When befriending the dragon, expect there to be differences of perspective...

My daughter not only speaks Mandarin - she speaks the culture.

Solutions that work in our span of knowledge and understanding - may not work in China.

Watching her master the skills to success to her goals in China is humbling and inspiring.

There is a way - just not the way we know.  There is no right or wrong - just different.

Keep going dear, you have my support! 

Two topics for my post today...
1.  Tones in Mandarin
2.  Curiosity and shopping

1.Tones - I finally learned how to say Shijiazhuang.  Sure Jiow Djwong in my version of pinyon (the way you learn to pronounce Chinese)  And then Emily introduced tones...  My appreciation for my daughter's intellect increased 10-fold (and it was already really high!)

2.  Curiosity - will hopefully bring you back to my blog. According to the Motivation and Reward Theory, our brains like it when we are curious find out more...

Today's curious fact...  I went trip-to-China shopping with my daughter.  She only has two suitcases and a carry-on to last a whole year.  I was surprised to learn she was willing to dedicate the space of an extra pair of shoes to deodorant and toothpaste!  And this is a girl who LOVES shoes!!

My blog aims to share people-level information about China to enhance the relationship between American and Chinese people through my daughter's year-long teaching job in Shijiazhuang.

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only one.”
― C.S. Lewis