Pumpkin ≠ Sad

Let me preface this by saying I'm absolutely loving learning Chinese.  It's super challenging, and I like that.  I love words and grammar.  I'm fascinated by the way culture and language go together. I certainly miss the familiarity of English, especially when I'm trying to decipher between shampoo or conditioner...chocolate or red bean...chicken or squid. It has been one of the most difficult and rewarding things I've ever done.

Chinese is a HARD language.  I mean, I'm eons beyond where I was a year ago, and I'm learning fairly quickly (according to my teacher), but I still find myself thinking, "Huh??" most of the time.

*I recently found out that I was mispronouncing "pumpkin" (nangua) as "sad" (nanguo).  No wonder the fruit guy seemed so puzzled and concerned last fall...*

Reading is pretty much out of the question at this point.  I know about 60-70 characters, but that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the tens of thousands of Chinese characters. I take 2 hours of Chinese class every week and studied intensively for four weeks this summer, in addition to what I learn while I'm just out and about.  Everyone has become my Chinese teacher - the fruit guy, taxi drivers, my ayi, my students, my friends, the lady who sells me yogurt, strangers in the elevator, random passersby.  I'm really thankful for people who take the time to stop and help me understand what's going on around me.  

Someone recently said to me, "It would be a lot less confusing if you would just learn the language."  Uhhh...yes.  We're all in agreement there.  I'm REALLY trying.  We're talking about one of the most complex languages in the world...Mastery doesn't happen overnight. (Or over the course of a year.)
 It's just hard. Seriously. But I'm working on it and I'm seeing progress.

http://www.effectivelanguagelearning.com/language-guide/language-difficulty

Here's a pretty funny article that gives some insight into my life of language learning:  http://www.pinyin.info/readings/texts/moser.html

So since I've gotten down many of the basics - how to order the perfect latte, find my way home, compliment someones clothes, and specify that I actually want the pink shirt and not the yellow one - I'm ready to spend some time focused on something a little more meaningful.  The Word.

The perfect latte

I found these great resources (and have also enlisted the help of my Chinese teacher) to help me learn some verses in Chinese this year.
http://www.chinese-bible.com/index.php
http://www.wordproject.org/multi/bi_en_cn_py.htm
I love these because they show English, Chinese characters, and Pinyin (the phonetic spelling).  The second one is great because there are so many languages available.

So far I've learned this one...

✓Habakkuk 2:14 - For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. 
Rènshi Yēhéhuá róngyào de zhīshi , yào chōngmǎn biàn dì , hǎoxiàng shuǐ chōngmǎn yáng hǎi yìbān .

What should I learn next?  Any suggestions?  :)