Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Weekly Mandarin: 20

20th edition: Fangsong (Holy Macaroni, I've spent 20 weeks here.)

Anyone who has ever met me knows I'm tightly wound. I freak out when I don't learn something quickly; I prefer not to risk making a fool of myself; and I really really hate looking like everything isn't going according to plans. Well, here in Taiwan, I'm experiencing double my usual amount of stress and craziness because Taiwan just isn't an according-to-plans kind of place. (Sometimes because there are no plans to start with!)

(Deep breath) So this week, I learned a new word: fangsong, meaning relax.

Special thanks go out to Jeannie's yoga class for using the word in a sentence (Hue fangsong hue hao-- the more relaxed, the better), Jeannie for writing it on my computer desktop, and my wonderful yoga teacher for using it again and again and again when I'm actually relaxed enough to learn!

2 comments:

Nomad0921 said...

You could (and should!) teach "fangsong" to Marianne! Note that as a parent, "fangsong" becomes a way of life in response to all of the twists and turns that occur and "organized" is something that occupies space in a dictionary between "operationally- handicapped" and "oversubscribed". Having said that, I suspect that there is some shred of order that you can retreat to - whether it is a desk, a computer, or even a few moments in the hot springs.... do so and enjoy it....

damephoebe said...

Jenny, I say to you the same thing I say to AJ now when he's freaking out about controlling things he can't control: What horrible scary thing do you think is going to happen? And then he laughs at himself.

Thank you so much for the adorable pouch! It made me want to sing the kitty song! Hope you have a wonderful holiday in Taiwan.

(Lindsay)