The above photo is from Sunday night, in the aftermath of the frosting fight. Left to right are the birthday honorees; my Shushu, me, Ben, and Neinei, the grandmother. (I only tonight realized how to upload photos...more will follow.)

As I think I've reported here previously, my Chinese name is Bai Lan (both syllables having a rising tone, for all you students of Mandarin and it is pronounced "buy lawn"), which was originally translated vaguely to "White Flower." Well, tonight I decided I'd look up exactly what the characters of my name meant, and the literal translation is lovely: Snow-white Orchid. As you might imagine, I was pleased by this. I have been somewhat surprised at myself and the way I've picked up this new name with such ease. Many of my classmates in training call me Bai Lan even when we aren't in school.

Oh, and the reason why I have so much spare time: I'm staying in for the night with a mild case of laryngitis that I don't want to get worse. A sore throat got a little out of hand, so I'm trying to keep my talking to a minimum for the next day or so to rest my vocal cords. As you know, this isn't something that comes easily to me, so wish me luck. I'm off to bed now, though, so more from me later. Until next time.