User Comments - aert
aert
Posted on: 丈夫拒绝签字手术
January 7, 2008 at 3:21 PMHi Changye I looked up sasimi (sounds good!) and, while I was at it, also herring. It is found also in the North Pacific ocean, so that is another problem solved. I agree that Mozart's violin sonatas are on the whole even more beautiful than the piano sonatas, several of which he wrote for his pupils. In my youth we had an airedale terrier who liked the smell of rotting dolphins washed up on the beach. She would roll all over them to acquire the perfume, after which a wash was necessary before you could have her in the house. She did not submit meekly to this operation.I hope Patty gives you less trouble.
Posted on: 丈夫拒绝签字手术
January 7, 2008 at 2:19 PMHi Melitu The problem is universal. In Holland people sometimes refuse medical intervention for religious reasons. As far as I know only the French have an elegant solution: the state can take over guardianship of the patient and tell the medics to go ahead.
Posted on: 丈夫拒绝签字手术
January 6, 2008 at 10:55 PMHi Changye This morning I checked, as always, the new lesson. There was no text to read, so I only copied the vocabulary in so far as it was new to me, listened to the podcast (mostly over my head), and then gratefully turned to your comment, for I want to read at least some Chinese every day. When there is time, I always read your comments for I must read, read to remember all those characters. And the contents are always interesting, too, even such details as the public telephones being combined with newsstands (in Holland they are quite separate). And I was surprised that the Chinese still feel threatened from outside. Over here that feeling has worn off. Perhaps it is the price you pay for being a major player on the world stage. Another surprise is that there is a Chinese word for "herring". I thought that was an Atlantic fish, but perhaps it has, like the salmon, Pacific cousins. You could call it our national fish, for the day in June/July the fleet brings in the "new herring" is known as "vlaggetjesdag" = day of the little flags, which adorn the fish stores and the booths that rise like mushrooms all over the place to celebrate the occasion (and sell the fish). It is lightly salted aboard and eaten raw, if you want right at the booth, to the amazement and/or disgust of foreigners. I didn't do much Chinese today as it was time for laundry, ironing, peeling a lot of potatoes and making a hodgepodge so as to be free of chores for a week. These activities I sweeten by listening to my great friend Mozart. And it was only this afternoon that I realized how much I thank to your compatriots, for my equipment, called Denon, in spite of its non-Japanese name, has its head office in Tokio, and all the music I played was performed by Mitsuko Uchida. It is now evening here, and your comment is still the only one. CPod deserves more than just one. I warmly concur with the last line of your comment!
Posted on: The Final Jizhou Pieces
January 6, 2008 at 8:44 PMI second the two preceding motions!
Posted on: The Final Jizhou Pieces
January 5, 2008 at 3:41 PMNo polar bear was sighted, but a red herring was.
Posted on: Ordering Chinese Take-out
January 1, 2008 at 7:52 PMHi Changye Your impressive list of New Year wishes kept me busy for quite a while. I remember an exam question where you were given a (shorter) list of this type and had to determine which languages were related. The Indoeuropean language family is easy because of the word "new", which appears in various forms here (new, nov, ny, etc.) except in French and one form of Italian, but there the element ann clearly continues Latin annus, which also survives in Spanish. And so you can go on to further subdivisions. More difficult is the choice of the adjective (if any), eg. you say "merry Christmas" but "happy New Year". The choice might as well have been the other way around. So I wish you a merry, happy, felicitous, fortunate, prosperous and above all peaceful New Year.
Posted on: New Year's Song
December 31, 2007 at 8:15 AMHappy New Year to all of you, staff of Chinesepod, contributers to comments and conversations,all students and of course Patty.
Posted on: A Present from Santa Claus
December 26, 2007 at 4:57 PMHi Changye I read the article on Namahage.He is certainly more strict than Sinterklaas! I don't think anyone was ever afraid of Sinterklaas, but the old man with his outlandish attire inspired a certain awe. I also read the (English) Wikipedia article on Sinterklaas. Much has changed since my time, though the basics remain the same. Details I forgot to mention are the chocolate letter of your given name's iniial (the shops are still full of them early December), the fact that you were supposed to be given a birch rod rather that something edible or useful as a present, and we didn't even know what the rod could be ued for; and I also remember the threat mentioned by Wildyaks that Zwarte Piet would take you along in his sack if you had been very bad, but I don't think this was ever taken seriously. What I have never known until today is that Saint Nicolas has really existed and became the patron saint of children. What has changed is that Zwarte Piet as a Moor was politically incorrect and is black because of climbing down chimneys, that no longer the slightest threat is attached to Sinterklaas' visit because that is forbidden by child psychology, and of course the commercialization, to which we also thank new things like Fathers' Day, Mothers's Day and I even saw Valentine's Day cards in the shops, though I don't think this really caught on. So even here there are limits.
Posted on: A Present from Santa Claus
December 26, 2007 at 1:04 AMHi Changye In Holland the Dec.5th "Sinterklaas" has no connection at all with the Dec. 25/26th X-mas, certainly not as a kind of anticipation. And we did not have the custom of giving presents for X-mas, there was no Boxing Day as they have in England. And unlike Sinterklaas X-mas was less of a family matter than than it is in Germany and England. It would be quite normal for me to spend the X-mas school vacation with relatives living elsewhere where there nephews to play chess or go skating or hiking with and the like. I hope you survived the 25th in tolerable shape and wish you all the best for the rest of the holiday season.
Posted on: Preparing for the Heat
January 8, 2008 at 3:03 PMHi Changye (and CPod technicians) Today's lesson did not appear on my e-mal IN screen and once again Patty guided me to it, saving me the trouble of checking all the lessons from Newbie to Advanced. She is The Priceless Pooch to me! BTW sashimi lost its h on my laptop but not in my head for Google and Wikipedia guided me unfailingly to it. I have to hit the keys much harder than on my old keyboard. To be on topic for a moment: the temperature here is 7 degrees C, warm for the time of the year (but like a few previous years). I pity the schoolchildren, who no longer get afternoons off for skating. I remember these as the one occasion where pupils and teachers were in full agreement, for the teachers, too, liked skating.