Trip to Xitang

I took a day-trip to a little canal town called Xitang with my dad, his three colleagues, and my roommate Marta. We took the bus there from Shanghai - it's about one or two hours to get there (depending on traffic). It was a fun-filled day full of eating stinky-tofu and other interesting morsels. The views were great.

The joys of 汉字！

Why are Chinese characters so great?

Small words form bigger words in awesome combinations! Take for example:

马上 (ma3 shang4). It means "immediately"... but literally translated it means "on horseback". Makes so much sense!

恐龙 (kong1 long2) means "dinosaur". Literally translated it means "terrible dragon". It's also something you can call an ugly/mean woman, according to my friends. :-)

电脑 (dian1 nao3) means "computer". Literally the two characters mean "electrical brain".

奶油 (nai3 you3) literally is "milk oil". The outcome: butter.


... yes, I know I'm a dork. But it's just so COOL! Studying characters has given me a whole new perspective on Chinese. Two months ago I couldn't read or write anything. And now I'm able to read parts of menus and signs. It makes me 开心 (open heart = happy) inside.