我的生活

The Chinese New Year’s Coming in Two Days

Today is December 27 in the Chinese Lunar Calendar, and the Chinese new year is coming in two days.

In our tradition, we post a antithetical couplet on every door. In the old days, we used to ask some handwriting master to write it on a red couplet paper. But in the recent years there’re various kinds of print antithetical couplets full of the market and few people write.

I bought some couplet paper from Taobao and I wanna show the couplet handwriting to my daughter.

When I showed the couplet paper to her, she was very excited and eager to do it right away, and mom taught her the basic Chinese Brush skills。

Hanwei’s first Brush handwriting Work

Her eanest effort makes a beautiful work and we decided to post it instead of a printed one.

hanwei’s handwriting work

Happy Chong Yang Festival

Today is my father’s birthday. First of all, I jsut wanna say “happy birthday” to my old man!

Today is really a good day.

After half-a-month’s suffering, I got my first goal of weight-losing.

a blessing in disguise

The “Chong Yang Festival” is celebrated on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. On the day people often climb hills or mountains to look far into the distance, to miss their friends, relatives and lovers far away…

There’re some different versions of the poem ” 九月九日忆山东兄弟 ” cited from “《九月九日忆山东兄弟》英译版赏析_中国翻译研究院 (china.org.cn)

九月九日忆山东兄弟

[唐] 王维

独在异乡为异客,每逢佳节倍思亲。

遥知兄弟登高处,遍插茱萸少一人。

On the Mountain Holiday Thinking of my Brothers in Shandong

All alone in a foreign land,

I am twice as homesick on this day.

When brothers carry dogwood up the mountain,

Each of them a branch — and my branch missing.

—— Tr. by Witter Bynner

Thinking of my Brothers on Mountain Climbing Day

Alone, a lonely stranger in a foreign land,

I doubly pine for kinsfolk on a holiday.

I know my brothers would, with dogwood spray in hand,

Climb up mountain and miss me so far away.

—— Tr. by X. Y. Z. (许渊冲)

On Double Ninth Day Thinking of my Brothers at Home

A lonely stranger in a foreign land I’m cast,

Sore sick for my dears on every festive day.

By now my brothers must some heights have passed,

But a cornel wearer missing’ll damp the day.

—— Tr. by Wang Baotong(王宝童)

Thinking of my Brothers on the Double Ninth Festival in the East of Mount Hua

All alone in a strange land,

How I long for my folks on this festive day!

I imagine my brothers climb up a hill, dogwood on heads,

And all except me merrily go their way.

—— Tr. by Feng Huazhan(丰华瞻)

Thinking of My Brothers in Shandong on the Double Ninth Festival

A stranger in a strange land on each holiday,

I think of my kinsmen with a double care.

I know when my brothers wear medicine bags,

At the heights, they would find one to spare.

—— Tr. by Chen Junpu(陈君朴)

Nostalgia for my brothers on the Double Ninth Day

In an alien land, being a solitary alien guest,

I miss most my kin when comes the festival bright,

And think on the hill my brothers must feel distressed,

To find, when wearing a dogwood sprig, one not in sight.

My Sweet Baby Boy

13th, Oct, 2021, rainy and foggy day. I didn’t sleep well the whole night, tossing about in bed from time to time. Tomorrow is a new day, and will be coming soon. Am I ready to deal with it?

My boy got up early at 10 to six in the morning and began his funny day.

I was preparing breakfast for my girl who got up very late every day. My boy took a pan and a teapot to his climbing pad and played by himself.

When I came to him, I found him pouring “water” from the teapot to the pan and washed his hands in it. I asked him where did the water come from, “niaoniao” replied by him. Faint! He peed in my teapot!

10th, Oct, I Got a Happy Afternoon

Today is 10th, Oct, Sunday.

I feel fucking boring all the morning, though it’s’ brightly shinning outside.

Cough is not a fatal disease, but I feel like I’m going to die of it in the coming three or four days.

Our company chef’s on her rest day, and I have to eat somewhere and where to go is also a puzzle to me.

Lonely lonely lonely….. at the very moment, the lyrics are wandering around me…

Two of my intimates contact me to eat hot pot, and this is definitely standard friendly activity so called “a friend in need is a friend indeed” as the old saying says.

After the dinner, we three go to see the movie named “Changjin Lake” which is very welcomed in every Theatre. During the movie, I checked my phone for nearly a thousand times to see if there’re some messages from someone, after all I was in duty and I escaped from work.

Immersed in the roars of the canons, fighting aircrafts, bombs, tanks and machine guns, I still keep checking my phone from time to time, and it’s the first time that I care about the phone message so much so that I looks like a lunatic.

What message could be so important?

A message which you wanna get and you are doomed not to get.

When we finished the movie, we decided to have lunch together every Sunday noon and see a movie afterward.

Happiness!

Grace Huo Got a Flat Tire

17th, May, 2021, sunny, breezy.

Grace Huo got a flat tire yestoday, and it’s the first time we encounter such kind of situation, though I’ve got my driving lisence for nearly twenty years and been a real driver for over ten years.

Changing wheel is not a easy work for a man, let alone for a woman. I’m in charge of the physical work as always. Taking the tools and spare tire out from the trunk, I‘m going to change the wheel in steps.

1,loosen the nuts of the wheel screws. 2,lift the car by the lifting jack. 3,replace the wheel with the spare one. 4,screw up a little to fix the position of the wheel to the Stud. 5, lower the wheel to the ground by releasing the jack. 6,Tighten the screws to the maximum.

It took me twenty-five minutes to finish the 6 steps. Wiping the sweat off my forehead, I realized that it was really a energy-consuming task.

I drove the car to the Garage in my working place to change all the tires of the four wheels, just for the further safety.

The 1st League Building Activities of Year 2021

I’ve been a stranger to English for over a decade. From today on, I’ll try to record my daily life in English.

12th, May, 2021, slightly cloudy and breezy. This afternoon, we are going to participate in the League building activities together. We have several times of such kind of activities every year, and this is the 1st time of this year.

We divided into 5 groups and played games by group. As a Mature Uncle, I just participated in tug-of-war and got enough fun from the SUCCESS.

tug-of-war

When we finished all the outdoor games, we lined a queue and paraded toward the destination of the second activity—a Farmyard where we can have our picnic. 3.5 kilometres walk took us 40 munites and some of us were totally exhausted.

Group Photo

We had another round of ourdoor games in the Farmyard. You can see the smiles on everyone’s face which we can hardly see during work time.

When we fihished all the games, the dinner was ready.

Barbecue and sheep-stew were always the favorite choice. I’m so regretful to forget taking photos of the meals we have. Little vocabulary cann’t describe the yummy taste!

磨人的小淘气

今天单位不太忙,提前回家陪陪孩子。自从体验到户外的自由后,小淘气每天都想着出去。不出去,晚上准保在闹上一闹才入睡。

为了晚上不太折腾,天气虽然有点阴,还刮点风,但还是带着他到院子里逛逛,把精力耗耗,晚上能安稳些。

到了楼下院子里,小家伙对一切事物都表现出极大的兴趣,摸几下健身器材,揪几根枯草,舔一下石籽,迎着风,眯着眼,脸带笑,我跟在他后面,享受着这下午的清净、快乐,体会着小朋友的开心,总是那么的简单而纯粹。

2021年的第一场雪

借用那句歌词,2021年的第一场雪,比以往时候来的更早一些。

气象公园凉亭

在公园里走几步,呼吸着新鲜的空气,最近的那些烦心事,都随呼出的CO2排出体外了。

腰杆挺直的路灯

虽然下了雪,雪却压不住春天的那抹绿。腰杆挺直的路灯,也显得分外精神。

花骨朵

已经好些年没有拍过花骨朵了。我这颗85/1.8的老镜头,还是能找回点当年的感觉。

红色真的很喜庆

大雪后的纯净,配上那一抹红色,心情变的很不错。