if wishes were horses...

Why, oh why are there so many different versions of lyrics to "Tumbalaika" and none of them are the version my Yiddish great-grandmother taught me. NONE of them! I was trying to translate the English lyrics into Yiddish then back again to see if they would yield amusing results when I found this out. I like my lyrics much better than anything on the 'net:

Maiden, maiden, can you explain
What can grow without any rain?
What can live and never die?
What can weep and never cry?

Laddy, laddy, foolish and vain
Love can grow without any rain
Love can live and never die
A heart can weep and never cry

I remember the first time I could actually understand what was being sung to me (I think I was 4 at the time) I thought the answer to the third question should be a weeping willow, and I didn't know what Mom meant about it "not fitting".

Anyhow... I'm going to Kunming tomorrow, then to Beijing on Wednesday. The weather in Beijing on Wednesday says low 18 degrees Celsius and high--wait, drum roll please-- 34 degrees. Yes, 34 degrees Celsius. That's um... 93.2 degrees Fahrenheit. On the last day of APRIL for crying out loud! What the heck is wrong with the world? It's cheated me! Spring has vanished before my very eyes.

Ah well, Beijing should be fun, I'll get to see people! Maybe for the last time in a while if I end up leaving China. Much as I want a change, that thought is unbearably sad. I've grown up here! Which is one of the main reasons I want to leave, but it also makes leaving everybody and everything incredibly difficult. Why can't life be easy?