User Comments - luobinzhenmei

Posted on: The Trouble with Marrying a Foreigner

Tal,

You make Chinese men sound really 恶心的。

Posted on: Christmas Gifts from China

What? Masks are less useful than chopsticks and tea leaves in the US?  I drink tea (real tea, not the stuff that comes in bags) and use chopsticks all the time, but I have enough to last me the rest of my life, and I think a mask or two would be really much more interesting. 

However, I definitely agree that the giving-presents thing 很伤脑筋。  Fortunately I have enough American friends who like weird food that I can always find stuff for them in China.  Now what do I do about giving presents to the Chinese friends when I return to China?  Any suggestions?  I know cosmetics 化妆 and Coach bags are popular.  Anything else? 

Posted on: Getting Warm

I didn't know that phrase, but it's clear what you mean. Good to know.

Posted on: Haggling Like a Local

Here it is more than two years later and even though I gave up trying to get a bargain ages ago, I wanted to return wrenches that I got in inches instead of metric.  15 minutes of delightful Shanghainese that I didn't understand much of at all, because the metric cost more. 

Over and over they said ji di  (how much) and b/pi ni (cheaper).  I think

they had trouble calculating the difference.  Good thing it wasn't the ba kuai

from the lesson (100 kuai) but only 4.20.  Anyhow I was so excited that I knew a tiny bit of what they were saying.  Thank you David.  Now I want to go back and study these lessons again.

Posted on: So Many Airport Fees

Yesterday in Shanghai we heard a conversation behind us on the street that we thought was a Dad and a whiny child who wanted something. When we turned around it was a grown woman who was doing the whining. They really exist! Hopefully the actress in these lessons is only acting and doesn't do that in real life.

Posted on: A Private Money Changer

Does anyone remember the days of 外汇券 (foreign exchange certificates) which were worth more than 人民币 (RMB, "people's money") so every city had 黄牛 looking out for foreigners who would get 外汇 in exchange for their foreign money.  The 黄牛would offer them a lot more RMB for the foreign exchange money and then the tourists who accepted it found out that stores wouldn't accept "people's money" from the tourists so they were stuck with a lot of unusable RMB.  Foreign teachers and people who had genuine work cards could insist on paying RMB.  Most foreign teachers we know dealt with the 黄牛。  We never did because we wanted to respect China and its laws, we told ourselves, but really it was probably because we were cowards.  

Posted on: Sensitive Topics

In the grammar it sounds like the first and third examples for 特殊

were sped up.  I bet somebody meant to slow them down a bit for us Intermediates and went in the wrong direction.  Anyone else have an opinion about this？

Posted on: The Tea Scam

About the kids begging, we give them pencils and paper and tell them that they should be studying and learning to write and that education is the most important thing for their future. They always thank us.

Of course this assumes that food is not the real issue. And that there are adults nearby watching the kids (this is always true in Shanghai). If we spot the adults, we confront them directly and give them the pencils and paper.

Didn't see many kids begging last year in Shanghai. There's probably some awful story, something I don't want to know about, about why they disappeared.

Posted on: Braised Pork in Soy Sauce

在美国，带皮的五花肉很少。 超市可能不卖。可以用牛肉？

Posted on: Braised Pork in Soy Sauce

Great video.  You guys are so funny, Julia Child would really admire you if she could see you. 

Real question:  Did you guys take little bites because you knew you would have to continue talking or do you usually eat that way?  We just put whole pieces in our mouths and now worry that we have no manners in front of Chinese friends.

因为你们要继续说话就把很小块咬了还是平常这样的吃饭 （特别红烧肉）？