My name in Chinese isn't that different from my regular name.
Technically, my name should be pronounced "eh-may." Aimee comes from the French verb "aimer" (to love) and means beloved.
In Chinese, the word "ai" means love. "Mei" means beautiful.
Our Mandarin teacher said my name would be "Ai-mei" (Eye-may). I think it's a nice name! :-)
In Chinese, though, the last name comes first. Our last name means "forest." Interesting...
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Learning a new language
Last week was the last week of our 6-week Mandarin Chinese course. The class was through Webster University and was downtown in the Old Post Office.
I am going to take the next class so I can continue to learn a bit more Mandarin. They are going to let DH audit the course since he already knows the language. :-) He's there mostly for moral support and to answer some questions I have.
So far, I've learned how to say some basic things, like asking someone how they are doing, and having a brief conversation about that. We have also learned numbers, immediate family members (mom, dad, sister, etc.), and some basic sentence structures.
I have studied several languages in high school and college. One of my degrees is in French. I also took a year of Spanish in high school, 1 Italian class in college, and 2 semesters of German in college. I really enjoy learning foreign languages, and luckily, it was something that came easily to me.
Chinese, though, is quite different than any of the languages I have previously studied! There are a few things I find quite interesting about the Chinese language.
1) Verbs are not conjugated. In all the other languages I have studied, verbs are always conjugated. In French, it is "je suis" (I am), "tu es" (you are), "nous sommes" (we are). In Chinese, it is "wo shi" (I am), "ta shi" (you are), "women shi" (we are).
2) Adding on to number one, there are no tenses in Chinese. No past, present, future, imperfect, etc. Just the one. They use words like yesterday, next year, etc. to explain time. So, no matter when something happened, the verb is the same. (shi = to be, whether it was 10 years ago, now, or 20 years from now)
3) When you talk about yourself as being hungry, tired, busy, etc. the verb "shi" is left out. You wouldn't say "Wo shi lei."(I am tired.) The correct way to say it is "Wo lei." (I tired.) No wonder it is hard for those who speak Mandarin to learn English!
4) "Shi" means a LOT of different things! So far, we have learned 5 different meanings for this one word. It's a bit complicated! It can mean: to be, ten, room, and city. The characters for each "shi" are different.
5) The tones are a bit tricky to master! In Chinese, there are "accents" on many letters, telling you how to pronounce the word. One means to go up with your voice at the end of the word. Another is a flat tone. Another goes down and then up within the same word, and the last just goes down at the end of the word. It has been hard for us native English speakers to get this part down in class!
I am going to take the next class so I can continue to learn a bit more Mandarin. They are going to let DH audit the course since he already knows the language. :-) He's there mostly for moral support and to answer some questions I have.
So far, I've learned how to say some basic things, like asking someone how they are doing, and having a brief conversation about that. We have also learned numbers, immediate family members (mom, dad, sister, etc.), and some basic sentence structures.
I have studied several languages in high school and college. One of my degrees is in French. I also took a year of Spanish in high school, 1 Italian class in college, and 2 semesters of German in college. I really enjoy learning foreign languages, and luckily, it was something that came easily to me.
Chinese, though, is quite different than any of the languages I have previously studied! There are a few things I find quite interesting about the Chinese language.
1) Verbs are not conjugated. In all the other languages I have studied, verbs are always conjugated. In French, it is "je suis" (I am), "tu es" (you are), "nous sommes" (we are). In Chinese, it is "wo shi" (I am), "ta shi" (you are), "women shi" (we are).
2) Adding on to number one, there are no tenses in Chinese. No past, present, future, imperfect, etc. Just the one. They use words like yesterday, next year, etc. to explain time. So, no matter when something happened, the verb is the same. (shi = to be, whether it was 10 years ago, now, or 20 years from now)
3) When you talk about yourself as being hungry, tired, busy, etc. the verb "shi" is left out. You wouldn't say "Wo shi lei."(I am tired.) The correct way to say it is "Wo lei." (I tired.) No wonder it is hard for those who speak Mandarin to learn English!
4) "Shi" means a LOT of different things! So far, we have learned 5 different meanings for this one word. It's a bit complicated! It can mean: to be, ten, room, and city. The characters for each "shi" are different.
5) The tones are a bit tricky to master! In Chinese, there are "accents" on many letters, telling you how to pronounce the word. One means to go up with your voice at the end of the word. Another is a flat tone. Another goes down and then up within the same word, and the last just goes down at the end of the word. It has been hard for us native English speakers to get this part down in class!
Friday, November 28, 2008
Hairstylist recommendations around St. Charles?
I was wondering if any of you ladies around the St. Charles area had a recommendation for a hairstylist/colorist?
I was going to the gal who did my hair for the wedding, but she's pretty far away. I would like to find someone closer who is reasonably priced. They need to be somewhat experienced (I don't think a student would be good) because my hair pulls red really easily.
I was going to the gal who did my hair for the wedding, but she's pretty far away. I would like to find someone closer who is reasonably priced. They need to be somewhat experienced (I don't think a student would be good) because my hair pulls red really easily.
How to decide on album pictures?!
We haven't gotten around to choosing our photos that will be in our wedding album yet. Our photography package included a credit towards an album. We just need to pick the photos and send them to the album designer.
I'm having a hard time choosing about 140 photos. There are so many wonderful photos that I love! I think it's going to take a while. I plan to pull my favorites first, no matter how many there are. Then slowly, we will have to eliminate some until we get down to a decent number!
I wanted to upload some of my favorite pictures, but Blogger wasn't cooperating. I don't know if the file size is too big or what. Bummer!
I ended up creating another album on Facebook with a few of my favorites. If you are reading this and aren't one of my friends on Facebook, leave me a comment with your name or a way that I can connect to you on Facebook.
ETA: You can try this link to see if it works: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10776&l=216d1&id=1131258243
I'm having a hard time choosing about 140 photos. There are so many wonderful photos that I love! I think it's going to take a while. I plan to pull my favorites first, no matter how many there are. Then slowly, we will have to eliminate some until we get down to a decent number!
I wanted to upload some of my favorite pictures, but Blogger wasn't cooperating. I don't know if the file size is too big or what. Bummer!
I ended up creating another album on Facebook with a few of my favorites. If you are reading this and aren't one of my friends on Facebook, leave me a comment with your name or a way that I can connect to you on Facebook.
ETA: You can try this link to see if it works: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10776&l=216d1&id=1131258243
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Oh, how I love a good deal!
DH and I went to the Banana Republic outlet at The Mills Mall last weekend. I had received an email earlier that week that there was a big sale going on.
I picked up a few sweaters (still debating if I'm going to keep all of them) at good prices. Each was 40% off.
The best deal, I think, was on 2 pairs of shoes. I'm definitely keeping the pink pair (rose verbena, a fuchsia color). I'm debating about the blue. The Emilia Suede Flat was originally $69.99 at BR. With the sale going on at the Outlet, I got the shoes for $17 each! What a steal! I love the color of the cura blue, but am not quite sure what to wear it with. It doesn't seem to look right with jeans. If I wore black pants, I'm not quite sure what color shirt would look good.
I picked up a few sweaters (still debating if I'm going to keep all of them) at good prices. Each was 40% off.
The best deal, I think, was on 2 pairs of shoes. I'm definitely keeping the pink pair (rose verbena, a fuchsia color). I'm debating about the blue. The Emilia Suede Flat was originally $69.99 at BR. With the sale going on at the Outlet, I got the shoes for $17 each! What a steal! I love the color of the cura blue, but am not quite sure what to wear it with. It doesn't seem to look right with jeans. If I wore black pants, I'm not quite sure what color shirt would look good.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and gets to spend time with family and friends.
We are looking forward to going over to my parents' house in Alton later today. My sister, nana, and aunt will also be there. This year, we invited our friends N & N and their son Noah. I'm looking forward to seeing the little guy! He's growing so fast! He will be 1 in January, and his new sister Mia will join the family in March.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Sorry for the lack of posts!
Things have not slowed down since the wedding! It's been a hectic first week back at school, to say the least. I had Bunco with some teachers from my school on Tuesday evening, and DH and I started a Chinese language course on Wednesday nights. I'm playing in a wedding today, have a wedding show tomorrow at the Ameristar (if you're going - stop by and say hi!), and then a music preview concert at St. Peters Church in St. Charles. Busy weekend!
I really hope to post about the wedding and the trip to San Francisco soon!
On a side note...I showed my students some wedding photos yesterday. One of the kids (I can't remember if it was a boy or a girl) asked why there were so many pictures of me. A little girl said it was because it was my day and I was important! So cute! :-) They also LOVED the pictures with the red socks and shoes. Oh, and of course, they thought it was gross when we kissed!
I really hope to post about the wedding and the trip to San Francisco soon!
On a side note...I showed my students some wedding photos yesterday. One of the kids (I can't remember if it was a boy or a girl) asked why there were so many pictures of me. A little girl said it was because it was my day and I was important! So cute! :-) They also LOVED the pictures with the red socks and shoes. Oh, and of course, they thought it was gross when we kissed!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Some wedding pictures!!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
My last post as an unmarried woman!
This will be my last blog post until after the wedding! It really seems like just a few months ago we got engaged, and I had 1.5 years to plan the wedding.
Today, it really started to sink in. I went to Genovese to borrow some gorgeous jewelry for the wedding. My parents and sister met me there to help select the jewelry. After, we all went out to dinner, since it would be the last time as just the 4 of us, without me being married.
Tomorrow morning, the fun begins! We (my mom, sis, and I) are going to get manicures and pedicures. (My other bridesmaid, a cousin, is not arriving until Friday afternoon.) I am going to get fake nails. Mine are so short since I have to keep them short to play the harp. They won't look very nice in photos. Some relatives should arrive by lunch, so we'll all have lunch together. Not sure what all we'll do in the afternoon, but hopefully relax some! The rehearsal is tomorrow evening, followed by the rehearsal dinner. At the dinner, we're going to be doing a Chinese tea ceremony, in honor of FI's family. Neither of us have experienced this before. Basically, we serve tea to the elders in our family. In return, they give us red envelopes with money. :-)
Saturday morning our hair and make-up stylists are coming to my parents house where we will be getting ready. The guys and FI's family will take some pictures before the wedding, but we're not going to see each other until the ceremony. After the ceremony and church pictures, we're going to head to Forest Park to take some more photos. I can't wait for the reception at WOW!
Monday morning, FI (he'll be DH, then!), my parents, my sister, and I are flying out to San Francisco for our Chinese reception. It will be a nice dinner at a Chinese restaurant with some of FI's family and some of his parents' friends. We will be staying in CA for a few days and will return late Thursday evening. I'll post some photos and things we did when we return.
Thank you to everyone who has helped me in the wedding planning process! I have gotten so many wonderful ideas from the ladies on StlWed and a lot of support. I cannot imagine planning the wedding without all your help! I hope to have pictures very soon to share with you, and I'm sure I will have several blog posts about the day!
Today, it really started to sink in. I went to Genovese to borrow some gorgeous jewelry for the wedding. My parents and sister met me there to help select the jewelry. After, we all went out to dinner, since it would be the last time as just the 4 of us, without me being married.
Tomorrow morning, the fun begins! We (my mom, sis, and I) are going to get manicures and pedicures. (My other bridesmaid, a cousin, is not arriving until Friday afternoon.) I am going to get fake nails. Mine are so short since I have to keep them short to play the harp. They won't look very nice in photos. Some relatives should arrive by lunch, so we'll all have lunch together. Not sure what all we'll do in the afternoon, but hopefully relax some! The rehearsal is tomorrow evening, followed by the rehearsal dinner. At the dinner, we're going to be doing a Chinese tea ceremony, in honor of FI's family. Neither of us have experienced this before. Basically, we serve tea to the elders in our family. In return, they give us red envelopes with money. :-)
Saturday morning our hair and make-up stylists are coming to my parents house where we will be getting ready. The guys and FI's family will take some pictures before the wedding, but we're not going to see each other until the ceremony. After the ceremony and church pictures, we're going to head to Forest Park to take some more photos. I can't wait for the reception at WOW!
Monday morning, FI (he'll be DH, then!), my parents, my sister, and I are flying out to San Francisco for our Chinese reception. It will be a nice dinner at a Chinese restaurant with some of FI's family and some of his parents' friends. We will be staying in CA for a few days and will return late Thursday evening. I'll post some photos and things we did when we return.
Thank you to everyone who has helped me in the wedding planning process! I have gotten so many wonderful ideas from the ladies on StlWed and a lot of support. I cannot imagine planning the wedding without all your help! I hope to have pictures very soon to share with you, and I'm sure I will have several blog posts about the day!
Flowers & candy - the classic combo
Yesterday, FI brought over a beautiful bouquet of flowers for me, along with one of my favorite candies - Turtles! He is very thoughtful, which I appreciate so much! Here are a few pictures:
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