Year of the Ox

Photo today: Today is Chinese New Year and it's the Year of the Ox! So what do we do to celebrate? Eat beef of course! Actually we didn't plan it that way, it's a coincidence. Tonight we cooked Filet Mignon with Peppercorn-Orange Sauce. I say "we" because I actually did half the chopping and cooking today. :: proud look :: The veggies are leftovers from yesterday. So, it being Chinese New Year and all, my thoughts went to my Chinese-ness. I feel like I'm losing my Chinese-ness day by day. When my mom was alive she only spoke Chinese Mandarin to me, so my Chinese remained quite fluent even though I've been living in the United States for 29 years, since grade school. Ever since she's been gone, I feel like I'm slowly losing the language and it really bothers me. I mean, I need to at least be able to read the Chinese menus in the good Chinese restaurants around town, you know? My dad mostly speaks to me in English now. I don't know why, but he does. Probably out of courtesy to Todd. But Todd actually understands quite a bit of Chinese. He took a year of Chinese at Ohio State and knows enough such that we can't talk about him without him knowing most of what we're saying. It's only been two years since my mom's passing and I've lost so much of the language already. I struggle to speak a complete sentence sometimes. I need to somehow practice my Chinese speaking and reading more often, so I don't lose my mother tongue so fast. One billion out of the six billion people on Earth speak Chinese, and I want to remain one of them!