Dating my next door neighbor 跟隔壁邻居交往

In this blog's continuing series of Chinese/English parallel texts (one day I hope to do this in CJKE! Chinese Japanese Korean English) I tell the story of how I met/ started dating my wonderful girlfriend. Great memories!

你能跟我去油画课吗？

我跟我女朋友的经历很有趣、很偶然性的遇会。我那时候住在我朋友家，租了他一间房。我朋友的老婆也来了她的朋朋友小明来住另一间房. 

如此小明和我就变成邻居了。我平时很害羞，不太敢主动跟女生谈话，只有跟我朋友夫妻俩以起出去时可以跟小明聊天。小明虽然是韩国长大的，在美国住了十多年，上了大学和研究学院，美语和美国文化都了解得不错。脑子又好，外貌又轻秀，我逐渐对她有点意思。

那时正好跟朋友报名去上个油画课，我朋友到最后说去不了了，又不能退票，咋么办呢只好找替身的。灵机一动想起小明，一边可以多了解小明，一边避免浪费那张票，一石二鸟。我就问小明，也没直接说是约会，只问，不好意思，朋友缺席， 你能跟我去油画课吗？ 正好小明有空，就一起去了。

油画课是让大家画一块南瓜馅饼，代表美国十一月份敢恩节的传统。有专业画家来辅导。我以前小时候画过画，但也就是随便画画而已。小明胸有成竹地画起来，油漆混的也很专业派，旁若无人的认真画上了。我的水平明显差远了，老师经常要过来帮我一下，怕我落后。

到最后收盘时，大家欣赏互相的作平，大家对小明的画感觉很好，称赞像是真的南瓜饼似的。大家看到我的就没话好说了，客气点没有批评就算不错了。

虽然我的画弄砸了，但对小明的感觉深刻了，她也觉得我们俩很谈的开，我们就从那一次课发展感情，一直到了今天一年多的恋情。

" Can you go to paint class with me?" 

Meeting my wonderful girlfriend MJ was a very interesting, very chance encounter. At that time I lived at my friend's house, renting out one of his rooms. My friend's wife also invited her friend, MJ, to live in the room next to mine. 

From then on MJ and I became neighbors/roommates. I'm usually pretty shy (as described in this blog previously) and not proactive about initiating conversation with ladies, and at the beginning MJ and I only talked when we all went out as group. Although MJ grew up in South Korea, she had lived in America for more than 10 years, went to college and graduate school, so her grasp of both American language and customs was great. She was smart and had elegant features, so I gradually started liking her. 

At that time I had signed up for a paint class with my friend, but my friend said she couldn't go at the last second, and there was no refund on the ticket, so I had to find a replacement. I suddenly thought of MJ, as I could both get to know MJ more as well as avoid wasting a ticket, like getting two birds with one stone. So I asked MJ without telling her it was a date, but just, "Sorry, my friend couldn't make it, so would you like to go to paint class with me?" Luckily MJ was free, so we went together. 

The painting at paint class was that of a pumpkin, representing America's November custom of Thanksgiving. There was a pro painter there to guide us. As a kid I had done some drawings, but just fooling around, nothing serious. MJ on the other hand confidently started to draw like she had done it so many times before, also mixing the paints together skillfully, concentrating on the painting as if no one else was around. My skill was obviously much lower, and the instructor had to come and help me a few times, lest I fall behind. 

Towards the end near closing time, everybody enjoyed each other's work, and everyone really liked MJ's painting, praising it as a "real enough to eat." When they saw me they didn't say anything, maybe just to be polite and not give any criticism. 

Although I failed at paint class, but my relationship with MJ blossomed, and we could talk more easily with each, and from that class on we developed our relationship, and  the love continues even today, more than a year later. 

Fantasize on, 

Robert Yan