Hou Hai 2

Last night, I made a new friend. Her English name is Angela and her Chinese name is 乔彧, QiaoYu, which means beautiful, intelligent sister, who's good at writing (actually it's more complicated than that, but that's my way of remembering ;). Guess where we went? That's right, my favorite spot: Hou Hai! We rented a duck shaped boat and paddled around while I furiously photographed every other boat out there. As usual, everyone seemed to be having a great time. Here are some images of the revelry:





Afterwards, we sat at a nice bar, drank expensive beers, and learned about Chinese. On of the most interesting language tidbits was in regard to the word 帆船, fan chuan, meaning "sail boat." What I found intriguing about this word was, as Angela explained, the first character means "sail," referring to the shape of the full batten Chinese sails that resemble the things you might hold in your hand and unfold to "fan" your face on a hot day. Amateur etymology at it's best. That's what I love about Chinese, all the curious connections. Another one that I was really into was the Chinese word for pirate, 海盗, hai dao, meaning "sea thief." I like that! (Not the thieving of course. Unless it's in relation to the 4 Yuan DVD's you can purchase at various roadside stands and freeway overpasses.)

Angela is terrific. Among her many wonderful attributes, she is the first card carrying communist I ever met. As you can imagine, this revelation caused me to completely rethink my opinion of this exemplary social institution and fine political party! Am I smitten?


This is the the ONLY way to study Chinese: a dictionary, a smart and beautiful girl at your side, and cool TsingTao beer at your chin.