A little bit of Ma Fan

I'm gonna teach you guys a new word. 

It's probably one of my favorite Chinese words. 

And not because I like to complain or something. 

But just because it sounds good. 

And it's so easy to incorporate into daily English. 

In the States, before we moved to China, Zachary already knew this Chinese word, because I would use it all the time. 

 Standing on a frozen lake. 

Zachary was too chicken to come out but Chara and I enjoyed being daredevils. 

Ma Fan.

Pronounced= Maw. Fawn. 

Ma Fan.

It means much trouble. 

Like, "Oh man. I have like ten billion bags of groceries and can't find a taxi. Arrrggghhhh. Ma Fan!" 

Or, "I have to mail like ten packages tomorrow and carry each box from my car to the office. It's going to be such ma fan."
Or "If this ice breaks and I fall into the lake it will be ma fan!"

Do you get it? 

Do you get the usefulness of this word? :)

There you go. 

There's your Chinese lesson for the day. Or week. Or month. Or life. 

{But hopefully not life, because if you keep reading this lil ole' blog, 

I'm going to teach you some more fun words!}

And so. 

I give you some Ma Fan.

Remember those oh so cute glasses I got like a month ago?? 

Ya, these.

Guess what. 

Ya. Broken. So lame. 

And then, I thought, "Well it's okay. I still have my back up glasses. That aren't cute but hey! at least I can see past 8 pm." And then 2 days later...

Ya. Stepped on. 

And now I have to go about explaining to our Chinese friend, who owns the eye glass store we go to, that I don't need new lenses but need new frames.
And ask if he could pretty please give me an awesome discount? Ma fan.


Also, a small 'ma fan' reminder... We can always choose joy in the midst of ma fan.
Saying the word 'ma fan' actually helps a lot, too! Every time I say it, I smile a little.
It helps expressing things in a language other than your own & helps make situations lighter.


Have you had any 'ma fan' this week?