Chinese New Year Celebration Postponed

OK, it's official: the Chinese New Year Celebration is being postponed until Wednesday February 17th because of the snowstorm we are supposed to get this Wednesday. Bob (the Library Director) and Eleanore decided it would be best to postpone it for a week. If the doors aren't locked, I will be at the Library on Thursday, so if you are able to come, I will see you then. To quote one of Hui Ling's new favorite lines, "Remember, wherever you go, there you are!"

Warm Pictures on a Cold Monday

Pictures of my marvelous "surprise" party.

Edgar trying to take a nap.

I went out jogging this morning and discovered it is still winter. Bbbrrrrr...very cold indeed. I'm sorry to say that the weather people are more sure than ever that it is going to snow all day Wednesday. They could still be wrong, but it doesn't look good. Edgar is very happy he doesn't have to live outside. Currently (at this moment) he is sleeping on my shoulder.

For those who could not be with us, above are pictures of the surprise birthday party my friends gave me last Friday at the Literacy Volunteers office at Otis Library in Norwich. A wonderful time was had by all.

I am feeling very lazy today, but I have much that I must try to get done, such as some cleaning, balancing my checkbook, practice speaking some Chinese, and very importantly, relaxing and reading for pleasure. Of course I also must give Edgar head rubs which he insists upon having everyday. Enjoy your day, Everyone!

Weather & Human Nature

We have been lucky with the last couple of snowstorms going out to sea to the south of us, so we didn't get any snow, or almost no snow. There is a storm that could arrive Tuesday night and last through Wednesday which would be bad news for the Chinese New Year Celebration at the Library. This storm does not look like it will miss us and could deliver a lot of snow. I don't know if anyone has thought about a rain/snow date, which would be an alternate day (a different day in case of bad weather) to have the celebration on. It might be a good time to consider it. Hopefully the weather forecast will change, and the storm will miss us or arrive much later. As we know, things can change quickly, and like some women, it is almost impossible to know what the weather will do until it does it. Oops! That might be a little sexist...Actually, humans in general, men and women are hard to predict at times. I think the weather might actually be easier to predict sometimes. Thinking about Wednesday, however, it might be best to hope for no snow, but be prepared in case there is a lot. I am torn (if you ask I will explain that to you) between wanting a snowstorm and not wanting it on Wednesday. Whatever happens, enjoy yourselves and be good to each other. Zai Jian.

Find My Mistakes

In my post before this one, "A Birthday, A Bird and....", I found at least 2 mistakes I made. Can you?

A Birthday, A Bird, and Being Young (Always)

Hello, again. Yesterday some Chinese people tried to give me a surprise party. However, they are much more than just some Chinese people. They are an important part of my life. They are my friends, and mean a lot to me. There was nothing wrong with the party. It was wonderful. I say they tried to throw a surprise party for me because I knew they were planning it. Even though they were speaking Cantonese when they planned the party, they did it while I was there. I can't speak Cantonese, but my intuition told me what they were doing. Plus I had suspected that Winnie Lo might try something like this. So (do not start a sentence with "so") I came to our Conversation Group wearing my Halloween mask and sang "Happy birthday to me". Of course, they all wanted to know how I knew. It was a lot of fun. Thank you for the wonderful party.
I just tried downloading a picture of Edgar. I have no idea if it worked or not. I guess I will find out when I post this. Edgar is a very well behaved cockatiel most of the time. Even when he misbehaves he is not the monster that my last cockatiel (his name was Harry) was. I loved Harry dearly, & I miss him a lot, but he was a monster.
It was thinking of my English learners that allowed me to drag myself out of bed this morning to go to my Chinese Mandarin class. I was so tired last night that I was imagining I was a big wind coming up from the south blowing the snow storm further north over Connecticut. I hoped we would get at least a couple of inches of snow so my Chinese class would be canceled. No such luck. But (do not start a sentence with "but" either) as I lay in bed thinking of all the reasons why I should stay home, I thought of all the English learners I see every week who spend so much time at Adult Ed., Three Rivers, and the Library, and the effort they take to get to all these places. It was the inspiration I needed to get me up, so thank you for that, too.
And ("and" is another word you should not start a sentence with) it was was important for me to go to class today because not only did I learn, but I had fun and I interacted (do you remember the word "intermingle"? They are not the same, but there is a similarity or likeness) with my teacher and classmates, as well as with the world. The world is constantly unfolding all around us. At any time we can either choose to be part of it, or not. I think it is much more interesting to be part of it, and to not only see it unfold, but to unfold with it. The world is always changing around us, and if we allow ourselves to be part of it, we change as well. That includes how we see the world (our perception of the world) and the people around us as we get to know it (the world) and them (the people around us) in new ways. When our perception of the world changes it can sometimes be a confusing and even scary experience. Last Tuesday Morning when we had a coating of snow on everything, Winnie Lo said "I lost the road." She didn't really lose the road, it was right there in front of her, but she didn't recognize it because it looked completely different. Sometimes the way we see the world can change so much that we don't recognize it, and it can be frightening, but I also think it can be truly awesome (my Chinese teacher likes that word), meaning it can be an experience we can learn and grow from. It all depends on your point of view. The real trick of being young is being able to see the the world with new eyes every day. To quote a young Korean woman I met, "Do you know what I mean?"

Zaoshang hao, or Good Morning in english. I wanted to tell you my brother, David, has a blog at http://naturallynewengland.blogspot.com as well. He's a nature lover (does a lot of hiking and spends a lot of time outdoors) and a very good writer. Some of his vocabulary might a little difficult for those learning english, but he also has a lot of very beautiful pictures of New England. I think it would be worth your while to try following his blog, even if only for the pictures. Oops! I better hurry if I don't want to be later than usual getting to the library.

The Weather, No Religion, & Very Little Sex

First the weather: some overnight snow flurries with maybe an inch of snow by the end of Wednesday morning. If they close the library I will have to believe they are East Texans, those wimps.
Second, if you post a comment at the end of one of my posts (remember, when I list a new entry in my blog it's called a post), I will always try to respond with a comment, and so, with her permission if she gives it, we might talk about Hong's comment when she is next able to join us. She commented on my last post, and told a story of her own. She reminded me of how brave so many of you are in the living of your lives. I cannot fully imagine the experience of leaving your country, your culture, friends, family, and all you have known in your life, to come to a new country, an alien language as well as an alien culture and people. You may not think you are very brave, but trust me, you are. The closest I have come to this experience is when I went to San Francisco, California about a year and a half after leaving college. It was a great, and sometimes harsh, personal growth experience. It was quite an adventure. Exciting and very scary as well as overwhelming. I did not have to deal with a different culture or a different language, but even though it was in the same country it was an alien place, and with the exception of a girlfriend who was soon to go back to Connecticut, I had left all my friends and family behind. I view that time of my life as being a time of great personal change for me, and while I was going through it there were many times I regretted being there, but I am very glad I did. Although I feel that in many ways it was a very painful experience for me, I believe it was necessary in order to become who I am. I don't believe it made me a different person, but it helped me in the end to be more of the person I wanted to be. Ok, enough of that. I will now share with you Annie's (my friend Pamela's 9 yr. old daughter) homework. Well, a little of her homework. The boiling point of water is 212 degress fahrenheit (I think I spelled that right).Freezing is 32 degrees. There are 10 millimeters in a centimeter, and 3 feet in a yard. There are 12 inches in a foot, and 5,670 feet in a mile. You measure the weight of a grape in ounces, and a baby in pounds. Questions of the day are: how many ways are there to see, and is it only the eyes we see with? Is a pretty woman a beautiful woman? Is a smart man a wise man? And finally, what did the groundhog see when he came out today? (Hint: will we have an early spring or 6 more weeks of winter) Ok, Edgar's yelling at me, I have to end this. Stay warm, spring will come.