I'm Mabel, the creator of this site and hopefully someone who you'll enjoy learning Chinese from. If you already visited the homepage of this site, then you already know a lot about me. To summarize, I started teaching Chinese in-person while au-pairing in Belgium, the US, and then Mexico. While in Mexico, I started teaching Chinese online and have been doing this in one way or another every since, while traveling (which I love!).
Here's a short video I made that will help explain things...
More about me...
As I mentioned in the video, I'm from the Hawaii of China - Hainan, a tropical island of China.
I'm VERY PROUD to be a Hainanese who not only speaks Mandarin but also speaks Hainanese identity.
However, most people don't know where it is or what it's like.
Now, let me tell you more about it.
Where is Hainan?
During my travels, many people have asked me, "Where is Hainan?" I replied that it's an island in the south, not too far from Hong Kong and Vietnam. As you can see on the map, this is where I'm from.
I'm originally from a city named "Wanning," which is now famous for surfing. However, I grew up in different cities and towns due to my family moving around for business. When I entered middle school, my family moved to Haikou, the capital of the island located in the north, and we have been living there ever since.
What's life in Hainan?
Ah~ I miss my island life a lot! I've been living abroad for almost 10 years, and I will say Hainan is still one of my favorites! I've been dreaming of moving back for my retirement, it's one of the best places for that!
Imagine this : In the morning, I would have a 75-cent street breakfast, then go to the park to hang out, do Taiji, or do whatever you like, even taking a nap. Afterward, I would ride my scooter to have tea with my friends at 老爸茶lǎo bà chá (Direct translation: Old Dad Tea, it's a kind of place where middle-aged or older people like to gather to have tea and gossip). After dinner, I would go to the plazas to dance with the crowd, and afterward, I would go for 夜宵yèxiāo (late-night supper) before heading home to bed.
What a life!!!!
The FOOD!!!!😋
The food from my island is super special because it's rare to find it outside of my island. Maybe you've heard about Hainan Chicken Rice; well, as its name suggests, it's from my island. If you've been to Singapore and Malaysia, then you might have tried Hainanese breakfast!
We have our own type of cuisine that is unknown in other parts of the world because the ingredients are almost hard to find outside of it. I will write a whole post about it!
My favorite foods from my island are 清补凉 QīngBǔLiáng and 酸粉Suānfěn, I would love to eat them every day!
You can see me eating both of them at the same time!!! 😊 and I I often do that when I am in Hainan.