夏威夷 ("xia wei yi") = Hawai'i

When you live in another country and culture for some time, you begin to gain a new perspective on your original culture and home. Almost as if looking at it from the outside, you gain insight on the traditions you grew up with and values and habits you may or may not hold dear.
Over time, boring or weird family traditions and cultural norms become special again.
You don't take them for granted anymore.
Maybe it is for this reason that I was looking forward to Christmas more than usual this year.
In fact, for the first time in my adult life I was psyched to hear Christmas music, excited when I saw Christmas decorations, and amped on celebrating Christmas with what I used to perceive as old boring traditions and foods.
But it also could have something to do with the trip I took to Hawaii to see my family.

Here is us on Christmas morning. Ready for a day on the beach.
When I write this blog from China, often I imagine myself writing to my mum and dad or people back in Canada. But for this blog I am operating under the assumption that everyone back home reading this is either my family or has already spoken to a family member about our Christmas vacation in Hawaii. So for this post, I am going to turn it around a bit (and multitask by using this as my Chinese homework) and write to my friends in China about this trip.

所以我会写汉字！

准备好了吗？ 走吧！

这个圣诞节我去了夏威夷度假。

夏威夷自然风光很好。

天气热。我们的酒店很漂亮。

我吃了很多好吃的还有喝了很多啤酒。

我跑到了雨岩。

我去到了黑色沙滩。

我跑到了活火山的山顶。

我甚至看到炽热的岩浆和泠饷海洋。

我在沙滩上休息享受着日光浴。

我和海龟一起潜水. 我在小艇上看到了海豚。

如果没有家人的陪伴这一切都失去了意义。

妈妈很关心和有心眼。

爸爸很聪明和爱游玩。

妹妹太漂亮和确信。

弟弟太滑稽和轻盈。 她的爱人相处的很容查。

sigh.....现在我到武汉想他们很多。