Happy New Year/Trips

Happy New Years to everyone who isn't already in 2009. Can you believe it? Two Thousand and Nine!

I'm currently in Kentucky visiting my grandparents and tomorrow I'm going to California! Granada hills, California which is near LA. We are driving which isn't going to be a whole lot of whoop-dee-do but I'm looking forward to seeing Joe and his dogs. My dad and I are leaving tomorrow from Kentucky at 12 noon. I'll post some pictures on the way if I can :)

Merry Christmas!

Its almost Christmas! I thought that I'd say Merry Christmas just in case I don't have time to blog before then! Enjoy family time and eat ham!

Chengdu, China!!!

I am so excited right now. Its 2:25am and I'm off the wall excited. I couldn't sleep so I got on the computer and then searched for the woman who's conference I'm attending tomorrow about Chengdu, China. The best thing is that I'll be staying in that same city hopefully! I cannot wait to got to Chengdu! I want to leave NOW. NOW NOW NOW xD :)))))

The lady's son, Steven Haines is living in Chengdu, China now.

Read this: (her son)
http://www.pandahome.com/en/inform/news/news/bd0bfe0b1e2b0f78011e3365428b001b.htm

Then this: (her) Christy Haines went to visit her son, Steven in Chengdu.
http://www.pandahome.com/en/inform/news/news/bd0bfe0b1dbd0656011dcc6c85f90045.htm


Some more stuff about his journey:
http://www.unr.edu/cla/Perspectives.html

Glasses

I got glasses on Tuesday. I've been wearing contacts for about 5 years, but I never had glasses and contacts at the same time. My vision is apparently pretty bad so my lens are thick. I feel like im in a tube when I'm wearing them. Goldfish must hate their lives... Poor fellers.

Coming to a Close..

Moving to China is finally starting to set in and I couldn't be more excited. My Chinese teacher says that his Uncle (resides in )would gladly take me in to live with them and go to the school about 30-40 minutes away. I told Mr. Li (my Chinese teacher) that I wanted to live in Chengdu because I know the most about it and because Mr. Li has sad wonderful things about it. He said that it was just one option and that he has friends who lives in Chengdu who could possibly host me as well. So it's just an option and I'm glad to have a backup plan.

Classes in school have just ended (yesterday) for the year of 2008 and its saddening. I really like this school but I can't do as much as I feel I could do if I just studied languages. School hasn't ended yet! I have 3 essays to finish and one exam to prepare for. I will be busy all week. I am excited about the essays though! Only two to do completely and I'll be done!

I've got to go.. I work at 5pm

Living in a right-handed world..

Obama and John McCain are left-handed.. Who knew?
7-10% of humans are left-handed.

Any who, living in a right-handed world is difficult. I don't think that people understand what we left-handers go through.

For example, scissors are made for right handed people most of the time and it really kills your fingers when you cut paper. The computer mouse is almost another one. I grew up using a right-handed mouse with my left hand and because of that I don't know if I'd like a left handed mouse. But its still annoying. Certain knives are made for right-handed people because they have curves and such. Certain saw and tools in that category have the tool nailed into the right side for carpenters and such. Guitars are mostly made in the right-handed fashion. It is also very hard to learn to play guitar from a right handed person because you have to thinik backwords or upside down. Trupets, violins, and clairenets are also popluarly right-handed made. Golf clubs are easy to get for a left-handed people so thats nice but I don't like golfing.

Another big thing is writing. It was hard to learn to write because when I was little every one was writing with and different hand. I used to write backwords but I have no idea why. If you notice how a left handed person writes and how a right handed person writes you'll notice that it is different. Because left-handed kids or their teachers incouraged the student to mimic the style or writing of a right handed person we curl our wrists. We try and write at the same angle and thus the curled hand. You have to lift your hand when you write because you'll smudge the paper. Apparently, a left-handed person that writes in the proper way should have their pen/cil below the line of which they are writing. Don't try and do this! ITS HARD.

Guns are made for right-handed people as well as cameras. The grip of a camera is for right handed people as well as the shutter button but I've learned to live with it. There aren't left handed cameras but it doesn't matter as much as the other things. And bowling balls!

Oh, and baseball. I catch and throw with my left hand. I know its odd but I do! I must be extremely left-handed. I think I'm slightly dyslexic because when I read outloud I sometimes mix up the words or letters and say something wrong or skip something but only sometimes.

And idiotic binders and notebook paper. I hate those stupid metal bars! ERGH. That's the worst thing!! OUT OF ALL OF THEM.

I do these things wiht my left handed.

- switch on/off lights
- brush teeth
- comb hair
- hammer
- water flowers
- throw dice
- pick up/count things
- open window/door
- use a screwdriver
- sew
- throw a ball
- write, draw, and paint
- eat and drink
- cut food
- more..

According to Left-handers International, August 13th has been made Left-Handers Day!!
YAY US

Wedding rings are worn on the left hand. But that goes back to an Egyptian & Mayan belief of the vein that connects to the heart is on the left handed.

Spanish

Last night was my first Spanish class with Nolan Readegui. He is the Son-in-Law of my history teacher's daughter. Joanna (daughter) went to Peru a few years back and met him there. They now live in Franklin, Tennessee. His English isn't perfect but not bad either. He says he is a little uncomfortable when speaking English and I understand. I feel the same way in Chinese and sometimes Spanish. One thing I love about the language barrier is that when he doesn't know a word in English and can just say it in Spanish I generally understand what he's talking about.

In the class we only speak Spanish. It is sooooooo cool! You know that exciting feeling you get when you are having an amazing time and don't want it to end? Well, I get that feeling when I'm in the class. I love understanding a different language. I understand much better than I speak. I can say most everything I understand but I might put the pronouns or use a conjugation that is okay but doesn't sound right. Understanding the language helps me understand the grammar and connects that dots. I was surprised of how much Spanish I knew. I had to ask him to repeat himself twice the whole time but otherwise understood every word. I was taught Mexican-ish Spanish and he speaks Peruvian Spanish (which is considered the most proper) so I'll bet there will be some confusion but we'll manage. I hope to be fluent pretty soon! Maybe by next summer! That would rock!

Now for the point of this blog post.. I am going to post 20 Spanish words a day and memorize them. It'll take me 50 days to memorize 1,000 words (in a 1,000 Spanish Words book) and I'm excited about that. Here we go! (I might know some of these words but I'm going to post them anyways.)

abajo: down, downstairs, below
--Te espero abajo.
abanico: fan
--Las damas usan abanicos cuanda hace color.
abierto: open
--El banco queda abierto desde las ocho hasta los dos.
abrazar: to embrace, to hug
--Abrazó a sus parientes antes de salir.
abrazo: hug, embrace
--Abrazos para los niños de todos nostros.
abrigo: overcoat
--Siempre llevo un abrigo caunda hace frío.
acá: here
--Venga acá, rápido.
acabar: to finish
-Nuestro trabajo nunca acaba.
acción: action
--Sus acciónes me confuden.
aceptar: to accept
--¿Aceptan ustedes cheques da viajero?
acerca de: about
--Busco un libro acerca de los Ustados Unidos.
acercarse: to approach (reflexive)
--Acérquense y podrán ver mejor.
acompañar: to accompant, to go with
--¿Me permiten acompañarlos?
aconsejar: to advise
--¿Qué me aconsejan hacer?
acordarse: to remember (reflexive)
--¿Se acuerdan ustedes de nosotros?
acostarse: to go to bed (reflexive)
--Siempre nos acostamos trade cundo visitamos un país extranjero.
actual: present, current
--El globierno actual tiene muchos problemas.
acuerdo: agreement
--Estamos de acurdo con usted.

I didn't put the English translation because if I look back I want to be able to read the Spanish and understand how to use the word in a sentence. ¡Hasta la vista!

New China!

My Chinese teacher Mr. Li called me on Saturday night and asked me to work at the Chinese restaurant he helps run. He works 3 days a week there and I will too. I will work Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday from 5-8pm at $8 an hour. I get 50% of the tips which is like $3 or $5 but it's money! So I get around $10 an hour with the tips added. Not bad...

My first night was this Sunday and it was fun! The lady's English isn't the best. She says that wrong word or doesn't understand what I'm saying and tells me the wrong things and then blames me for screwing up. "Your teacher even knows this..." she explains. "But you are new and I won't fire you!" I was like gheeez.. thanks a lot lady. I don't know what it is but she thinks I'm a little slow or something. She added, "In a few weeks if you can remember the cash register you can learn to put the Chinese food into bags for to go order". I just thought to myself, "Oh man, this lady is nuts or she thinks I am". It's like talking to a person who listens to every other word but she got a lot better at the end of the night. They aren't very electronical at all and don't believe that "void" means you void the transaction and not the whole entire machine! I just laughed inside and was silent.

Here are some pictures of the place. :) Enjoy

P.S: These were all taken with my phone so they are bad quality.






There names are the following (one family): Jim(Dad), Karen(Mom), & Wendy (in kindergarten). Wendy is in the background you can see her head.

Website

I've been working on this sim game for a long time now and it's finally almost done. A sim game is an online interactive community based game which centers around an animal or theme. The animal in this game is a horse. You can show, breed, sell, and groom virtual horses and more. It isn't a traditional game with graphics and fancy stuff like that. It's a website, php, mysql, css, html based game.

If you want to check it out here is the info and a link:
http://hermesmarketing.com/uh/
login info:
email: flashatizer@yahoo.com
password: m

University

I've been investigating college things over in Chengdu, China. SCU or Sichuan University seems to be the best college in Chengdu because it is the province's college. It would be like Florida State University or something like that.

I messaged a few people on myspace that attend the college and they seem very nice and happy to help. They say that foreigners who know little Chinese attend the school and manage. "Study hard and the immersion of the Chinese language will come into play" seems to be the theme. That was my intent so I'm not worried about it.

I printed the application and physical forms from the website and it costs 17,500 RBM each academic year. That's $2,500 USD a YEAR! That's extremely cheap! Renting a room is 20 ($3) RBM a dasy for a bed in a two bed room or 40 RBM ($6) a day for a single bed room. I don't know what I'd want to do. I think that having a roommate would be fun, especially if they are Chinese.

There are better universities around China, but I have no idea where I should be. I keep getting pointed towards Chengdu so that's the idea basis for now but things could be different. There is Peking University near Bei Jing, a University near Shang Hai, or a Honk Kong University..

What to choose..

Kung Fu Panda

I watched Kung Fu Panda last night and decided to draw 3 of the characters.
Viper, Tigress, and Po.

Blog Post

Alrighty.. so I got an email (from a obsessive reader) and they gave me some topics to blog about..
Suggested topics for MSKB
1. Foods
2. Nutrition
3. Chicks
4. Chinese culture
5. Walgreen experiences with crazy customers
6. Last time you changed your socks
7. Last time you slept in your pants
8. Pet update
9. Why sports don't do it for you
10. The tile of your first book

I'll shoot this one out in one blog! Mwhaha.. I know wasn't the point of the blog but its mor fun this way.

Foods: I love fruit, some of those would be... oranges, red apples, grapes, pineapple, strawberries, cantaloupe, lemon and lime mixed with water (my free Sprite mix), watermelon, and more.. You can't really go wrong with fruit. Its all so good. YUM

Nutrition: I love wheat, soy milk, fruits and veggies, lots of spices, peppers, and meat. I would eat it everyday but we are on a short supply of these things sometimes.

Chicks: None here.. Never had a girlfriend and I don't really want one right now. We'd all like to have one but I'm focusing on school. I have no time for anyone else and it'd be unfair.

Chinese culture: There is a lot to say here. I'll blog about this some other time.

Walgreen's: I have had a few run ins but nothing really weird that I witnessed. There are two women who always have a ton of coupons and take about $25 off their purchases with the 10+ coupons they use. They use one for every item every single time. There is also a coupon man who is pretty disgusting. He is rather large, has two very slick eyebrows (a lot like the Grinch) and has a mean temper. He has a mental retarded son and one who acts like one; he yells at them half the time because they are constantly touching things. At Walgreen's, you may use one manufacturer's coupon per item and as many Walgreen's coupon's within the limitation of the Walgreen's limit. This man doesn't understand that the coupons printed out of the coupon machine are manufacturer coupons and say $2 off COURTESY OF P&B or whatever.. Apparently, a lot of celebrities come into Walgreen's. I haven't spotted one yet (in the jungle of retail) but apparently Nick and Aaron Carter came in and bought a few manly products and Wynonna Judd popped in while I was in the store but I didn't see her or at least I didn't realize it was her. That about sums up the Walgreen's stuff for now.

Socks: I hardly wear socks but I don't rewear the ones I just wore. They are usually smelly and hardened.. I have no idea why..

Pants: I sleep in my cloths every night. :)

Pet Update: I'll save this one for later..

Sports: I don't know what it is about sports that I don't like but I just don't. I enjoy playing them sometimes but only a few kinds. Football isn't that much fun to play, lacrosse is a blast, volleyball, baseball, basketball, and tennis are all fun to play. Swimming is the best sport because I love water. Watching people on tv playing a sport is boring unless its a lot entertaining. Soccer is fun to watch because of all the tricks but only live. Football seems to be the same everywhere and basketball is fun to play but not too often. Volleyball isn't boring at all to ply but watching isn't very fun on tv but in real life. Swimming is fun whenever your doing it and in whatever situation. I love to play death soccer (catching the ball and running with it for a few seconds dropping it and tripping people and acting ruthless while playing). My old school Stone-Table used to play death soccer everyday at lunch time. It was a BLAST! My dad told me that I didn't like sports when I was little so I guess I just don't like for that reason...

Title of my First Book: Hmm.. Good question.. I have no idea. I need to think about that one.

Pink Eye & Etc...

My little sister (Leah) told me that my eye looked pink around 12pm on Sunday. I thought nothing of it and went about my day. Later that night I noticed that it was still pinkish. I asked my dad about it and then called my mom (RN or Registered Nurse). When she got home the next morning she looked at it and it looked a lot worse. Almost the whole eye was pink verses the previous day's small pink blob. I called sick for work and headed to a different Walgreen's Walk-In Clinic. They nurse was very personal and friendly. She told me a story about her contact experience as a child and sent me off. I had to pick up the eye drop prescription at my neighborhood Walgreen's because they were out. I picked it up and headed home. I was officially diagnosed with Conjunctivitis. That's just the fancy word for pink eye.. or in Spanish: conjuntivitis.

Oh! I had to take one of my contacts out and now I'm half blind.. :( I included a picture of my joyful experience with Conjunctivitis. I do hope you enjoy!

It looks painful but it isn't at all.

And now for the Etc... I drew a few pictures yesterday and here are two of them..

The first is a dinosaur called a Parasaurolophus.



The second is a standard Hummingbird.


I drew them both in about and hour. Enjoy!

What is a guy to do?

I've noticed this reoccurring pattern among my fellow peers. Most of the people my age (16-19+) -Christian or not- seem to cuss, drink underage, smoke, and do all sorts of other non-advisable things. I deal with these things too but not in the same way. I have told myself because I am a firm Believer and try to be a Christian in all I do to not do those things and I haven't. My fellow peers know that I don't approve or do anything like that and try and avoid them when around me but it is quite clear that they continue if I wasn't there. I don't know what to do with myself sometimes. People sometimes hold back when around me because they know me and what I'd say.

Not all of my peers do these things but I hate the fact that people don't understand the simple solution. God is the fill for the ultimate void in their lives. We do these things to fill a temporary void but God is the ultimate answer. If I tell my peers that its wrong, they justify it by means of the flesh, illogical answers, or by simply telling me that they knew I'd say it. I hate the fact that I can't get them to realize what they are doing is sinful or simply un-Christian hurts me. What is a Its hard to have a great relationship with someone that excuses sin and calls himself a Christian.

So, I guess this is a typed prayer that is in my heart.

Code

I got a job at Walgreen's a little less than 2 months ago. It isn't the best job but it pays cash. I've noticed that there are a lot of codes at Walgreen's. When I worked at Chick-fil-A there weren't any codes.

Here are a few:

Code 10- Cash pickup
Code 60- Cash refill
Code 30- Returns
227- Front Register
IC3- Help at Front Register
226-Camera
228-Cosmetics
221- Office
230- Stockroom
231- Breakroom

I use the phone to page and call codes at Walgreen's every time I work. Possibly 3-5 times and hour if we are busy.

Beverages

I am a fan of beverages. I love tea, water and natural juices (i.e orange, apple, grape, ect...). I don't like coffee or soda but that's just me.

So my question is:
Soda, Coffee, or both?
Tea, water, or both?
Juice, energy drinks, or both?

Kirstie Lovelady

One of my great friends Kirstie Lovelady is an amazing singer. Check out her myspace!

http://www.myspace.com/kirstielovelady

baimanzhi

Story
I've been taking Chinese for almost a year now. After a few weeks, my Chinese teacher gave me a Chinese name. It took him a while to think of because in China names are very important. It should tell something about the person or what the parents hope the child to become. After a couple of weeks he came up with bai man zhi. These words in Chinese are readable in English and called pinyin.

In Chinese names the first name is the last. So bai is my last name in Chinese. He picked bai because of my legal last name Blair. My other name is man zhi. Man means full and zhi means intelligence/wisdom/knowledge. So my name literally means: White, Full of Intelligence. My Chinese teacher (Li Zhengrong or Mr. Li) gave that name to me because he said that I am a fast language learner.

Pronunciation
Bai is in the second tone which is the rising tone. You would say bai like you wuld say what? in English. So you'd say Click Here to hear the correct pronunciation.

Man is the third tone which is the falling then rising tone. You'd say it like the word huh? in English. When you say huh? You go down and then up. Click here to hear the correct pronunciation.

Zhi is the forth tone. The forth tone sounds like the English word no. Imagine yelling at your dog no! and you'd have the forth tone. Don't think its silly to almost yell this tone but thats how it is. A friend of mine's mother said that she hears Chinese people talk and it sounds like they are yelling. Its true though, it does sound like yelling. Click for the correct pronunciation.

You can't change your tone of voice to expresss emotion in Chinese. If you ask a question with a question tone like English speakers, Chinese people would scratch their heads and wonder why you just said a bunch random words. You chould have said: How are you smart fish? So, be careful if you speak Chinese or immiate it.

I covered 3 for the four tones so why not finish. The first tone in Chinese is a high flat tone. It sounds similar to the Ahhh! sound when the doctor tells you to open your mouth. Here is a little example of the four tones using the word ma.

First Tone: Click
Second Tone: Click
Third Tone: Click
Fourth Tone: Click

There is another tone but it doesn't qualifty as a tone in some of the Chinese eye. This tone is called the neutral tone and sounds like the name. If you were to say ma in the nuetral tone you'd say ma very light and soft unlike the other tones (numbers behind the pinyin is the tone 1-4).
Mama1 ma2 ma3 he2 ma4. This means: The mother bothers the horse and grasshopper.

I hope that helps and don't get too confused. But that's my name! :)

PS -- > My Chinese name in characters:

iPhone

I want an iphone; everyone wants one and I decided to join the crowd. I could use it for a phone, ipod, and chinese. I was looking at the applications and they have Chinese, Spanish, Korean, or any language you can think of. Its a learning sleek amazing machine! So, I'm sold. I have enough money and I am really considering it. I can take it to China (just switch the service to a Chinese phone provider via sim card and unlock it with software from ebay). I think it'd be a great investment and would last me a long time. I'm sold!

Art Collection

I love to draw. I have been drawing for as long as I can remember. Here a few pieces of my art. Click for a bigger image.
My friend Erin really likes tigers and she wanted me to draw her one so, I did!

























This was my first attempt of coloring using Adobe Photoshop.




















This is a sketch of my friend Bennett Farkas. We were on the was home from NY and I was bored so I drew him.

Chinese Keyboard

Click for a bigger image.

The Chinese symbols with the phonic letters are called Chinese radicals. Each character is comprised of radicals which mean certain things. (e.i The radicals for woman and son together means friend. If you add the heart radical under it it means close friend).

Chinese ATM

Looks the same to me. What do you think?

Say what??

I was bored and was looking up random facts here are a few.

1. The dot in the letter "i" is called a tittle.
2. India has a Bill of Rights for cows.
3. The average raindrop falls at 7 miles per hour.
4. The “save” icon in Microsoft Office programs shows a floppy disk with the shutter on backwards.
5. The names of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with (not counting the words “North” and “South).

Wish

If you could wish for anything what would it be?

At this moment, I'd wish to be able to study languages and have language classes every day all day. I'd eat stir fried veggies and meat, yummy tea, and have my Cindy with me. That would be nice!

Update

One the right hand side of my blog you see a picture slideshow. I made the Keyword "chengdu" thus, it displays photos from flickr that have that keyword. I was watching the slideshow of pictures the other day and I clicked on a picture and browsed some of the photos. I messaged the owner of the flickr account and he replied pretty fast. He is an American working over in China (I think) and he gave me a long description of Chengdu from his point of view. I think he took all of the doubt I had away. I doubted if I'd like Chengdu a little but now I know that I'll like it or at least enjoy it more than I thought. He said that it's not very fast paced, said that there are foreigner spots I could go to and feel like I was in America, and recomended some restaurants (American and good Chinese food). He said its a little hard to find cloths that'll fit an American if you are tall and said to bring extra cloths. He also said that the people are very friendly but I might encounter might have never seen a foreigner and I'd get looks a lot. His final thought was that in China you need to expect 70% quaility in everything.

This helped me a lot. I am so greatful! Praise God!!

Happy Birthday!

This blog goes out as a Happy Birthday for my Dad and my Sister. Ages will be kept private. haha

Chengdu Downtown Biking

Matthew Vaughan is a busiman (middle 20's) living in Chengdu, China. This is a bike ride he videotaped. I hope to go to this same city. This song is an award winning song:
吉祥三宝
by 布仁巴雅尔
It's in Mongolian, but there are Mandarin versions too.

Thoughts

I was thinking about living in China and my life right now and a thought popped into my head (I have thought of this before, but I feel like it's evidence that I am called to China for Him). This isn't my life, for I didn't make it nor did I wish for it in order for my creation. God created me out of love and has put forth a calling in my heart for His will. I believe that God placed China and the Chinese language in my heart in order to perform the calling He placed in me. I can become an interpreter in America by studying a language for 5 years, but I think God wants me to go to China to minister, teach, and love with "beneficent affection" to the Chinese people which means learning the Chinese language in China. I don't think I can perform my calling for Him to the fullest in America, but that could easily change if He wishes it so. That doesn't mean that I have to learn this second, but I think the time is coming shortly. The simplest way I can say it is this: God wants me to go to China to learn Chinese and that is His plan; I don't think I'm supposed to become fluent in America. I am not certain on this, but I think that is what He is trying to tell me. I need to pray about it and please pray for me in my journey.

Que Hora es ? Soap Opera

This has to be the funniest thing I have ever seen!

Programming

I learned php when I was 15 and can finally say that I know php. It is very useful and helps in various webjobs that I might do. To start off php us a computer language scripting device that interacts with databases in order to make something like: facebook, myspace, or even blogger. They are not all made with php, but you can make them in php. If you want to completely master php you will need to know a few other script langauges as well. First there is mysql. Mysql is the database scripting language that allows one to interect with an online datebase that could hold you account information. For instance, on blogger you have serveral database tables (in a single database tables are the categories: users, blogs, blog_replies, and others). Inside each table are what you call rows. If you take the users table the rows might be username, email, password, or about_me. You get the point. Second, you'd need to know html. Html is a website scripting language that is very common in today's myspace page. A simple bolding of a text or as complex as the creating a post page on blogger was made in html. Html is a visual script so all (or 98%) you see in html will result in something visual. Lastly, is the very helpful script called css. Css is a visual script as well. It can be used to change the background color, font color, table bg color, and more. Html can do all of this as well, but css is a fast way or plugging in design with a simple added tag.

That's a little info about php and it's relatives. It's a little part of me, but not something I want to continue as a career. I will program for money in tight spots, but I don't want to sit at a computer desk my entire life.

Money!

From the day I set my eyes on Chinese money, I became overly drawn to world currencies. I love how they are all so different because they (the designers) come from different background and uprisings of minds.



The Chinese Currency is widly colorful. $1 USD is worth about 7 yuan. All currency is commonly called: renminbi (People's Money)

The dragon styled yuan is my favorite design.


Egyptian Money is very cool. I have always loved Egypt and this adds to the fascination.


This is the Thai Baht. The man on the bill is the Emperor (if that is what he is called). My aunt who is from Thailand, said that when she graduated from college with a Journalism degree she was given her diploma in the palace in his presence, but wasn't allowed to look at him and if she did she would have been killed. That's a big temptation, NOT!







And due to my love for Spanish I choose to lastly share the Mexican Peso. Nice variety of colors.



Modern USA is finally introducing colorful bills. Thank goodness too! I thought I was going to die of boredom when I went shopping.

Subtitle

I guess you could call it a subtitle but I could be wrong. In my previous blog (in Spanish) I introduced myself and said that I love languages and I want to go to China next year. I thought I'd give a little reason on: Why in the world go to CHINA?

(no specific order)
Firstly, I am going because I feel called to China. I prayed and asked God what language is next to learn and the next day (no kidding) I was asked if I wanted to learn Chinese at a Chinese restaurant in my future neighborhood (I moved to the neighborhood about 3 months after wards). To me, it was a sign; I was being told by God to take Chinese and it later developed into moving there and learning Chinese by immersion. Oh, and my teacher Charles (Zhengrong) Li (Mr. Li) is a Christian who was converted when his family moved to L.A from Chengdu, China.

Second, I am not going to China for me (I never even liked languages before Spanish in 10th grade 2006-2007, but now I LOVE THEM), I am going for Him. It's my calling through Him, His life in me, and nothing of it is mine. I simply have faith and I trust that it will work out. Yes, faith without work is dead, but faith that he will work in me to do the work is what I have faith in. I have no doubts or bad feelings about this; it is my calling and I know I am supposed to go. God could change it the morning of the plane ride, but I have faith that he'll lead me in the right direction.

Lastly, from the day I entered my Latin class in 9th grade, I was instantly good at Latin. I hated it in 8th grade and I was really bad, but it started to make sense. All of it clicked and I have no idea why. I didn't study it outside of school, but it just clicked. In 10th grade, we started Spanish and I remember Mr. Thomas wrote on the board: Como se llamas. I thought to myself and even said it out loud when he asked me, "Come see my llamas?" Funny, but true. We wrote down a full notebook page of words and the first one was fecha (date in spanish) and it just clicked. I was drawn too it and good at it too.

All I have to say is, God is a wonderful mystery and I love reading his novels.

I think that covers it, but do ask if you need more details! :]


P.S Here are some pictures of where I hope to go in China. (Chengdu *become capitol*, Sichuan Province *4 rivers*)

FUN FACT: Chengdu was the first widely place that used paper money.






City restaurant. (left)







Right (Pandas *Chengdu is the birthplace of pandas*)




















Above (Jinli lu *Jin Li Street*)

Below (Chunxi lu *Chun Xi Street* -x's are pronounced like the sh in she-)

Welcome!

Gracias y bienvenido a mi blog. Me llamo Mateo y me gusta idiomas. Aprendo espanol y chino. Espanol por me y chino con un profesor llama li zhengrong. En chino me llamo baimanzhi: lleno de inteligencia. Yo quiero escribir en espanol y otras idiomas para practicar. Hablo ingles fluido por naci en los estados unidos.Quiero vivir en china proximo ano para aprender chino muy mujer. Yo se que este es poco pero sera temprano por la manana si me no acosto ahora. Adios y Zaijian!

En la Red:
learnspanish.com
chinesepod.com
youtube.com/ever4one (This guy is amazing!)

Tuve videos en youtube tambien mas luego pero hasta que..te que vayas bien!