My name is Fan Zhou, a name that gives me headaches every time I introduce myself (like now, so I am going to give you the full lecture). If you can’t already tell, I am Chinese, born and raised in northern China, then moved to the United States at age of 16. Unlike many immigrants who gave themselves an English name when they move to US, I kept my original Chinese one and started to confuse the hell of people who try to pronounce it. If you call me “/ˈfæn/ /zuː/” “/ˈfæn/ /zaʊ/”, “/ˈfæn/ /dʒuː/”, etc., you are among the majority. I understand why people mispronounce my name, it is just a weird ass name in an English environment. However, if you prefer to be cultured and surprise your fellow Chinese friends, here you go: in Chinese names, Fan sounds more like “Fun”, and Zhou sounds just the same as “Joe”. Now you see my struggles when introducing myself, over the phone is the worst, because mine is not like Tom Johnson, a simple name that people get it at once. What the hell is “Fun Joe”, right? So I always have to spell it out, and this is my usual opening: Hi! How are you? My first name is F-A-N, pronounced as /fʌn/, and my last name is Z-H-O-U, Z for Zebra. I don’t always tell people how Zhou is pronounced anymore, it has blown too many people’s minds.
Now you know my name the correct way, we can move on ☺
I am very new to blogging, so new that I don’t even know how to properly customize or set up this site (Yes, it is still under construction). As learning continues, I expect the site to become more user friendly and visually pleasant. Please bear with me! I am also not a good writer, a fact that you can probably tell by now. Not only English is my second language, I can hardly write anything in Chinese either. Why the heck do I want to blog then? Well, I am passionate about life, I love sharing things l like with other people, and I have a pretty darn cute cat. I love traveling to new places, love trying out new restaurants/establishments in the neighborhood, and occasionally I even love to cook up an exquisite meal. I often see my daily life as ordinary, but who said there can’t be sparks and sprinkles in ordinary lives? We have friends, dreams, projects, and even random thoughts, they all can shine! I hope to use this blog as a road, my simple words and random thoughts as vehicles, and bring a cup of tea to brighten up your day. Fancy some more?
Fancy Some More ? 