Variations On Dirty Laundry Blues
Wow! I've got many things to report in this post, and most of them are not related to any others.
Trucks!
On the morning of 30 August, I saw an amazing sight. While I was sitting outside of the building in which I was to write my placement test at 8:20 that morning, I saw four cargo trucks drive toward the building (from my right side, facing away from the front of the building) in single file. Then, they all started to turn away from the building, but not in parallel directions, for to prepare to back-up towards the building. They seemed all to have the intention of being right at the middle of the set of main doors to the building. I really don't have any idea how no accident was caused by their behaviour. I don't even know why four trucks were needed: all of the stuff they were moving from the building filled only one quarter of one of the four trucks.
McDonald's Advertising
I have to say that despite the renowned semi-prudishness of the Chinese, I'm amazed at what sells hamburgers here. The sexually charged advertising campaign I witnessed at McDonald's during my first week here would not fly in Canada or the U.S., where it seems to bill itself as a family-friendly restaurant.
The Best Indian Food In Beijing
Trucks!
On the morning of 30 August, I saw an amazing sight. While I was sitting outside of the building in which I was to write my placement test at 8:20 that morning, I saw four cargo trucks drive toward the building (from my right side, facing away from the front of the building) in single file. Then, they all started to turn away from the building, but not in parallel directions, for to prepare to back-up towards the building. They seemed all to have the intention of being right at the middle of the set of main doors to the building. I really don't have any idea how no accident was caused by their behaviour. I don't even know why four trucks were needed: all of the stuff they were moving from the building filled only one quarter of one of the four trucks.
McDonald's Advertising
I have to say that despite the renowned semi-prudishness of the Chinese, I'm amazed at what sells hamburgers here. The sexually charged advertising campaign I witnessed at McDonald's during my first week here would not fly in Canada or the U.S., where it seems to bill itself as a family-friendly restaurant.
The Best Indian Food In Beijing
Well, I'm not sure that it's the best Indian food in Beijing, but it's certainly the best Indian food I remember ever having. On Thursday, 14 September, some of my Canadian and Australian friends took me out to dinner for my birthday. I didn't think that the place was so expensive until I looked at the menu, and I certainly didn't want them to pay the bill, but I was unable to overpower all five of them. Cheryl, Conchita, Dean, Courtney, and Debi took me to the Ganges, a well-run Indian restaurant with a Western-style toilet and toilet paper! That is the first public place in Beijing at which I saw both provided. The second is a pizza joint to which I went with Cheryl this evening.
From left: Dean, Courtney, Debi, Jean-Guy!, Conchita, and Cheryl
Cheryl was the impresario for getting me a birthday cake and a card. Thank you, Cheryl! :D
Calligraphy
As some of you know, I've invested much time in the practice of Chinese and Japanese calligraphy. For to preserve what little talent I've gained throughout the last 6.75 years of study, I enrolled in a class here at BLCU. The cost of the class for three months is two-thirds the cost of my annual membership at the on-campus gym. The instructor seems to be good, and he seems to like my writing. He's a native of Beijing, but he knows some Japanese (which is good the Japanese student of Mandarin who is one of my classmates), and he lived in Poland throughout six years, if I remember correctly. This class will be fun, but it shall probably not be the amount of fun which Mrs. Maeda's class is. At least he's got Koizumi Junichiro's hairstyle to make up for that
The Laundry Machine That Ate Cincinnati
I hate my laundry machine. I really do. I washed a load of laundry on Friday, but the last rinse cycle kept experiencing a certain error. This error left me with a large amount of sopping laundry, some of which is still drying while I type this, more than forty-eight hours later.
They Travel Alone Or In Packs
A week ago, someone came to me while I was doing my homework out in the (relatively) fresh air, and asked me for help with her English. She introduced herself as someone who is studying English, and we arranged to meet on a weekly basis to have some sort of exchange of languages. After that first meeting, things started to become weird.
From here I'll refer to her as SMS Girl. We exchanged a few SMS messages, and then she sent me one which I didn't understand, with the Chinese character 梦 ('meng' -- dream). I asked two of the other Canadians whether they understood the message, and they thought it was weird. I asked a female friend of mine from China, who shall remain nameless, and she said that it was not out of the ordinary. I stopped worrying about it.
I arranged via SMS to meet her on Saturday, 16 September. I went to our meeting-place ten minutes before the appointed time, and I met two graduate students in Finance from Beijing University, Vincent and Unique, who were looking for some place at which they could advertise for language exchange partners (Mandarin for English).
While they were giving me their contact information, SMS girl arrived. She and the two students from PKU exchanged pleasantries, and during that exchange I overheard her say that she's not actually in school right now -- she's working. ALARM! DING DING DING! I thought that I'd give her the benefit of the doubt, and that she was industriously working on her English while working.
While we were sitting there, mostly silently, we saw another foreign student sit at a nearby table. He was approached shortly thereafter by three girls who were looking for language exchange partners. They spoke to him throughout ten minutes, and then they left. Shortly thereafter, he was joined by a girl who I believe he had arranged to meet.
SMS Girl and I started to speak a bit but, for a language partner, she didn't really say much, and she especially didn't seem interested in practising her English. I know that I'm bad for motivating myself to practise speaking Mandarin, but her lack of interest in speaking any language was ludicrous. She broke one of our spates of silence with the question '在加拿大你有没有女朋友？', which means 'Do you have a girlfriend in Canada?'. I was then reminded of her question from the previous week, in which she asked whether I'd yet married. I was warned that that question is quite common, and that I should expect it. The latest question confirmed my suspicion that she's not at all interested in learning English. I made the mistake of saying 'no', and then asking her whether she has a boyfriend (out of politeness). Aiya!
Eventually she left without really saying anything more. In less time than it took me to pack my bag (three minutes), another girl plopped herself in front of me and asked me whether I was at BLCU to learn Mandarin. I told her that I was, but that I was unable to stay and chat because I was to meet someone at the gym. I swiftly returned to my dorm room and prepared my work-out gear which, yesterday, included my '白人看不懂' (white persons don't understand) shirt, which I donned before leaving my dorm. During my three-minute walk to the gym, I was accosted by three girls who were looking for a language partner. Aiya! In the immortal words of Master Shake, 'Why am I cursed with such popularity?'!
Hi, You'll Do
After my experiences with insincere women here, I have to say that the t-shirt which I saw one woman wearing, upon which was emblazoned 'Hi, You'll Do', was really funny. I wish I'd gotten a photo: it was almost as if she were some affine combination, with positive coefficients, of the two women who seemed to show in me some interest-with-an-ulterior-motive.
Calligraphy
As some of you know, I've invested much time in the practice of Chinese and Japanese calligraphy. For to preserve what little talent I've gained throughout the last 6.75 years of study, I enrolled in a class here at BLCU. The cost of the class for three months is two-thirds the cost of my annual membership at the on-campus gym. The instructor seems to be good, and he seems to like my writing. He's a native of Beijing, but he knows some Japanese (which is good the Japanese student of Mandarin who is one of my classmates), and he lived in Poland throughout six years, if I remember correctly. This class will be fun, but it shall probably not be the amount of fun which Mrs. Maeda's class is. At least he's got Koizumi Junichiro's hairstyle to make up for that
The Laundry Machine That Ate Cincinnati
I hate my laundry machine. I really do. I washed a load of laundry on Friday, but the last rinse cycle kept experiencing a certain error. This error left me with a large amount of sopping laundry, some of which is still drying while I type this, more than forty-eight hours later.
They Travel Alone Or In Packs
A week ago, someone came to me while I was doing my homework out in the (relatively) fresh air, and asked me for help with her English. She introduced herself as someone who is studying English, and we arranged to meet on a weekly basis to have some sort of exchange of languages. After that first meeting, things started to become weird.
From here I'll refer to her as SMS Girl. We exchanged a few SMS messages, and then she sent me one which I didn't understand, with the Chinese character 梦 ('meng' -- dream). I asked two of the other Canadians whether they understood the message, and they thought it was weird. I asked a female friend of mine from China, who shall remain nameless, and she said that it was not out of the ordinary. I stopped worrying about it.
I arranged via SMS to meet her on Saturday, 16 September. I went to our meeting-place ten minutes before the appointed time, and I met two graduate students in Finance from Beijing University, Vincent and Unique, who were looking for some place at which they could advertise for language exchange partners (Mandarin for English).
While they were giving me their contact information, SMS girl arrived. She and the two students from PKU exchanged pleasantries, and during that exchange I overheard her say that she's not actually in school right now -- she's working. ALARM! DING DING DING! I thought that I'd give her the benefit of the doubt, and that she was industriously working on her English while working.
While we were sitting there, mostly silently, we saw another foreign student sit at a nearby table. He was approached shortly thereafter by three girls who were looking for language exchange partners. They spoke to him throughout ten minutes, and then they left. Shortly thereafter, he was joined by a girl who I believe he had arranged to meet.
SMS Girl and I started to speak a bit but, for a language partner, she didn't really say much, and she especially didn't seem interested in practising her English. I know that I'm bad for motivating myself to practise speaking Mandarin, but her lack of interest in speaking any language was ludicrous. She broke one of our spates of silence with the question '在加拿大你有没有女朋友？', which means 'Do you have a girlfriend in Canada?'. I was then reminded of her question from the previous week, in which she asked whether I'd yet married. I was warned that that question is quite common, and that I should expect it. The latest question confirmed my suspicion that she's not at all interested in learning English. I made the mistake of saying 'no', and then asking her whether she has a boyfriend (out of politeness). Aiya!
Eventually she left without really saying anything more. In less time than it took me to pack my bag (three minutes), another girl plopped herself in front of me and asked me whether I was at BLCU to learn Mandarin. I told her that I was, but that I was unable to stay and chat because I was to meet someone at the gym. I swiftly returned to my dorm room and prepared my work-out gear which, yesterday, included my '白人看不懂' (white persons don't understand) shirt, which I donned before leaving my dorm. During my three-minute walk to the gym, I was accosted by three girls who were looking for a language partner. Aiya! In the immortal words of Master Shake, 'Why am I cursed with such popularity?'!
Hi, You'll Do
After my experiences with insincere women here, I have to say that the t-shirt which I saw one woman wearing, upon which was emblazoned 'Hi, You'll Do', was really funny. I wish I'd gotten a photo: it was almost as if she were some affine combination, with positive coefficients, of the two women who seemed to show in me some interest-with-an-ulterior-motive.
posted by Jean-Guy! at 9/17/2006 05:08:00 AM
7 Comments:
lol. Stu, Stu. You should figure out a way to take advantage of these situations without getting in too deep. This is a part of your education. lol.
Ummmm ... that's _not_ the education I want to get in China. :P
So....where WOULD you want to get that education? :P
Hey Stu! Have you thought about activating the weblogs.com feature or turning on the rss feed for your blog? Wait...that takes away my excuse for reading your blog at random times while at work. Nevermind. :}
Well, the "You'll Do" has at least the virtue of being so direct that it was probably intended ironically.
By the way, I like the "affine combination" analogy. I do miss being able to drop phrases like "convex hull" into casual conversation.
"I have to say that despite the renowned semi-prudishness of the Chinese, I'm amazed at what sells hamburgers here. The sexually charged advertising campaign I witnessed at McDonald's during my first week here would not fly in Canada or the U.S., where it seems to bill itself as a family-friendly restaurant."
Are you telling me that you haven't heard of McDonald's "I'd Hit it" campaign?
Hi, David. Thanks for the Link! No, I hadn't heard about that campaign. Note: It's not a G-rated link, with respect to its language content.
Post a Comment
<< Home