Finer in China

Oh my home State of Michigan! Bless you and hoping for the best. Make some lemonade.

Yeah, the one funded by EXXON.

www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-04/01/content_6582660.htm Awesome!

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-04...ent_6587547.htm

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?showforum=36 is a good place to start

Sincere condolences from a guy weeping as I read this thread... if anyone ever questions themself about posting on some "stupid" messageboard, it is memories like this and a responsible sense of community that make this as real as anything in your life.

Art Review | 'Anatomy of a Masterpiece' The Art Is in the Detail http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/03/13/arts/16asia-600.jpg Detail of Qian Xuan's “Wang Xizhi Watching Geese.” From his terrace, the world is blue and green — mountains and trees — or almost green. Spring is on the way; the geese are back. One, then two, alight on the river, with more still invisible but close behind. Pavilion living! The only way. With the city somewhere down there, and nature everywhere up here, he watches mist rise. River meets sky. The calm watcher is the fourth-century scholar-artist Wang Xizhi, father of classical calligraphy and model for living an active life in retreat. He is depicted by the painter Qian Xuan, another connoisseur of reclusion, in a 13th-century handscroll at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The scroll is in “Anatomy of a Masterpiece: How to Read Chinese Paintings,” a spare, studious show that offers, along with many stimulations, a retreat from worldly tumult — the religious fervor, the courtly pomp, the expressive self-promotion — that fills much of the museum. read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/14/arts/des...amp;oref=slogin

Good old Wang with his "bring it on" rhetoric!

http://www.thestar.com/article/326783

I love ping pong. I played in the PP club in high school. What a great way to spend two hours after school each day!

great youtube video and interview http://youtube.com/watch?v=iKWKsue33m8 http://www.womenofchina.cn/Profiles/Sportswomen/202035.jsp

I presume you are referring to this FSI: http://www.fsi-language-courses.com/Chinese.aspx Though done in 1978, it is a very thorough free online resource!

http://voyage.typepad.com/lfc_images/Tiananmen_Tank_Man_Google_China.gif

What's tape? Like the old days dad? <--- my sons say Everything now is disc and digital, really. Anything else from video and audio on tape is OLD tech and getting older. I point them to the reality that voting has gone back to "old" ballots because for the important things, a bird in the hand is worth more than two on a disc.

A friend gave me the full Rosetta Stone (for every language) so I'm going to give it a shot for 6 months before I go to China.

What do you mean buy this line here?Yes, my phone bill shows my number and my address but it only shows her phone number. I don't think I've ever seen a phone bill that shows the recipient's address. Is that what you mean?

I saw this format: http://www.chinasnippets.com/images/chinese-address-format.jpg

Chinese women are shorter than American men. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-03/16/xin_19030316072626658382.jpg

On a PC you just click start, then settings, then control panel, then regional settings. select all the languages you want and click enter. You're done. The language support comes with Windows, you may have to put in your disk if you don't have it loaded. If you have an old Windows version you can also go to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/ and get the latest language pack. If you go to a website that has Chinese characters it will popup a window asking you to download the font.

In other ping pong news:

What would a Chinese woman think if you told here that there was a problem meeting the USA poverty level? (I know about your future job) Do you think that might be a red flag for her to consider?

Alaska and Hawaii are different

Yes, Chicago is a city of dynamic neighborhoods. It isn't pure non-stop people-packed excitement. I can't think of one place I've lived in the USA that is like that including Manhatten, LA, etc. But moving to such a diverse city as Chicago can be daunting to even other Americans. Where I live in the near North suburbs it is about 50% Russian in my neighborhood. Go over a few miles and it is hardcore Thai, the other way is Korean to the hilt, then there is Chinatown, Ukrainian village, Polish pockets, etc. just about everything. But I've always liked Chicago because these all seem to work together and add variety to the city of big shoulders.