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Chinese Name 赵 慧 美

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

I finally got around to adopting a Chinese name for myself. Of course it had to meet the following criteria:

1) must be a name with meaning that I can relate to

2) must be easy to pronounce (duh, it’s no good if you can’t say your own name right?)

3) it should be somewhat easy to write

therefore it was an easy pick. Drum roll please………………………………………… 🙂

My Chinese name is……….. Zhào Huì Měi 赵 慧 美 ….. Pronounced: jao/huay/may

So what do you think? It’s pretty much my English name translated over with an additional third character at the end. (赵 last name: dizon +wisdom: sophia + 美 beautiful)

A Chinese name usually consists of three characters, but it’s still common to have a two-character name. The final character in my name is a rather common one amongst Chinese names. And it so happens that the word “beautiful” is my ultimate favorite English word – so it made sense to add it on.

So there you have it folks! I can’t get any more Chinese than that. Living in China – check! Learning Chinese – check! Take up a Chinese name – check!

Sahweeet. Now I can finally fill in the [Chinese name field] on forms AND properly answer the incessant question: “What’s your Chinese name?”

As of today, I am no longer going by Sophia. It’ll be Huì Měi to all of you (in China anyway)

a lot has happened while I was gone..

Friday, July 17th, 2009

I’m sitting here at the SK airport once again waiting for my flight back to Dalian – the longest layover ever! Seven-hours! Sheesh. But I figure it’ll be good time to catch up on my site and upload photos. I’m extremely drained. My eyes are shutting down as I type this. I’m on my third cup of coffee, but it’s not helping. So I’ll be quick and I’m apologizing now for any randomness and writing errors.

First and foremost, I finally got my Chinese work visa! Yes, finally. This work visa grants me a one-year stay in China. Which means no more flying in and out and no more extensions! A very good thing because I’m already running out of pages in my new passport!!

My five days home came and went. Man, it flew by! I miss my family, friends and my dog already. Had a sweet ass time kicking it with my nephews and nieces, who have grown so much since I last saw them five months ago. My five-year-old nephew Donovan rips it on his razor scooter now! It freaked me out. I really thought he was going to eat pavement going at the speed he was going down the hill, but he didn’t! Pheww! Anyway, a lot has happened while I was gone. I was caught up on a lot of things, which got me thinking – did I pick a bad year to move abroad? Hmmm… I’ll break it down for you:

BABY CONGRATS to my…

~Cousins~

Jeng and Nickie!! Thanks for the pics – Nathan is a handsome little guy. With all the cute babies running around in our fam I’m convinced that we have awesome genes lol 🙂

Joce and Brian!! It was awesome seeing you guys! Badillo twins!! – very exciting! Any chances of naming one of em’ Sophia?

Roxanne –Send me photos asap!! Or I’m sure Tash will have them up on facebook before you even make it home from the hospital lol

~Friends~

Vina and Virgil on their new addition, Cara!

Min and her husband on theirs, baby Nesta!

Mike and Courtney on their second child, Brooklyn!

see what I mean….I’m missing out on all the babies!!:( I’m not even done yet… my list continues…

GRADUATION Congrats to my…

Big sister Susan!! I’ll see you in October!

Trace and Kay (Registered Nurses) and Jill (Graphic Design)!!

I wish I could’ve been there to see you guys walk but know that I was there celebrating in spirit – Proud of you girls! Sheila you’re left….:)

WEDDING and ENGAGEMENT Congrats to…

My friend Valerie and her hubby!! And My friends Jon and Megan!!

Oh and Birthday shout outs to the JULY babies!! Dad, Iris, Sheila and Julie!! LOVE you guys!!

Yep definitely missing out on heaps of stuff this year. But nah, no regrets. Things happen for a reason and I’m having the time of my life. If I missed naming anyone in my congrats list, I apologize. Super exhausted at the mo, and I’m close to crashing out on this airport chair. Overall, I had a sweet short trip home. Three hours left in SK…. I’m going to take a nap. Hopefully I don’t over sleep and miss my flight 🙂

Signing off… See you guys in China, currently nowThe Land With No Access to Facebook!

facebook, family, five days

Saturday, July 11th, 2009

To add to my ramblings in a previous blog about China blocking websites, China added yet another site to their list - Facebook. It’s been blocked for a week now. Ugh. Mother-effers. I guess I’m going to have to find another ... [Continue reading this entry]