Singing in ASL
Sometimes I look for songs to “listen” to on YouTube if I forget a part of a song I’m singing in my head or something. In a recent search I happened across this fabulous woman who performs songs in ASL — something I’ve seen before, but usually it’s more of a “translation”, not really capturing as much of the rhythm visually as this woman. The real treats are the duets she does with others! Here’s a few, and you can find more in the “related content” links.
The original song I was looking for, “Baby It’s Cold Outside”:
Another duet, done side-by-side. Note how both follow their respective “voices” to represent the slightly “off” rhythm of this duet:
A pop song:
I love my new home
Today I had some employment paperwork to do, so after it was all done B and I hopped on the metro and saw:
- the capitol building
- the Lincoln Memorial
- the Washington Memorial
- the Smithsonian Natural History Museum
- the State Department building (where Hillary works!)
The best part about it: we can go back anytime we want — for free! (Well, I guess there are metro fares …)
B and I are still unpacking stuff, but I’m in love with our apartment and the town we live in.
Yes, China IS strong, and also great
This was one of the funniest Onion articles I’ve seen in a while:
According to all sources, the People’s Republic of China is strong. The nation is united, the military unmatched, the economy vibrant, and the people ever joyful.
Similarly correct sources verified that China has always been triumphant.
In other news, the Chinese government is fair, all-knowing, and wise, propelled by the strength of two billion loyal hands, all pulling together as one under the Great Celestial Bureaucracy high above.
Experts all agreed that there can be no question of this claim, as this claim is the truth.
As of press time, the brute and inexpressive English language could not convey the full magnificence of China, nor its excellence in every arena, nor the protective warmth of the red sun that shines forever on its borders, nor the innumerable glories of its Great Leaders.
New reports also indicate that China will grow stronger yet.
The article ends with the Chinese character for fish (鱼), part of the Onion’s equally hilarious “takeover” by the Chinese company Yu Wan Mei: Amalgamated Fisheries and Polymer Injection Corp. Their website is precious.
Human rainstorm
Intro = so awesome. I also like the remainder, but I realize that not everyone shares my fascination and deep love of a cappella. (Cue dreamy sigh.)
Between lives
I haven’t been blogging a lot since coming back, mainly because I feel like I’m in a daze.
It’s strange being back in the United States, though not nearly as strange as I was expecting. I haven’t really experienced any sort of reverse culture shock, which I attribute to the fact that I’ve gone out relatively little since coming back, and I’ve interacted with very few people other than B and some of my closest friends. Other than the whirlwind weekend in DC, during which we found an apartment and I interviewed for the job that I now have (yay for employment!), my life has been eerily quiet and still.
Beneath all this stillness, I’m wicked excited to move. I got a very good impression of DC and the town we’ll be living in during that whirlwind weekend, and since B got accepted into law school there, everyone’s been raving about what a great place DC is. However, if I had been continuing to work for my alma mater these last few months, living in the area that has been more “home” for me than anyplace I’d lived previously, I would probably not be nearly so enthusiastic. It helps that right now I’m kind of in between lives, done with my China life and close to starting my DC life. Despite my love for it, right now Western Mass is so temporary, and while I’m sure I’ll always miss it, I don’t currently feel connected enough to it to dampen my excitement for moving.
It’s also crazy to think that I’m going to start teaching Chinese in just over a month. I’ve been working for this for many years, and now that it’s almost here, I’m a little bit dumb-struck.
Anyway, just some recent thoughts.
Happy Fourth!
Well, I’m back, and I expect I’ll be updating this blog a little more. For today, though, happy 4th of July! Words cannot express how happy I am to be back in this country. Freedom of speech is so freaking awesome.
Here’s a photo from last December, one of the few that I have of the flag … and of course it’s backwards. Oh well!
Shedding Layers
This is the best analogy I can think of to describe my feelings of these past two weeks or so. I feel like I’m taking all the pieces that make up my life, shedding them off, and giving them away.
I certainly don’t mean to intend that I’m “shedding” the people in my life — I certainly don’t want to do that! It’s the every day routines and responsibilities that I have been leaving, one by one. The realization a month ago that I wouldn’t get as much knitting done as I’d hoped to get done before leaving. The last time I went to the English student’s house to tutor her. The last invoice I processed a payment for at work. Cleaning out my personal items from my desk and then looking at it, still set up with office supplies but empty of the plants and other items that made it my little home away from home. Seeing my colleagues for the last time before I leave. Seeing my college for the last time before I leave, knowing that when I come back, I will not have the connection to it that I have maintained since walking onto its campus five and a half years ago.
Today, a few friends came over to make Chinese dumplings, a dinner party get-together that happens probably at least once every 1-2 months. I said something, probably about the food, that was like, “Maybe next time I’ll …” B gave me a funny look and said, “Next time?” I realized that if there was going to be a next time with this group of friends, it would be six months from now, and after that, who knows. And when they left, there was this silence, this emptiness, partially because they are good friends and I don’t like goodbyes, and partially because I felt it was also a goodbye to everything in my current life — and I gotta say, I like my life and most things in it.
I look forward to going to China, but more than that, I look forward to a new routine, another “every day” life to hold on to. Right now I’m stuck in the land of in-between.
Why “Bold Little Swallow”?
(This was also added as a new page on WordPress for future visitors to this blog who may wonder what’s behind the name “Bold Little Swallow”.)
Some people recently have asked me about the name of this blog — or rather, they have teased me over it (“Oh hey, it’s little sparrow — or is a little starling?”). So here’s the explanation of it:
In Chinese culture, the swallow is a well-liked and auspicious creature, often a symbol of springtime and, since they are often seen in pairs, they represent romantic love and couples. It is also associated with a popular type of kite popular in China, especially in Beijing, which actually was named Yanjing (literally: swallow capital) in older times. The kite, called “Beijing Swallow Kites”, “Sand Martin Kites” (after the name of a type of swallow), “Beijing Sand Kites” and etc, is colorful and has the shape of a swallow in flight. This was the inspiration behind one of the Fuwa (Olympic mascots) for the Beijing Olympics. (Purely by coincidence, I also have a keychain of this Fuwa, given to me by a Chinese scholar who has no idea about this internet alias of mine.)
Swallows seem representative of a sweet, gentle temperament and youthful optimism. Though still in my twenties, I find myself getting bitter and jaded about quite a few things, and I would like to make an effort to be more happy and joyful.
However, many people who are happy with a sort of youthful, childlike joy are often also meek and can be pushovers. As a friend of mine put it, I definitely have a bit of chutzpah in me, a quality that I really like in myself. The best translation I’ve found for chutzpah (and Jewish friends, do feel free to correct me) is audacity, a word that comes from the Latin word for “bold”. Not only is it good for self-preservation (preventing one from being a pushover), but I think people overall need to be more assertive and bold in whatever they do. There is too much injustice in this world, too many people who will take advantage of others, too many goals and dreams that are abandoned, too many fears and worries bogging people down. In order to make this world a better place, it takes a proper ratio of starry-eyed optimism (the spirit of a twitterpated springtime birds) and chutzpah or boldness.
Hence the name.
For those who know some Mandarin Chinese, this blog’s name also was chosen along with its Chinese translation: 大敢小燕. Not only is it four characters (and Chinese just loves four character phrases), but it also plays with the contrast of “大/big” and “小/small” within the phrase.
Travel Blog for China
Here’s some info about the blog situation for me right now: I have a few blogs under this alias (amazingly enough, Little Swallow isn’t my real name!), primarily to keep this information private from future net-savvy high school students and also any employers that would be biased against my spiritual and/or political beliefs. Specifically, they include this blog (my personal/misc blog), my Tarot blog (Counsel of Cards), and my blog on spirituality (The Swallow Alights). When I start teaching, I may also be making a teaching blog, but we’ll see.
In addition, I have set up a travel blog under my real name. This is for two reasons: so that family can see what I’m up to without seeing the rest of my personal blog (because let’s face it, sometimes I will not always be saying glowing things about certain family members), and so I can utilize this information for future students. Once I go to China, I plan to still update this blog with more personal things that go on or misc commentary on whatever (as I do now), and I will update my travel blog once or twice a week with a more public-friendly entry about my experiences and travels. Most if not all of my photos from China will go there. I don’t expect a significant drop of entries on this blog, but it’s possible.
Hope this isn’t confusing. Anyway, if you’d like a link to my China travel blog and you don’t already have it, reply to this post or email me, and I’ll email you the link.
