thedinner

remember Tina? tiny Tina? of course, how could you forget. her parents invited her and her sister's teachers for dinner on Sunday night and, though we were expecting a traditional meal at their home, were happy to dine at the Toscana Garden Italian restaurant and "Frog Ecology Garden Plot". indeeed, they did have a large pond on their grounds, in front of which we are below pictured. barely visible in the background is a fairly large waterfall, which neatly hides the bathrooms underneath.

some of the teachers with Tina's family at Toscana Garden. l-r from the rear: me, Jen, Lee-Ana, Andy, Joyce, Tina and Sharon.

there were plenty of frogs out there making quite a noise, but it only added to the very nice atmosphere; and it was a great meal. Tina's parents are very nice, and they speak quite good English. Andy is an aerospace engineer who i understand is working on UAVs (Unmanned Aerospace Vehicles, drone aircraft) for the Department of Defense. Sharon is a teacher of first grade at a local elementary school of about 4,000 children. they told us there is an elementary school in Taipei with about 10,000 students!

while we're not allowed to speak Chinese to the kids at any time in the school building, i took this opportunity to ask Tina for her Chinese name, and i had her write it down. i haven't yet figured out how to get the characters to show up on here, but it sounds something like Tsung Hsiao-Ting; the Ting i guess is where Tina comes from. as i'm sure you're all aware, Chinese names are usually three characters: the first is the family name, and the next two are the given name. as far as i'm aware, they don't really have words that are strictly names; they choose names based on the characteristics they assume the person will have or those they want the person to have. i've heard it said that we choose names based on how attractive they sound, and the Chinese choose names based on how attractive the concept is that the name embodies. For Tina's name, the family went to a fortune-teller, which is apparently a pretty lucky, and popular, thing to do.

my own name, for which dozens have now been consulted, has finally come down to the most logical choice. it sounds like Bao Tse-Jie; it's the same name Porsche goes by here, and is basically a coincidentally appropriate transliteration of that word from English: it means "make time fast".

as if you needed more proof of Tina's cuteness. this picture was taken in front of the pond at Toscana Garden.