So you want to learn Mandarin but you're intimidated by its reputation as a "hard language"? It can be totally eays. Here's a poem that I swear I'm not making up.

Here are the first two lines:

Shíshì shīshì Shī Shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī.
Shì shíshí shì shì shì shī.

It's easier to figure out in English:
"In a stone den was the poet Shi, who loved to eat lions and decided to eat ten.
He often went to the market to look for lions."

If you want to hear how it sounds in Mandarin, here's an audio file. It's like an education in tones!

Think that's confusing? Remember that in English, we also have Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo (etc). (Rephrased: The New York bison that New York bison bully....) I think "shi shi shi" is more fun to say, but maybe that's just me.

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Meanwhile,

• 
  
  A plane-load of Cathay Pacific passengers had a not-very nice start to their trip over the Pacific (to Cathay - specifically, San Francisco to Hong Kong). They sat on the tarmac in California for 7 hours.
  
  No word if any of those passengers were what we call "traveling families," but still. One more thing to worry about for those getting ready for the Big Trip.
  



• 
  
  More cheerfully, check out the slideshow at A Child's Right. Pictures of their water-cleaning project in Chongqing (I've been there!) at the Chongqing Children's Welfare Institute (I haven't been there, but it looks a lot like the Fuling 1st SWI). They're trying to ensure every child everywhere has access to clean water.
  
  


• 
  
  
  China has announced they're building
  big rockets! Big enough to put their own Space Station in orbit! Big enough to send people to the moon!
  
  



• 
  
  Far more exciting in our household is Archie McPhee announcing their latest advance in the Race for Plastic Food with a Chinese food playset. Yum. Don't eat it!
  



• 
  
  
  And don't eat the Floating Eyeballs, either. One of several Chinese toy imports recalled for toxic ingredients, like kerosene (which makes the eyeballs float) or lead paint (which is on other toys).
  


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  Do, on the other hand,
  plaaaay balllll! The New Yor Yankees have just signed two players from China - left-handed pitcher Kai Liu and Zhenwang Zhang, a catcher. Liu is from Guangdong, and Zhang is a former Tianjin Lion. They're claiming the two 19-year-olds as the first "official" Chinese players to join Major League Baseball. Mariners pitcher Wang Chao didn't have the blessing of the Chinese league, apparently, when he joined that team in 2002. Next thing you know, they'll be having an actual World Series with actual teams from the world....