For her birthday, 申琦 (shēn qí) wanted to have lunch at our house with her mom, then play some 麻将 (má jiāng), and in the evening go out to dinner with her friends and sing Karaoke afterwards. I told her that whatever she wanted was fine, and began planning the day.

When the day rolled around, it went something like this:

• 6:00 – I woke up and got ready for class while 申琦 (shēn qí) slept in. I wrote here a little note on the white board in our room wishing her a happy birthday. I then left for my 8am class
• 9:00 – I left class an hour early to go check on the flowers I had arranged and give the company delivery instructions. The bouquet was perfect with about 40 roses as the base, some beautiful white flowers in the middle that were really pungent, two tall light orange almost pinkish tall flowers coming out from either side jutting up at 50 degree angles, and two birds of paradise (小鸟)(xiǎo niǎo) poking up in the center. After leaving the flower shop, I head to 龙世界 (lóng shìjiè), one of my favorite bath houses, to shower and shave
• 10:30 – I get home to find that 申琦 (shēn qí)’s mother hasn’t arrived yet. Wu jie, my maid, is already working on cooking lunch for us (dumplings). I give 申琦 (shēn qí) the dolphin which she loves and thinks is extremely cute
• 12:00 – The four of us all have lunch which is GREAT.
• 1:00 – We start our 麻将 (má jiāng) session.
• 1:30 – The flowers are delivered. Wu jie answers the door and tells 申琦 (shēn qí) that it is for her. She is surprised and thinks that they are from one of her friends who works down the street. She then reads the card and realizes they are from me and that I actually managed to get flowers and have them delivered to our house all on my own. She begins to cry as wu jie and 申琦 (shēn qí)’s mom smell and look over the flowers. I feel quite pleased
• 3:30 – We finish our 麻将 (má jiāng) session. I managed to win twice. I head to school for my afternoon class
• 6:00 – I finish class and head home
• 6:30 – We get to the restaurant and eat dinner with two of 申琦 (shēn qí)’s best friends
• 8:00 – We head up to the 3rd floor where they have the KTV (Karaoke bar) and get a room
• 11:30 – Finally finish singing. My throat feels like sand paper at this point. We head home. 申琦 (shēn qí) feels like she had the best birthday and I am quite pleased

Since I knew we were going to be singing Karaoke, I managed to prepare several songs in Chinese. I learned how to sing “Superstar” by S.H.E. by reading the pinyin and memorizing the chorus. I did the same for 喜刷刷 (xǐ shuā shuā) by 花儿乐队 (huār yuèduì). I learned how to sing 桃花朵朵开 (táo huāduǒ duǒ kāi) by reading the Chinese characters. I then memorized 完美的一天 (wánměi de yītiān), 你是我的玫瑰花 (nǐ shì wǒde méiguī huā) by 庞龙 (páng lóng) , and 母亲 (mǔqīn). Everyone was surprised and shocked that I could sing all these Chinese songs, but the kicker was when I sang 母亲 (mǔqīn).

母亲 (mǔqīn) is basically a very old classic Chinese song that everyone has heard. It is about “mom” in general and how we should all love and cherish our moms. Anyway, I memorized the words perfectly and sang it from memory for 申琦 (shēn qí)’s mom. She loved it, 申琦 (shēn qí) was ultra happy, and I knew that I had just SHOCKED everyone by not only memorizing a Chinese song, but by singing such a specific one that was so perfect for the occasion.

Yeah!!!

Here is the text to  母亲 (mǔqīn):

你入学的新书包有人给你拿

你雨中的花折伞有人给你打

你爱吃的(那)三鲜馅有人(他)给你包

你委屈的泪花有人给你擦

啊,这个人就是娘

啊,这个人就是妈

这个人给了我生命

给我一个家

啊,不管你走多远

无论你在干啥

到什么时候也离不开

咱的妈

你身在(那)他乡住有人在牵挂

你回到(那)家里边有人沏热茶

你躺在(那)病床上有人(他)掉眼泪

你露出(那)笑容时有人乐开花

啊,这个人就是娘

啊,这个人就是妈

这个人给了我生命

给我一个家

啊,不管你多富有

无论你官多大

到什么时候也不能忘

咱的妈