Belize

I spent a week in Belize during Thanksgiving week and really enjoyed our very first Caribbean vacation with  friends, it was a fantastic getaway. When we landed Belize, I was surprised to see how the Chinese community is thriving in this small country. Apparently the Chinese and Taiwanese governments have special agricultural trade relationship with Belize and I was told that one third of Belize population is Chinese. More specifically, the Cantonese. Why? I have no idea but most of them seems to be operating either restaurants, or grocery store for living. The store business looks very similar to the kind that my father (who is a first generation immigrant in Malaysia) is operating now and it brings back a lot of memories of growing up in a small rural town and in the shop.

For examples, I learned to calculate changes quickly when customer passed me the monies. I learned to say "what do you want?", "how many", "how much do you want?" in Malay before I started elementary school. After school, I spent my afternoon doing homework in front of the shop while keeping an eye on shoplifter. During our nap time, mom would lay down a few pieces of newspaper on the concrete floor at a corner where customers don't usually come during the nap hours. I don't recall if we had pillow to sleep on but I remember staring at the boxes of fabrics and tailor's accessories while trying to go to sleep...and many more fond and not so fond childhood memories.

At Caye Caulker, I looked at the young Chinese girl who was guarding the cashier and doing homework at the sametime and thought perhaps someday she would grow up just as lucky as me. To have a career, decent paid job, a safe shelter and a comfortable life. I was humbled by what I saw and filled with a great sense of pride of my root. Throughout the trip, I kept telling Matt how my childhood was like in a rural town and how I learned to play games with anything we could find in the nature.

All through my teenage, I felt like I was always trying to be somebody else to fit in at a private school where upper middle class kids attend. Luckily, my school friends accepted me as I was and we continue to stay friends for almost 20 years now (boy, do I feel old!). Accomplishments in life helped to bring more confidence in me, but when I was young and accomplished little -- I was lost and wished someone could have told me that I should be proud of who I am, no matter what. I think all parents should reinforce the confidence in their children so that they are not lost in the big world of egoism and stereotypes.

An Honorary Help

Recently, Nathan from fwcc.org approached me to translate some Chinese children growth charts. It was nice of him to mention my service for credit, I am truly proud of helping for sure. I hope this will also spread the word of my service to other parents who need translation help.

Marion from Netherlands has mailed me a thank you gift and it is a book named "Message from an unknown Chinese mother", this is will my vacation read in Belize this week. Thank you, Marion.

Visitors from Paris

My boyfriend's parents were in town visiting and we were blessed with gorgeous weather. Austin, Texas is a beautiful and diverse city. With the amazing weather, what not to love this city?!

I am a big visit planner and with them in town, I can't help but put pressure for myself to create list after list of things to do in Austin. During their 3 weeks visit, we have done a variety of things together and I hope they enjoyed their stay as much as we enjoyed their company. Apart from that, my French class has definitely paid off! I am a lot more comfortable to converse with them in French and it feels great to slowly conquering the challenge of communication with them.

Virus Scare

oh no! My poor computer has been infected with Virus. I am going to be out of pocket for a while until I get a new OS to reinstall and reformat my computer. Sorry to cause any delay.

Another Update

2 weeks ago I was in Monterrey for a wedding and last weekend I was in San Francisco to cheer my boyfriend for running the half marathon. They are all great, short trip but I wish I could live the vacation feeling slightly longer!

Anyway, I have a week of freedom before another friend from Paris is coming to visit us. I will try to be productive and complete as many requests for you all as possible! 

Apologize in Advance

Work has been keeping me very busy, so is this summer.  Besides all the weddings and travelings that we are doing, we have been having guests visiting us in Austin every month since June till October. So I must apologize in advance if you feel that it is taking me too long to get back to you.

Summer Madness

2 weddings down, one more to go.
I have been invited to 7 weddings in this year alone. I guess I am in the perfect age where everybody is starting to settle down, get marry and build a family. I love celebrating the big day but sometimes this could be costly and too much. This is especially true when I have to travel or be part of the wedding party.

Please pardon me if you are sensing slow response on my part for it has been quite a busy summer for me.

孩子 Children

孩子("Hai Zi"): children, this noun can be used for singular or plural.
Some people may prefer to add the word "small" in front of the words to denote small children, such as 小孩子(XiaoHaiZi)。

Over lunch, a friend told me how much he enjoys being a father of a newborn and how the child has completely changed his life. However, he would really like to adopt a kid if his wife agrees to it. His reason is to help out the kids out there who are in need of parents, a home, a family to belong to.  I, too, have thought about adoption, only if I am at 35 and single. I am happily in love now and I hope someday I could do both-- give birth to my baby and adopt one to change the kid's and our lives for the better. Perhaps I haven't thought through the tough process of adoption just yet but when I do, I am sure I will have plenty of supports from all the parents I have helped so far.

Busy Bee...

As summer approaches, I find my social and travel calendar filled up quickly. It was New York last weekend and camping in the next. Not to mention I am in the age where most of my friends are getting  hitched so there are a lot of spring and summer weddings to attend.

I have noticed the requests are starting to pile up in my inbox and I will try to get them done as soon as I can. Thank you for your patience. :)

父母恩勤 Fu Mu En Qin

父: father, paternal
母: Mother, maternal
恩: Kindness
勤: hardwork, duty

It's a proverb to describe the hard work and duty of parents are such important tasks and that we should pay respect for.

This is a perfect proverb to describe the adopting parents I have worked with so far. Although they are not biologically related to their children they seem to be bearing the same duty as biological parents, if not more, to take care of the kids, to give them a second chance for a better, brighter future. Their relentless pursue of truth is admirable and continue to be a reminder for myself of how lucky I am.

The Requests Are Finally Coming in!

2 months after I decided to change this to a free translation service, I am finally seeing the results last weekend. There is a wave of parents who heard about me from the Yahoo Group sending in requests for translations, mainly just for their child's name, and I suddenly feel useful again! 

Bring it on!

Did I Make Myself Clear?

This is a free, complimentary personal human translation service for adopting parents of children from China.

If you need help on English-Chinese translation, please feel free to write to me at translate4parents@gmail.com.

This is for you, parents!

Time flies. On and off, I have done translation for adopting parents for 5 years now. I have a full-time career that I do from 9-5 and when I am not at work, I enjoy cooking, yoga, walking my dog or enjoying good time with my friends here in Texas.

It's unbelievable how much others are charging out there for professional translation these days. To me, multilingual has been a gift in me that I often take it for granted. It takes me little effort and time to do Chinese-English translation and I feel good to do this as a complimentary service for those in need.  Earning extra lunch/dinner money is no longer what I thrive for.

If you would like a trustworthy hand to take a look at a letter/document for you please feel free to write to me at translate4parents@gmail.com. I hold myself to the highest integrity and promise this is absolutely not a scam.