You are my good friends

In my Mandarin class tonight, the organizer announced that our next course, starting in September, will include beginning writing!

So far, with a combination of Pimsleur recorded lessons ("Learn like a spy. Pass for a native."), the occasional foray over to Chinesepod, and this class taught by Real Chinese Teachers from China, I've collected a working vocabulary of perhaps a couple hundred words, which I'm able to swap around into some basic conversational sentences.

But the writing! It's as opaque to me as the spoken language was a few months ago, and I'm really excited about piercing that veil, even just a little bit.

Tonight we learned a nursery rhyme song (complete with little kindergarten ice-breaking game) that I'd like to share with my flist.

Translated, it goes something like this:

"Look for, look for, look for a friend. Now you've found one good friend, salute once, shake hands, and say 'You are my good friend.'"