ㄋ一ˇ ㄏ凹ˇ

A weekend recap is coming, but I am purposefully waiting until I have obtained the necessary photographs.

• The recap will include (but not be limited to):
• White on White Paisley and Sequence
• Chris O'Donnell's Three Musketeer getup (or close enough)
• A photographer
• And a Turkey/Ham Lunch potluck

Stay tuned.

But for now, I thought I would let you all know that I am officially a Student of Chinese!
Class started Monday Morning at a brisk 9 am. It's for 3 months, 3 hours a day, 5 days a week.

I am in a class with 4 other students (unless the other 6 show up):
An Australian, who is a Taiwan Citizen-by-Marriage
An Exchange Student from Thailand
Another Student from Vietnam
and a Young Wife who recently relocated with her husband, also from Vietnam.

I personally feel that the Vietnamese students, and maybe the Thai-guy have an unfair advantage, seeing as their native tongue is also a tonal one.

Nonetheless, the 5 of us are in it together. Starting at square one: The Mandarin equivalent to the ABCs (BoPo MoFo). I am excited to learn. I love the idea of being on my way to fluency by the time I head back home to the States. Certainly will impress my friends at Panda Express, right?

The University I'm attending has a beautiful campus. My bus ride (which is about a buck-fifty US round trip) drops me off 20-30 minutes early, and the lake - and surrounding trail, tables, and observation deck - have already tap-tapped the extra time.

I'll admit, it's strange being back in the classroom again. I found the Library first chance I had, and grew giddy as I purused the 6th floor - "Western Bookstacks" - promising Miller and Marx and Socrates I would visit them again soon.

I just hope homework will allow.

On the first day, we learned a Tongue Twister. Can I share it with you? Oh great, thanks friend, here goes:
Mama qi ma. Ma man mama ma ma.

Translation, please?
Mother is riding the Horse. The Horse is Slow so Mother scolds the Horse.

Ai iou.

This is not going to be easy.

PS If I fragmented my homework and the chinese alphabet on my keyboard correctly - which I likely didn't - the Characters in the Title box spell out "Hello"