Chinese Name

Nothing too exciting to report over these past few weeks.  I did however get a new “Chinese name” from my friend at Head to Toe.  (Head to Toe is a massage place not to far from our apartment - great pedicures, massages, and even hair cuts!  You can get a hair cut and one hour massage for less than $20!!  I have learned that I prefer getting my hair cut twice a year while in the US, but that’s another story.)  Anyway - the friend I referred to earlier gives a great massage, and she even speaks decent English.  Her English name is Dani, taken from her Chinese name of Dan Dan.  Last week, she asked me if I had a Chinese name.  I’ve actually tried several, but am always up for being given a new one - mainly due to the fact that Emily, in Chinese, translates to Mae Li (which means beautiful.)  Quite awkward when people ask what my name is, and I’m supposed to respond with, “beautiful.”  Yes, call me beautiful!  Weird!  Ok, so Heidi and I are getting a massage and joking with the girls about Chinese names.  (Side note - they normally tell Heidi that her name doesn’t need to change because in China, they can just call her Hei Di!)  I always get the, “you are SO tall” comments, so Heidi jokes that my name should be Gao Mei - meaning Tall Beautiful... ha ha ha.. After several attempts, Dani says she has the perfect name for me - “Shuang Shuang.”  Our first question, “What does that mean??”

Dan Dan has a pondering expression on her face.  “How to explain  this?”  She says that it is a VERY good name and has a good meaning.. but can’t quite explain what the meaning is!  She starts by saying that Dan Dan means number 1 and says that Shuang Shuang is number 2.  After about ten minutes of trying to understand what she’s saying I conclude that it must have something to do with birth order?  Maybe this isn’t the best new name for me.  After all, I’m the oldest! 

The next day, we took Heidi’s driver, Annie, out to lunch.  She speaks a bit of English but we mostly communicate with her in Chinese.  We told her about this new name I had been given and she laughed and laughed and said, “Oh no.. this name not too good for you Mae Li.”  Turns out that in Chinese, odd numbers are called Dan Dan.. and even numbers are referred to as Shuang Shuang!  Go figure :)