User Comments - Tal
Tal
Posted on: No TP
December 24, 2012 at 3:10 AMshanghai-helios is quite right I'm afraid. In any conversation with Chinese people touching on the negative aspects of life in China (e.g. dirty toilets, appalling hospitals, poor hygiene, etc.) that is the excuse that is trotted out. I think it has so much to do with a person's expectations of life, what kind of standard is perceived as 'the norm'. Is it oversimplifying to observe that westerners (generally) regard cleanliness and hygiene in toilets and hospitals as 'normal', but that (mainland) Chinese generally expect these places to be filthy and lacking in convenience? East is east and west is west I guess.
Oh by the way I'm sure I've come across the odd public 'restroom' on the Hong Kong subway.
Posted on: Doomsday
December 22, 2012 at 2:43 AMThe Spanish burned all their books - so nobody knows!
Posted on: Doomsday
December 22, 2012 at 2:38 AM
Posted on: Difficult Cake Choices
October 25, 2012 at 4:34 AMSpeaking of patriotic duty, it seems to me that the Chinese dislike sandwiches for the same reason. (j/k)
Posted on: Traveling on the Cheap
October 15, 2012 at 9:10 AM差不多了！
Posted on: Traveling on the Cheap
October 15, 2012 at 9:08 AM难道在这里最有意思的问题就是怎么找到艳遇？我去年去云南了，一点儿艳遇都没有，郁闷！其实我跟跟团游去，好严重的错误！给你们老师挑战，创造课将有趣的浪漫故事和旅游信息结合起来，怎么样？一定好玩啊！
Posted on: The Play's the Thing
October 12, 2012 at 6:02 AMActually the plays are poetry. It was a theatrical convention in Elizabethan times to write dramatic works in 'blank verse' - there is no real distinction (to my mind anyway) in this respect between the plays and the poems. Clara is right, the plays truly live in performance, but in fact I believe all poetry has a potential for taking on new life when read aloud or performed skilfully. Only then do rhythm and diction play their true roles. Shakespeare's language and stories may challenge us in this iPhone era of instant gratification, but to employ a cliche, they have stood the test of time. I wonder how many writers of the previous 50 years or so will still be sparking interest 400 years from now.
Posted on: Hamsters, Snakes, and Owls
October 9, 2012 at 12:47 PMI am one who honors a sincere and thoughtful apology, and hence I am glad to receive yours. I must have made a bad impression on you to elicit such scolding, lol. Perhaps it is a fault I have to state my views brusquely, I don't suffer fools gladly, but there is no malice in me I assure you, and I am certainly no 'hater'. And I am no sock-puppet or wearer of different masks either, WYSISWYG. I look forward to learning more Chinese from you, I appreciate your 话不投机半句多 quote. And your Robert Burns isn't bad either, lol. Now I hope we may truly draw this (mouse) tale to an end, *chuckle* and invite only spirits of wisdom and learning to be our guides.
Posted on: Hamsters, Snakes, and Owls
October 5, 2012 at 7:38 AMBS? Yep, you're full of it kermit. Hopalong then.
Posted on: Leaving a Tip
December 24, 2012 at 3:33 AMThis topic always reminds me of my very first day in China. My Chinese minder was booking me into a hotel as my accommodation at the school was 'not ready'. For the first time in my life (信不信由你) I experienced having my luggage carried to the hotel room by a local 小伙子 wearing one of those dinky bell-boy outfits. My minder came up to the room too, I assumed to get me settled in. So we get to the room and the boy puts down the bags and stands there. I'm running the scenes from movies I've seen where people do this and I remember that the next thing is the tip. But then I'm like: wait, didn't it say specifically in the Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook my ex had given me that you don't do that? I looked at the kid, he wasn't for budging. I looked at my minder, who simply stood there saying nothing and doing a wonderful impression of oriental inscrutability. It was one of those moments when the absurdity of life is suddenly crystallized.
So finally I put my hand in my pocket and found about half a Hong Kong Dollar in coins, the only Chinese currency of any kind I had on me. I gave it to the kid, he looked at it like I'd handed him my dirty laundry and bounced. 呵呵, I guess it wasn't much use to him in deepest Guangdong.