Sweet, right?
Yeah, I thought so too...
Except that big tears welled up in her eyes and I was surprised. I thought maybe it was just too much for her, maybe she was confused that I am her Mama, maybe the reality was starting to set in...
So I picked her up and loved on her, tucked her into bed, and said good-night.
Sad, yes.
So here comes the funny part...
Today I took Ashlyn over to my friend Jaci's house to meet with Jaci's Chinese neighbor, to just talk... About anything she might need to talk about. I thought it'd be nice for her to have someone to communicate with for a while... Just in case she was feeling the need to speak in her native language. I mean, she is a girl for heaven's sake! With no one to speak her 50,000 words a day to! It must be mind numbing to hear all of our babbling all day long.
It was great. I was able to ask Ashlyn some really good questions and get some really good feedback. The lady is a Christian and she has lived here for 30 years. I shared our story with her and she shared with Ashlyn the reasons why we initially backed out (because it turns out that she did know that we were coming for her and then she had to hear the heartbreaking news that we weren't...UGH.) And then she told her about how God worked miracles and that we are so thankful that she's here.
Then the conversation of love came up and come to find out, there is no word for love in Chinese in terms of affection. So I said, "then what does 'wo ai ni' mean?" And she said it means "romantic love". YIKES... Matt and I have been telling the girls we love them romantically for an entire month now!!!
Thankfully, Ashlyn understands us and even laughed as she heard us talking about it today (she is understanding a lot of what we talk about now).
Then came the big surprise...
It turns out that the way I say I love you, "Wo ai ni" sounds like their words for "I hate you" instead of "I love you". This might explain the tears from Abby at bedtime the other night.
My poor, sweet little lovie:( I am sure she was so confused.
She seems to have recovered from the event, but I feel awful.
So, no more Mandarin for us! It's English only from here on out. Matt and I totally can not speak Mandarin... AT ALL. And everything matters in the Chinese language. Tone is everything. "Ma" means like 3 different things, depending on the tone of your voice. I can't remember them all, but one is mom and another is cow:)
On a really happy note...
Today we celebrate ONE WHOLE MONTH with Abby Joy!!!
Can you believe it's already been a month?!
 |
| Our first day of homeschool:) |
I LOVE it!!! I wonder what that means!!!
ReplyDeleteLOL, oh my goodness, this is so so funny and so sad all at the same time! I wonder if I told my daughter the same thing while trying to say wo ai ni! A good one for the memory books for sure, she will laugh when she is older and can understand better! your girls are both just gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteWe had big problems with the phrase, "Wo ai ni"! We did not realize how upsetting it was to our teenage daughter when my husband would tell her "wo ai ni." She began to refer to him by bad names when she was talking with friends. Eventually someone told us "Wo ai ni" is only used with very young children, and that teens would consider it a "romantic" line. But we didn't know that a mispronunciation could also sound like "I hate you." How sad!
ReplyDeleteWe are happy that things are going so well for you!
Awwww...it is funny and not funny at the same time. I always said that to our daughter...maybe that's what caused her meltdowns! So glad they easily forgive. :)
ReplyDeleteOH MY WORD - I'm trying not to laugh - one means mom the other cow. snort
ReplyDeletethankfully - God is working thru our imperfections and they SEE your love rather than mumbled words that they know are not your heart.
I love you - and not romantically ! ;p
I so get this!! I REALLY tried to learn Chinese for our last adoption - and was, in typical american fashion, extremely proud of what I had "mastered". When we arrived in China I greeted our guide in her native language, and she very graciously laughed and put her hand on my arm, told me she wasn't offended by what I had said, but also suggested that I should stick to English becuas I didn't have the 'mouth' to speak Chinese! She was reluctant to tell me exactly what I had said - leaving it as simply something that would be considered 'insulting'!
ReplyDeleteYeah - I'll stick to English right with you!
And I have no idea where the last comment I started went - if it shows up feel free to dump it - I'm as good on the keyboard this morning as I am at speaking Chinese! ;)
hugs - aus and co.