種菜 Planting Vegetables

種菜 Planting Vegetables

Chinese with English Subtitles

I never consider myself as having a green thumb. I started with 10 strawberry plants about 5 years ago. When they all survived my care that first year and spawned numerous baby strawberry plants, that was enough to give me confidence to expand my garden, adding tomato plants, blue berry bushes, bok choy, brocoli, cucumber, and even corn just last year. Now we have a sizable garden and the harvest throughout Summer and Fall is just too delicious. 

Chinese with Pinyin

Our encounter with a snake was a true story. I completely freaked out when I saw the slithering creature. I'm not sure why but I had this phobia toward snakes ever since I was a kid. Emilyn was only 3 at the time and she sat there, watching the snake for a good half hour or so. She very much wanted to "pat" the snake and keep it as a pet. To this date, she still loves snakes. She had her chance of patting them at a zoo and an aquarium. I'll continue with my vegie garden and I won't mind a snake's visit once in a while. But just like the story line, snakes have to stay outdoors.

你好,雪人先生 Hello, Mr. Snowman

Chinese with pinying

I’m not a fan of snow and cold but this year I really wished we can have some white magic for this story. Well, we had just enough snow and the snow lasted just long enough so we could make a snowman and have a snow ball fight.

Chinese with English Subtitles

We celebrated Chinese New Year this weekend, the official start of the Spring. Looking out the window, all the snow has melted away. But the memory of this winter – a day off from school and work, my surprise that Chantal fit into her older sister’s snow suit, a foot of snow on the driveway that became a toboggan lane, and the children’s attempt to eat snow – is sealed with this short poem. It also completes my Four Seasons series, one poem for each season.

Again, Emilyn read this poem without difficulty. Her reading is improving and she is also interested in Chinese books that she can read on her own. It’s not easy fitting all the languages into our daily routine. She reads French books assigned by her school teacher, and loves Roald Dahl’s series of The Big Friendly Giant in English.  I am in continuous search for Chinese books and story ideas. Well, this is a good problem to tackle.

Here is the poem. Happy reading!

你好, 雪人先生! nǐ hǎo,  xuě rén xiān shēng!

Hello, Mr. Snowman 

冬天到了，下雪了 dōng tiān dào le, xià xuě le

Winter is here, it is snowing

雪是白白的  xuě shì bái bái de

snow is white

從天空飄下來 cóng tiān kōng piāo xià lái

drifting down from the sky 

軟軟的 ruǎn ruǎn de

snow is soft

停在樹上、草地上  tíng zài shù shàng, cǎo dì shàng

landing on the trees, on the grass

也停在我的頭上、手上  yěi tíng zài wǒ de tóu shàng, shuǒ shàng

also landing on my head, my hands

看一看  kàn yī kàn

have a look

雪花亮晶晶  xuě huā liàng jīng jīng

snow flake is sparkling

拿一拿 ná yī ná

take a hold

雪花結成一個球  xuě huā jié chéng yī ge qiú

snow forms into a ball

打雪仗！ dǎ xuě zhàng

snow ball fight!

滾一滾  gǔn yī gǔnr

roll it up

雪球變大  xuě qiú biàn dà

snow ball grows bigger

一個、兩個，疊起來  yī ge, liáng ge, dié qǐ lái

one, two, stack them up

加兩個石頭眼睛  jiā liáng ge shí tóu yǎn jīng

add two pebbles as eyes

兩個樹枝手臂 liáng ge shù zhī shǒu bài

two twigs as arms

別忘了肚子上的鈕扣 bié wàng le dù zi shàng de niǔ kòu

don’t forget the button on the belly

你好, 雪人先生! nǐ hǎo,  xuě rén xiān shēng!

hello, Mr. Snowman!

誰是聖誕老公公?

Who is Santa?

I guess it is official. The tree is up; decorations all over it. The singing moose repeats Christmas songs over and over again and my 3 year old dances to the music like she is the happiest kid in the world. Over the weekend, we produced this story. I wrote this short piece a long time ago, almost a year ago, I think, when Chantal first got an idea of who Santa is. I showed Emilyn my script two weeks ago and we discussed the "plan" to make a Santa for the video. She was very excited about the project and we invited Song Fei, Emilyn's friend, to join the art production. The story is a conversation between me (mother) and Chantal (little sister = mei mei).We recorded the conversation in one take. This was not the case for previous stories when we had to practice and record line by line. Emilyn has made good progress on her Chinese reading.

Chinese with pinyin

Chinese with English subtitles

So here it is. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. And thank you for reading and supporting my story blog. There will be more fun stories in the New Year and I welcome your ideas and suggestions.

妹妹: 媽媽, 誰是聖誕老公公?Mèi mèi: Mā Mā, shéi shì shèng dàn lǎo gōng gōng?Sister: Who is Santa Claus?

媽媽: 聖誕老公公是一個很有愛心的老公公Mā Mā: Shèng dàn lǎo gōng gōng shì yī ge hěn yǒu ài xīn de lǎo gōng gōngMother: Santa Claus is a caring old man

妹妹: 他有多老了?Mèi mèi: Tā yǒu duō lǎo le?Sister: How old is he?

媽媽: 很老很老, 但是他很健康,胖胖壯壯的Mā Mā: Hěn lǎo hěn lǎo, dàn shì tā hěn jiàn kāng, pàng pàng zhuàng zhuàng deMother: Very old, very old. But he is very healthy, chubby and sturdy.

妹妹: 他為什麼胖胖壯壯的呢?Mèi mèi: Tā wèi shé mo pàng pàng zhuàng zhuàng de nē?Sister: Why is he chubby and sturdy?

媽媽: 因為他總是笑嘻嘻Mā Mā: Yīn wèi tā zǒng shì xiào xī xīMother: because he always smiles.

妹妹: 他對誰笑嘻嘻呢?Mèi mèi: Tā duì shéi xiào xī xī nē?Sister: Who does he smile at?

媽媽: 對每一個人都笑嘻嘻,尤其對好孩子笑嘻嘻Mā Mā: Duī měi yī ge rén dōu xiào xī xī, Yóu qí duì hǎo hái zi xiào xī xīMother: He smiles at everyone, especially the good kids.

妹妹: 誰是好孩子?Mèi mèi: Shéi shì hǎo hái zi?Sister: Who is a good kid?

媽媽: 每一個孩子都可以當好孩子,對別人有愛心,就是好孩子Mā Mā: Měi yī ge hái zi dōu kě yǐ dāng hǎo hái zi, duì bié rén yǒu ài xīn, jiù shì hǎo hái ziMother: Every kid can be a good kid. As long as you are caring toward others, you are a good kid.

妹妹: 要怎麼樣對別人有愛心呢?Mèi mèi: Yào zěn mo yàng duì bié rén yǒu ài xīn nē?Sister: How can you be caring toward others?

媽媽: 要幫助別人,要分享你的好東西,就是有愛心Mā Mā: Yào bāng zuì béi rén, yào fēn xiǎng nǐ de hǎo dōng xī, jiù shì yǒu ài xīnMother: You help others and share what you have. That’s caring.

妹妹: 聖誕老公公小時後是不是一個有愛心的小朋友?Mèi mèi: Shèn dàn lǎo gōng gōng xiǎo shí hòu shì bú shì yī ge yǒu ài xīn de xiǎo péng yǒu?Sister: Was Santa Claus a caring kid when he was little?

媽媽: 是吧! 他才會老了,還是個有愛心的老公公Mā Mā: Shì ba! Tā cái huì lǎo le, hái shì ge yǒu ài xīn de lǎo gōng gōngMother: Yes! When he got old, he is still a caring old man

妹妹: 他會送禮物給我嘛?Mèi mèi: Tā huì sòng lǐ wù gěi wǒ mā?Sister: Will he give me a present?

媽媽: 你是好孩子嘛?Mā Mā: Nǐ shì hǎo hái zi mā?Mother: Are you a good kid?

妹妹: 是呀! 我現在是好孩子, 有愛心,等我長大以後老了,我也可以當聖誕老公公Mèi mèi: Shì yā! Wǒ xiàn zài shì hǎo hái zi, yǒu ài xīn, děn wǒ zhǎng dà yǐ hòu lǎo le, wǒ yě kě yǐ dāng shèng dàn lǎo gōng gōngSister: Yes! I am a good kid now. I am caring. When I grow old, I can be Santa Claus too.