User Comments - auntie68
auntie68
Posted on: Do you have...?
April 12, 2008 at 11:21 AMOops, sorry, I now think that it was after the actual wedding had taken place. Besides the friendly Danes, Danish skies were kind to me too, shining blue and clear in a way that my hosts told me was not common for a Danish spring. Half a year later, I returned to Denmark -- this time, Copenhagen -- and was (literally!!!!) blown across a busy street outside my 4-star business class hotel, when I (foolishly) opened my umbrella on a gusty day. I still remember the wide open eyes of the terrified Copenhagen motorists who avoided hitting the flying Singaporean woman... I take my hat off to them for being gracious and not making all kinds of hand gestures at me! Denmark is a very civilized country, I guess...
Posted on: Do you have...?
April 12, 2008 at 10:58 AMHi lunetta. I'm going to have to go offline soon, but not before telling you that I have very warm and positive memories of how Danish people receive Asian visitors. It was during the end of the 90s, I was on a business trip to Oregaard; my first visit ever to Denmark. The theme of my business was education, and the school I was working with was the Gymnasium that the princes had attended. lunetta, I forget the exact year, but it was within months of the engagement of Ms Alexandra Manley of Hong Kong (now the Countess of Fredriksborg... sp?) and one of the Danish princes. I was solo on that business trip, no bosses, and every taxi driver -- no, every single Danish person I met -- seemed to be totally in love with their new "Chinese princess", and they generously took pains to shower some of the excess affection on me, just because of my Chinese face. Well, I am only a few years younger than she is, but not pretty in that way, I'm kind of dumpy. I think that at least three taxi drivers told me, "Don't worry, he has a brother! Still single!", and one of the them even refused to accept any taxi fare from me. Well, that is my Denmark story... it made me feel great.
Posted on: Superstitions and Business Trip Tales
April 12, 2008 at 10:24 AMlight487, it's the big shoulder pads and the big hair...
Posted on: Superstitions and Business Trip Tales
April 12, 2008 at 9:44 AMHenning, as a child growing up in Singapore, I got the full brunt of superstitions which were like the entire set of Chinese superstitions PLUS native Malay taboos. Most Malays in Singapore are Muslims, but until the end of the 18th century, their religion was animism, which is why many Malay Muslims will still consult "bomoh"'s (witch doctors). So even my old Chinese nanny, the old lady in my avatar, used to freak out if anybody ever put a pair of shoes on a tabletop, even over some sheets of newspaper. Opening an umbrella indoors was another taboo. And the scariest one I ever heard was, "Remember, if you hear somebody call you by name after dark, don't reply because it could be a toyol ("baby ghost") or even a pontianak (scary long-haired female ghost). If you get to see the Taiwanese ghost movie, "The Heirloom", you will notice that the characters carefully refrain from directly mentioning ghosts or spirits. They only ever dare say, "那种东西" (na4zhong3 dong1xi1; "that kind of thing"). And everybody understands. There is a very scary ghost movie made in Singapore -- "The Maid" --, by Kelvin Tong, which manages to milk a few seconds of terror from just about every taboo surrounding the Chinese Hungry Ghosts month (7th Month). To this day, I can't watch the DVD at night!
Posted on: Superstitions and Business Trip Tales
April 12, 2008 at 9:09 AMRJBerki, you really know your beers. "Tiger" is probably the only export-quality beer brewed in Singapore. Last year, Singaporean men were delighted when the company replaced the tacky "I love you long time!" oriental chick in their TV and print ads with... Jessica Alba, who researchers though was "Asian"-looking enough to appeal to the local demographic. Poor Jessica Alba! I think it was one of those contracts where the company only secured her services by promising that none of the ads would ever be seen in the United States. I guess such contracts are the reason why you see Brad Pitt shamelessly plugging Tag Heuer (Omega?) watches in ads here, and Angelina Jolie is well-known in Japan as the face of Shiseido cosmetics. The money is huge. RJBerki, if you ever get a chance to try Thai beer, my favourite one is Singha Beer. It's the only lager I've had which is nearly 6%; very clean-tasting. "Chang" (Elephant) brand beer is a bit watery.
Posted on: Do you have...?
April 12, 2008 at 8:24 AM沙爹 sha1die1 = satay 沙爹酱 sha1die1jiang4 = satay sauce "Sand grandfather"... here the characters only contribute a sound that comes close to the Malay word satay.
Posted on: Superstitions and Business Trip Tales
April 12, 2008 at 1:56 AMHi calkins. I think there is an Intermediate (or Upper Intermediate) lesson on European wine terms. I gathered from that lesson that "white wine" is 白葡萄酒 (bai2pu2taojiu3; "white grape-alcohol"). It makes me wonder how one would order a grappa -- made from grapes, but a clear spirit in the "40% proof and over" category. Just want to apologize to you personally for my ridiculous conduct on CPOD yesterday evening. I mean it.
Posted on: 澳洲总理秀中文
April 12, 2008 at 1:04 AMPM Rudd's Mandarin is astonishingly fluent. It is really inspiring to listen to him speak. I was already aware that he could speak Mandarin, but -- foolishly -- I assumed that it was probably like GWB's Spanish. His Mandarin is far better than the best that my Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, can manage, and poor PM Lee has been slogging away at it for decades. This makes me feel even warmer towards Australia and her people. And hopeful too; now we finally have a leader in Southeast Asia who seems to be culturally and linguistically equipped to engage China meaningfully on sensitive issues affecting my region.
Posted on: Train to Beijing
April 11, 2008 at 9:18 AMDear changye, sorry to ask in this way, but I think I may need your urgent help -- and language skills -- to soothe some very badly ruffled feathers in goulniky's "Thinking in Chinese" thread. I didn't mean to cause offence. Sincerely. But I can't give the right answer because I don't understand the angry posts that I have just collected for posting that I don't feel ready to post in Chinese characters yet because I have trouble understanding written "living Chinese". I post in English, not because I think that English is superior, but it is the only language commonly used on CPOD where I can be reasonably sure of being able to express myself reasonably clearly without misunderstanding (or causing offence). Sorry for the trouble! Please, please help!
Posted on: Do you have...?
April 12, 2008 at 11:27 AMaiya, sorry! my bad.