the characteristic of being hospitable – a common Filipino trait. Dumaguete City is actually called the “City of Gentle People”, so being hospitable and welcoming is in the nature of Dumagueteños.

Nowadays you can see many foreigners who both live and visit Dumaguete, but even in the past, a lot of people from other countries would often come and live in various places around the Philippines. Dumaguete City, in more recent times, has been popular because it is a university city. Dumaguete is most known for Silliman University – the first Protestant university and first American private university in Asia. Recently, I’ve noticed a lot of Koreans in the city. It’s amazing how Beijing is full of them, so is Manila, and Cebu, and even here. Makes you wonder if any of them are left in S. Korea. But seriously, it just goes to show how cheap education and a low standard of living can attract foreigners to flock here. Of course, the kind personalities of Filipinos in general is also one thing to take into account.

So apparently, the parade for the Sandurot Festival is a presentation of costumes and dances leading up to a sort of contest. Some baranggays participate in the parade and just entertain the audience with their costumes and dances. Later on in the evening, they hold a contest and the winner will represent the city during the Sinulog Festival to be held in Cebu in January.

One of the things I realized is best represented by the festival is how the Philippines is a product of varying cultures and traditions. One cannot say that a certain thing is purely Filipino, because we are a product of not just the Spanish, American and Japanese occupation, but also of Malay, Chinese, Polynesian (and etc) influences.

The picture above is a float of the famous Dumaguete Belfry, a stone tower built sometime in the 1800′s. When I was little, my relatives told me that a long time ago, pirates would come and loot the small towns along the coast. And when I mean loot, they don’t just steal money and items…..they would also steal away or rape the women. So, this belfry was built to help warn the villagers that pirates were coming. Someone would watch out for the pirates and if they were spotted, they would ring the bells in the belfry, warning the villagers to take cover.

And just because I find this amusing, this is one of the sponsors for the event. Panda Ice Cream Haus, and their mascot…of course..a panda. When I was little, they would often sponsor the ice cream for the final presentation day of our swimming classes. I was never fond of their buko ice cream, but they have other delicious ice cream flavors and they’re actually quite popular with the locals.

Since I don’t have a lot of really nice pictures to share, or they’re mostly repetitive, I’ve taken the liberty of posting the two videos I took of the parade. I hope you’ll enjoy them. They make the parade seem more realistic than my photos and explanations from earlier.

Video 1

Video 2

Anyway, I went to my college friend’s blog and discovered this among her posts. I’ll share it below..

One day I hope to meet an imperfect man who will seem perfect to me from time to time.

Source: http://opinion.inquirer.net/17713/mr-imperfect

As a child, most girls long to find their Prince Charming, the perfect guy who will sweep them off their feet, do their every whim and fancy, and all those other things that come with being Mr. Perfect. But as maturity and experience teaches us, no one is ever perfect. What’s more, if you think finding Mr. Perfect is hard, finding Mr. Normal is even harder. Finding that one normal guy who has both faults and good qualities, that one guy who is willing to give-and-take while being in a relationship with you, who respects you and treats you the way you should be treated….THAT is DIFFICULT. Also, finding someone who is willing to look at the imperfect you and love it, that’s the most important thing.

I want to find a guy who is not perfect and without fault, but the guy who is perfect and most well-suited for me.

Oh woah is the me who wishes my dreams can defy reality.

孤独的你，请找到me。

浪漫的我，不要想多的梦，

王侯的你，请不要让我等。

♥黄绮思

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Pinyin version of poem above:

Fēn xīn de wǒ, nǐ xiànzài nǎlǐ?

Gūdú de nǐ, qǐng zhǎodào me.

Làngmàn de wǒ, bùyào xiǎng duō de mèng,

Wánghóu de nǐ, qǐng bùyào ràng wǒ děng.

Rough translation of poem above:

Distracted me, where are you?

Lonely you, please find me~

Romantic me, do not dream too much,

Princely you, please do not make me wait.

During a short break at work that required me to just stand still and watch over the store, I was so bored that I started drawing and writing poetry. I was writing English poetry when I just thought of a few random and simple Chinese words and made them into a poem. Original one has been edited to mean something better, and to sound much better. I feel sort of pleased, considering it’s in Chinese (albeit very simple) and also because I just miss my poetry writing days. It’s amazing how sometimes, the days you feel the most BLAH, are days where you are inspired to write.

There’s nothing in what I wrote that has to do with anything I’m feeling or experiencing right now. But I guess a part of me that just wants to grow up and be realistic, is fighting a side of me that wants to stay naive and romantic.

That was my frustrated Chinese phase in life. Even being Chinese was hard because I felt like I didn’t look the part, and besides practices like wearing red on birthdays, eating noodles on birthdays, wearing white for wakes, me and my family weren’t really Chinese-Chinese. And then in the 6th or 7th grade, I discovered Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah. It was actually from my mom’s library, and it was just lying around the house so I took it and began reading it. That’s where it began. After that, I discovered my mom’s copy of Falling Leaves (by the same author), and later on other Chinese-related books by Amy Tan and Lawrence Yep.

That’s where it began. I started taking Chinese lessons in High School much more seriously. I tried speaking more Mandarin with my tutor, tried conversing with my Dad in Hokkien, even volunteered to talk to my Chinese relatives once in a while. And in one of my years in High School, I even accompanied my dad to Xiamen (my first time on the Mainland)!

Basically, to cut the long story short, I discovered I liked Chinese. I liked learning about Chinese history, reading about Chinese culture and traditions, reading English books about China, and so on and so forth. Heck, I even took up Chinese Studies as my major in university!  I can distinctly say that one of the sources of my discovering my love for all that, all began with Adeline Yen Mah and her books.

See that picture up there. That’s what I call a life achievement – UNLOCKED. I’ve been following Adeline Yen Mah on goodreads (not her personal official account)  and I discovered she had this website called Chinese Character A Day.Com where she teaches Mandarin for free. It’s not the kind of place where she has a course laid out with things to follow. No. What she does is that she gets interested readers to use her book - China Land of Dragons and Emperors as a basis for her lessons. So on site, she has stuff like excerpts from her book that she writes in English but has inclusions of Chinese characters. After each entry, she has this part where she has a vocabulary list of the words that had Chinese characters attached to them. She even has this audio file of how she pronounces each word. After each entry, she also has an audio file where she recites the excerpt ENTIRELY in Mandarin. She even has a few games on the site to test what you’ve learned.

So the reason for this post is not to tell you how excited I was to discover this site and to advertise it as a place to learn Mandarin (though it’s a plus) or to tell you the course through which I hated Mandarin and then learned to love it. No. The reason I made this post is because I left a comment on her comments area on the site, you know…just one of those things you think NO ONE would answer because she (Dr. Mah) probably gets lots of comments from readers. But the day after I made that comment, she approved it and even replied. And she says to give her suggestions for the site! I know it’s nothing to be super excited about, and she does reply to most everyone who goes on her site and leaves comments, but knowing that me and Adeline Yen Mah just had something of a short conversation, albeit it being on a comments page, just makes me giddy to the bones.

Oftentimes I wonder to myself, what would have happened if I didn’t discover that I liked all those Chinese stuff? In what direction would I be taking my life right now? It’s not just a small thing that affects a small part of my life. I would have taken a different major in college, I could have spent that year in Beijing doing something else, I could be doing something else right now, and I wouldn’t have met a lot of the people that I’ve become attached to during that year abroad (and the summer I spent in China as well for 9 credited units).

It makes you think, doesn’t it…about the small things that make a big difference in your life. For now, I’m just giddy over the fact that me and one of my favorite authors have had a short correspondence. I hope to think of something to suggest for the site so that we can continue talking.

Anyway, that is it for now. I’l update you guys when I have more interesting news to share!