Tag Archives: English

Still Alive Up Here in Michigan

Hey everyone!

It’s been a very long time since I posted! So, what does life look like from Detroit?

All I do is work, work, work, work, work

Ha ha, now that song will be in your head for the rest of the day. You’re welcome.

It’s just been very, very busy around here! The transition from St. Maarten to the United States has given me the opportunity to work a lot more, and I’ve been taking advantage of that. Gotta pay off those student loans, you know?

I’m still writing, and I’ve been adding new clients to my list of regulars. One of my new favorites is Forever Bride, a Minnesota-based wedding company. I’m loving love!

 

 

I’m also working as an online English teacher for Chinese-speaking children! As you know, I love teaching ESL and I love working with kids. It’s so much fun to see my students online everyday and teach from my desk at home!

VIPKID is the most fun I’ve ever had at work.

 

 

It’s been so good that Ben decided to apply to VIPKID, too. He got hired last week and just finished his first weekend of classes! Woohoo!

If you know anyone in med school, you know that working during medical school is not always feasible.

However, VIPKID gives Ben the ability to choose his own hours and work when he can, whether that’s 8 hours like last weekend or half an hour on a Friday night. Or nothing, like this week.

 

By the way, if you have a college degree and could use a fun job, you should totally apply! Email me with any questions. Here’s a link and a code for your application: 04MXB1

It’s Cold, Boiiii

As you can see, I may have left the tropics but I still took some island slang with me, boiii.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take any of that sunshine. We’re literally taking vitamin D in pill form at this point.

It’s already snowing here in Detroit! Not enough for any photos, but enough for dancing in the cold with a scarf on.

 

 

Kito doesn’t know what to do about this cold. We go on daily walks along a pond near our house, and she keeps trying to walk into the water to chase the Canadian geese!  Today, she was surprised when she stepped through a thin sheet of ice. I haven’t seen anything so funny since I watched Nacho Libre last week.

 

 

Detroit is pretty cool

It’s cold, but it’s cool.

One thing I love about living here is that a lot of the public venues are totally free. Others are really cheap. A lot of the museums downtown are free for Michiganders!

 

Before we found out we were moving to Michigan, we got a U.S. parks pass. We were sad when we found out that Michigan doesn’t have too many national parks!

 

 

However, we have a TON of state parks. And the pass is just $11 per year! We’ve been all over the place between the US/Canadian border and Lansing.

Ben’s brother and his wife live in Grand Rapids, so we sometimes explore a state park with them.

 

 

In addition to the cool places, Detroit has some pretty cool people. We’re starting to meet our neighbors, and we’re making friends at church and Bible study. We finished the membership class at our church, so we have somewhere to belong in Michigan now.

 

Medical school marches on

Ben’s now about 5/8 of of the way done with med school. And yes, I’m counting down the months!

There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s not so bad. The endless studying of years 1 and 2 are over, and now he’s having a lot more fun doing rotations in the hospitals.

He’s on his internal medicine rotation. He honored the first part of the rotation!

 

 

So, that’s our life in Michigan in a nutshell! It’s starting to feel like home. <3

Seven Chinese-English Translation Fails

One of the things that I find most entertaining is Chinese-English translation fails. Zero judgment on the people who created these interesting translations– regardless of how grammatically incorrect the translations may be, the translators still speak a foreign language way better then I do! I have huge respect for any Mandarin-speaking person who can learn English and vice-versa. Still, these phrases are pretty funny. The Chinese market next door to our apartment complex carries plenty of plastic imports that make shopping a little more fun. Here are a few:

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The Wonderful Life plastic food container. I’m not sure if it’s trying to remind me that my life is wonderful, so I should be happy, or if being happy every day makes life wonderful.

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“Happy diary. If you often have smiles on your face good lucks will naturally come to you.”

Matching the positive thinking of Wonderful Life food container is the happy diary. Maybe you can only write positive things in this book. On one page record what makes you happy, and on the opposite write all the naturally occurring “good lucks” in your life. If you think about it, this actually makes sense. I’ll bet that if I wrote down all the happy things in my life and smiled more often, I’d quickly recognize how blessed I am.

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The Huahu pitcher!

“Huahu daily-used will become us living of a part, let’s enjoy living for every day.”

I don’t know what “huahu” is, and the rest of the poem doesn’t make much sense, either.

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Cookie bear tub

“Cookie bear, Baby happy baby, I want.”

Does the bear want a cookie? Or does it want a baby? Or does the baby want a bear or a cookie? Or is it a baby bear wanting a cookie?

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Mini desktop drawers. There are three drawers in this set, and every one of them has the exact same poem:

“Flowers of Happiness. Flowers, dreams can’t answer. Where has, The only way to obtain happiness, boy and girl, wandering in the world, no matter is the numerous hills and streams.”

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Toilet soap. Not really for toilets.

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Notebook- “There is something better in writing.”

Is it trying to remind me that there are a whole lot of writers out there who are better than I am? Or just that writing is better than not writing? I don’t know whether to feel insecure or encouraged.

That’s all for now, folks! “There is something better in writing” coming in future posts. Stay tuned and please subscribe!