Saturday, August 11, 2007

One year until the Olympics!

This week, Beijing celebrated the one year anniversary to the Olympic Games here in 2008. I unfortunately was in Jiangsu Province at a Golf Tournament and flew in the day of the activities. From the sounds of friends, it was truly impressive. I see the change for the Olympics everyday on my way to work. It truly is incredible the change going on in this city.

For those who don't know, the Olympics will start in 2008 on August 8th at 8pm. You may ask wy so many eights? Well, in China the number eight is a good number. It is the same meaning for success. So, next year the Olympics will start 8, 08, 8008 at 8pm. Not a bad idea if your Chinese. It is going to be an amazing year leading up to the Olympics.

Photo taken from China Daily Website

Monday, August 6, 2007

Studying Chinese / Summer Camp

It has been nice to have a break this summer from studying Chinese. As many of you know, I have been studying Chinese Full-time or Part-time for almost 2.5 years. Sometimes I wonder where the time went and wonder why my Chinese isn't better than it is. But, I am also very thankful to learn this difficult language. It has given me better insight into China and most importantly, it has allowed me to speak to locals. This is what I love the most about China... the people. Chinese people are very warm and welcoming to a foreigner and especially one that speaks Chinese.

I'm thankful for this summer as I have a chance to work more and get our teaching program more organized. It has also been a fun summer with junior golf camps. I'll add a picture of one of the camps this summer.