就是开阿

What will you think, when you see the four Chinese words---"就是开阿"? Will you associate them with someone's name? Perhaps not, if you know Chinese. The direct translation of the four words is "Just open it!".

But, it indeed is someone's Chinese name. 就是开阿 looks like an Africa-American, about 45-year old, around 5-feet and 3-inch tall, a little bit overweighted, and is probably crazy about Chinese culture. 就是开阿's English name is Joseph Tahar. I knew all of these because my dear fellow, Joseph, was standing in front of me in the lobby of National Aqurarium at Baltimore. Joseph preciously hold a painting and the four Chinese words, in Chinese calligraphy, dominated the major part of the painting. Two nicely-drawn Chinese golden dragons surrounded the four Chinese words, and Joseph Tahar, written in smaller and artistic calligraphy, floats above 就是开阿. Overall, the painting looks very nice if you forgo the meaning of those four chinese words.

Joseph bought the painting for that four little chinese words. He must know that those four little words represent his Chinese name. I guess that the artist painted Joseph's Chinese name after Joseph told the artist his English name because the pronunciations of Joseph Tahar and 就是开阿 sound alike. Joseph hold the painting so preciously that he probably will hang the painting in the best spot in his house. I sincerely hope he has no Chinese friends, otherwise, I worry his love towards Chinese culture will be blown away by his Chinese friends' laughs.

The author of the painting played a cruel naming joke on my poor fellow, Joseph. However, I have to admit that the artist did it excellently since I can't forget 就是开阿's English name!

Took Anbo to National Zoo

We took Anbo to National Zoo last Sunday (Dec/31/06). That was the third time Anbo visited the zoo. In the previous visits, Anbo was not very interested in animals. Most of time, he sucked
his thumb and stared at animals blankly. It was different this time. Anbo watched animals with great interests---his face flushed and he shouted excitingly when he saw cute ones, such as otters, giant panda and apes.

Anbo liked apes most. We visited the apes hall in the last minute. By the time we entered the hall, most of apes already finished their dinner. They just lay down; none of them were playing.
Those apes seemed like to lie close to windows, through which we watched them. There was a black Chimpanzee, who lay down by the window and lazily scratch his armpit. Anbo watched the chimpanzee scratching, giggled and said, "He is so cute !" At that moment, I felt my son is the cutest animal in the world.
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--peter
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