for our first assignment in chinese class (we will write 1-2 essays every week. which is a HUGE challenge for me. i can write so fast in english in either poetry or prose, and then the translated words down below... in chinese...took hours)
the prompt was to describe our living environment...
it took me a couple hours to write this in chinese
and now i am translating it into english because i don't know how to type in chinese (okay, and i don't have the patience)
and even though i will complain about how long it took and how frustrating it is to try and completely express myself in a language that i can't get "deep" with... well, i sorta enjoyed the challenge
and am interested in how the results will sound in english
and i only hope i will be able to continue focusing on my other assignments and whatnot for the next 3 months, and give it so much Heart, like i gave this assignment
here's your translation, my dear english-reading friends :)
－－－
it's a different world outside of the window. outside of the window, in the farthest area, soft clouds slowly pull themselves across big beautiful mountains. the blue sky is sometimes black, sometimes grey, sometimes red, sometimes gold. outside of the window, a little bit closer, people and stinky cars are everywhere. the small stores and tall buildings fight, seeing who can push who out into the busy streets, to further jostle about with the people, cars, motorcycles, buses, and bikes. the smell that gets jostled out is like too much food in too small of a refrigerator... it's a tad bit rank. outside of the window, in the closest area, there are two exceptionally tall buildings, a small temple, many furniture stores, and a small park. the green leaves in the park help my eyes and heart silence and rest.
welcome back.
it's a different world inside of the window, too. inside of the window, there's rows and rows of books, a wooden table, two chairs, a black suitcase, and a basket of clothes. this isn't really my room; i'm borrowing my cousin's room. but, the wooden floor boards say to me, "no problem. so long as you are comfortable, it's all good!" closest to the window is a bed. at the head of the bed, there's a small metal container filled with my precious medicine grasses that i gathered in the usa mountains. every morning and night, i burn these medicine grasses, like burning incense, and pray. their sweet smoke helps me fly out the window, flying over a city full of rushing people, flying over the big mountains of this small island, flying over a majestic endless ocean, flying over my beautiful usa old homeland, flying over the echoes and spirits of the deep mountains, finally flying to the red rocks and big winds of the desert, and then flying with the wind... going and going until after encircling the entire universe, continuing to fly... and flying over a huge ocean, flying over a small island's big mountains, flying over a beautiful little park in a too-big city, flying into a wide-open window...
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alright. so i just reread this. it actually sounds A LOT better in chinese, and was REALLY difficult to translate and... yeah it sounds a lot better in chinese. wow. for some reason, that really pleases me. :)
oh, and usa in chinese is "mei guo," which literally translates as "beautiful world."so, there's some use of multiple words in the essay that could only be caught when read in chinese. sorta like a pun. and that really pleases ｍｅ！:)
chinese class. we will have a test every other day. lots to learn. 7 other people in class.
and various other things to report on, like i've moved into a different place, i walked into mountains with uncle and saw bear and monkey, am making new friends, learning about local plants, etc etc etc
so much other stories but
now it's bed time
off to dream of ｇｏｌｄｅｎ ｇｌｏｗｉｎｇ chapparal!
ｗａｎ ａｎ
