I Have A Name!

I warned you in the last post that today would be lazy so don't blame me if this might seem boring. ;) The reason I've been posting everyday, instead of only when major events happen, is that I have a lot of free time lately and also I treat this somewhat like a diary. By writing about each day, years from now I can go back and relive my thoughts and memories. It's an everlasting souvenir from Taiwan. ;D

The first half of the day was just breakfast and Chinese character learning session. I'm getting to know quite a few characters to the point where I'm walking down the street or watching TV and I can recognize a good chunk of what I see. But it's still very difficult to translate because of more complicated-ness. I'm working on it ;)

But all of a sudden my bedroom no longer has only one person inside. Instead a second, unexpected person bounces in. This person is my cousin, Melody, who I met on the first day I arrived in Taiwan. We made a deal back then that she would teach me Chinese and I would teach her English. If I'm correct, she went to an English camp and learned quite a bit. So today she lovingly had me repeat words and phrases of her choosing. The problem was I didn't know half of what she was saying. I could understand "My name is..." and "pillow" but when she dove into full blown sentences and questions, my mind exploded. XD Somehow we transitioned to the piano which was quite delightful. Melody would play a small ditty and then teach me it. I didn't recognize the first song but the second I was like "EUREKA! MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB! I know this!" That worked out lovely because she couldn't remember the last part of the song, so I was able to teach her something as well. Twas a lovely exchange of bonding time.

A trip outside was in order as we took Melody and Larry to the game machines frequently found in toy stores. They began with the Pokemon station which is a total different gameplay from a traditional Pokemon game. Don't ask me how it works because I haven't fully figured it out yet. Right now I just nod and smile, nod and smile. But after they finished, Larry wanted to play the animal versus game. Unfortunately Melody didn't like the game so I played with Larry inside. Whipping out my lucky American owl we began our battle. Now in this game you get 3 rounds and best 2 out of 3 wins. We were only on the first round and I wasn't doing so hot. All of a sudden Melody, the girl who said she didn't like the game, takes over control and plays the owl character for the rest of the game. I just took a step back and let her do her thing. It made me laugh at the irony of this action but it was enjoyable to see the two kiddos have so much fun playing together. Sadly my baby lost to Larry's wolf. I figured it out, only when an American plays as the American horned owl are the combo invincible. Like I said before, I'm enjoying the thought while I can before Larry kicks my butt. :P

Dinner was in Taipei at a small restaurant that had a fairly diverse menu. There were many things that I wished to try but what caught my interest the most was "shabu shabu." Remember? The meal of overwhelmingness? This version was smaller and served on a tray for only one person. Desiring to give the scary meal a second try, I chose a beef and seafood bowl. So it came out on an elevated wooden platform with a small cup of what I believe to be was oil, that they lit on fire to warm the pot. Beginning with lettuce and some clump of long mushrooms, the food was quite tasteful. Enjoying every bit I savored the flavor. Only minutes later the pot starts to violently boil. Panicking, I scramble to take some ingredients out that were finished cooking and replace with new, raw ones. The food that was just taken out is placed in the rice bowl and allowed to cool, otherwise your tongue shall be black from the amount of burning it would receive. The problem was that before all the food finished cooling, the pot would start to boil again. Frantic, I stuff the cooling food into my mouth to make room in the rice bowl for more cooked food to subdue the violent boiling. Then the previous problems repeat in a cycle of "oh-my-gosh-this-pot-is-going-to-EXPLODE-and-hurt-someone!!"-ness. See the first shabu shabu I experienced that a feature on the table that allowed the customer to control the temperature of the pot. This shabu shabu, however, didn't because it's just a cup of oil burning underneath. The whole time I'm hoping the oil will run out so I have time to enjoy every bite of food, but nope. I barely tasted the food in attempt to make sure no one was killed due to Andrea's noob shabu shabu skills. But I don't think it's my lacking of skills because my mother and father were also surprised with this lack of control of the temperature. So, phew, I'm not such a disgrace as I thought I was. ;P

After the main meal, Melody and Larry were playing a game they created with pokemon tokens. I think I figured out how to play from watching them but I think it would be pointless if I tried to explain it in words. Let's just say it was a form of kid gambling as you can win the other players tokens if you succeed. But note they weren't actually gambling, it was just an innocent game that was fun to watch. FYI, Melody won. XD The two are even because Larry won the animal versus game. Nice equality going on there. :)

We took Melody to her home and she taught me a bit more Chinese, though I couldn't remember much because I was tired. But back at our home, I bring up the subject of my Chinese name. (A Chinese name is required for school registration and perhaps even government papers since foreign names like "Andrea" don't work out well.) Thanks to my dear friend Colleen back in Texas, she suggested the name "Ming Hai" which means "Shining Sea." I was really liking that name and brought it to my parents for approval. Even though the websites online say it can be both male and female, my parents said it's a very masculine name. That's no bueno. So in attempt to find a more feminine name, I retreat to the interwebs. I find three more names. Bringing them to my parents I get a negative reply. I find seven more. Still nothing. Some names were weird sounding, some not traditional and some way too common. Thank god I have my parents because the internet didn't tell me any of this and I had no idea. My parents were wanting a unique name and relating directly to my personality. I think it's so sweet of them to desire such a goal and taking the time and effort to help me find one. It means a lot to me. Anyway, no online names were working out so they asked what kind of things would I like to have in my name. Based on the type of things I saw online I chose four: moon, happiness, warm and peace. Why? I've always loved the moon and the other three characteristics are related to my entire purpose of being a Rotary Youth Exchange Student/Ambassador. Plus they're so lovely in general. ^_^ 

Expecting them to create a name with only one or two of those words, I was shocked as they magically came up with a name that embraces all four. Woah! I was not expecting that! The ending product is "Wen Jing." That's the best romanization I have because they pronounced it like that but wrote it in character format. "Wen" is my mother's family name (so that is the family name I'm taking). Note: It's in Asian format, so the family name is in the beginning and the first name at the end. Though usually in Taiwan, the first name is two words, mine is only one which actually is common in China. It's very difficult to describe but my father was saying how special and awesome the name is, as it sounds great and encompasses many of aspects of my personality. Such aspects like studying hard, musicality, etc. So yay! I have a Chinese name! A pretty name nonetheless that I quite like. Just a fun fact, with a two worded name, I would be called "Wen Jing" and not just "Jing." 

Wen Jing shall be official tomorrow because it's my first day of school which mainly is meeting my teacher, principal or whoever else to discuss my classes and to register myself with my Chinese name. So Wen Jing it is. Once I practice the character form a bit more, I can take a picture of my true name because my family and I are not certain of how to spell it in romanization form.

And so ends the last day of summer. With that note I should get to bed earlier than midnight which has been the usual time my family goes to sleep these past vacation days. Nighty-night! :)