冷静

I have an official Chinese name now, I think. The transliteration 'jia mu se' didn't really stick. 小James was also a little informal. It was sufficient in separating me from the rest of the James' around here, but 小 is a prefix of endearment. It was a trip to the hospital that forced me to choose/get a name as I needed to register as somebody. 冷静, (pron. leng jing). Last names first, first names last. 冷 means 'cold', which coincides nicely with Friesen, 静 'jing', sounds like James (kind of), and the two characters together '冷静' means 'calm, under-control, etc.'. Just like me right? How fitting? hah, Chinese people always laugh at me when I tell them my Chinese name, because it's totally stoopid to them. Supposedly it's a girly name too. Oh well, I've told too many people now to turn back, so that's neat.

Yesterday I saw an old Chinese man that looked exactly like my Grandpa Friesen. I'm not sure how that calculates, but it did. I miss Grandma and Grandpa. Happy Birthday Grandma! Eighty years! Here's to eighty more.

Yesterday I read an entire book in one day, I've never done that. It was called 'Passion and Purity', a book about commitments and chastity. I didn't read it all in one day because it was good, in fact it was kind of dry, the authors stance was fairytailish and a little cold. Outside it was not dry, was cold, so I stayed in and read. To be fair the text was not the standard 12 point font either. Save your time and some letters to Corinth.

Every time a 'jian strikes up a conversation with me (or vice versa), our conversation inevitably ends with an exchange of e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and business cards. This is the Chinese way. "I think we are good friends for long time". "Yeah me too, probably". Seeing as how nearly every day I end up having a conversation with one of Nanning's residents, I've given out my e-mail address and phone number more times than I can count. 95% of people don't make any attempt to contact me, but the few that do always throw me for a loop. Every once in a while I'll get an unexpected phone call with someone saying "Hey, remember me?", "I'm really sorry, I don't". Or some bizarre e-mail from some people inviting me to their house for dinner, or to their school, or to accept their hearts. It's mostly my fault I guess (how do you give a fake phone number when they insist on dialing it for confirmation afterwards?), but honestly I don't mind, it's usually fun. Most of the people I meet are very genuine as well, so it's just rude to not reciprocate their kindness. Everyone is very nice, few are too nice, and once in a long while they will be strange.

Today I studied Chinese for about seven, or eight hundred hours. Learning a new language (later on in life) prevents Alzheimer's I'm told. So take that my future Alzheimer's! I am happy to have not yet fallen out of love with this language. It is difficult and rewarding and most importantly fun to study. The culture lends itself really really nicely to motivation on many levels.

"Damn, Sam, I love a woman that rains" - Ryan Adams, Heartbreaker