Xiao Xin - Don't Break My Daughter's Heart (Or You Won't Live To Regret It)

A 'Mem' from Memrise.com, first of many

Gudday guys - my name is Brad Mason. Three years ago I migrated to China to marry my

A) Hunny

B) Sweetie

C) Darling

or in Chinese, they say D) QingAiDe, but I don't call her that very often. These four titles all refer to the same person, just for the record.

Her mum imagined, when her daughter had told her she found a cute guy in New Zealand, that she had found a Chinese Kiwi. She found out on our wedding day however that her new son-in-law not only has white skin (my ancestors go right back to early NZ settlers) but also I can't speak any Chinese. So, rolling with the punch, she decided to just run with it and has spoiled me rotten ever since.

But this is not a blog about my marriage! Rather, it is a blog about my life in China as an expat and what life is like on the other side of the world.

Every post will include something called a 'mem', a helpful little picture teaching us a Chinese character. You can find such mems on www.memrise.com and can study Chinese (or any other language to that matter) for free. This particular mem, 小心 (xiaoxin) is apt for today's post, because on my wedding day my mother-in-law warned me to be careful with her daughter's heart (or she would put a bounty on my head). No, she didn't say that last part, but it was in her eyes.

Anyway enjoy my blog. I hope it'll be useful for anyone thinking about going to China in the future.