User Comments - chanelle77

Posted on: Guilin Mifen

The end really made me laugh (reminded me of my chicken feet encounter in 香港 a few weeks ago)! Next episode is dedicated to "all those people who accidentally order "***" and would learn how to stop?" *wink wink*.

What a fantastic new vid this was and cannot wait to see more of this serie: thx. for that! Many good things happening at Cpod lately if you ask me!

One hint to future menu stealers: be carefull WHAT you steal (avoid the leaflet on the table in the stand). When I just arrived in China I also stole a menu of a restaurant close to my house (just once for educational purposes: to learn to order "safe" dishes haha) but it turned out to be the *specials* with lots of intestine and blood dishes. Lucky me! Never did it again though and motivated me to study hard and learn how to order things ;-)

Forgot to mention that the pdf looked great, will be handy to put on my mobile.

Posted on: Saved by the Gong: Music Class

Changye 别客气! Did you ever wonder what that popular song is when you call someone in China and are on hold or waiting to be connected? There is this one particular tune that sticks in your head. After a year here I finally found out which one it is: Clayderman's Marriage d'Amour.
Something completely different to Rach or Mozart, but he is VERY popular here  I found out ;-).
My neighbour plays him at least 3 times a day one hour *sigh*, sometimes making the same mistake over and over again. Normally I am very tolerant, but one time I could not stand it anymore and played the same song at the same time 哈哈 (as you know the walls in China do not block noises very well).

ps. sorry for not writing everything in Chinese here, I recently dared to start writing a little bit and takes me a lot of time to say what I want. ;-).

Posted on: Saved by the Gong: Music Class

@changye I think I do ;-). Mozart's k.448 (sonata for 2 in D major) is also magical, unfortunately I never could find anyone to play it with me!

Posted on: Saved by the Gong: Music Class

我也是一个古典音乐迷。我最喜欢的音乐是拉赫玛尼诺夫的“Rach3" （piano concerto nr 3）。我会弹钢琴，真糟糕不会弹他的音乐创作:-)。

Posted on: Toilet Types

@xuchen: train, Inner Mongolia, window open: you are one brave man! For me it was *just* the train to Shanghai, but still can be tricky. My best toilet experience was in a zoo somewhere in the countryside. There were no real doors, and my neighbours happily watched me. The nonchalance among same sex toilets / dressing rooms visitors etc. that still surprises me! I also wonder what did they expect to happen? The toilet lady was really nice though and she kindly handed me over some tissues (I just arrived in China and did not have my bases covered well).

Well, in the end we are all the same: so I laugh about it and do not worry too much about these minor inconveniences ;-)

Posted on: Toilet Types

@james234 Yeah, and I can assure you she learnt her lesson after living over a year in China ;-).

I agree with you: don't let the toilets hold you back. Most of the time there is a nice 4/5 star hotel nearby where you can go "safely" if you are not wearing proper footwear (i.e slippers, Christian Louboutin etc.) haha.

Squatters are part of the "China experience" (especially in a moving / shaking train) and you get quickly used to it!

Posted on: Toilet Types

new suede high-heeled boots +squatter = asking for trouble ;-)

Posted on: Dog Meat and Animal Rights

@reigau

You make some interesting points there thank you for that. In retrospect maybe it was better to leave them at “home”. Call me weak but just couldn’t get myself to bringing them back to the animal shelter or give them away to friends and family ;-).
I slightly disagree with having animals in China though. I think that even in small apartments having small pets is an option (and my experience is that more and more people do so here). You might not want to get 2 big German Shepherds. For me even if I did not live in a house and lived in a small apartment (which I did) I would have my 2 cats.
For the children: I believe that humans are good by nature and do not want to harm living beings around them (for no reason). If they do so, it is often based upon fear or a lack of knowledge (no one told them how to treat animals or got a bad example). By setting an(other) example (yes, even a far from “perfect” one and for me this is bringing my cats, being vegetarian, helping ones in need etc) and educating people how to treat animals (better), the world maybe can be slightly better. Call me naive, but I really think so ;-).

For the paradigm: I think there will be (and this already started) a paradigm shift. I believe China is progressing in so many good ways and I like to focus on the good in stead of the bad. However all a  ”老外” can do is being good to everyone in his / her own small network and educate him/her self about the world they are living in (a good start is learning the language I think). Personally, I do not like it when I am called a 老外. It creates distance between people and I think we all live on te same planet and have to sort it out together.This might sound “easy” being said by one that “has”, but what else is there to do? It is pointless to give away all my money (not that that can make a real difference) and belongings and leave China or not come at all. In the end isn’t it so that “we” contribute / gain more if we live the life we live here together i.e. pay tax, contribute to charity, invest in the economy, create jobs and generate money? In conclusion, I refuse to sit back and accept “this old paradigm” and see animals and people suffering around me and do whatever is in my power to change something.

Enough of the "Kumbaya", of course the Chinese Police won’t lift a finger for my or any other cats, but I was hoping they might stop the hunting at the protected animals (since that is illegal) and that would solve my problem as well :-).

Posted on: Dog Meat and Animal Rights

Sorry, but I cannot keep my big mouth shut about this one:

Next time when you see cats (or dogs of you are a doglover ;-) ) on the market think about this: Two days ago my husband and I found 2 cats in traps near our house in Nanjing. One of the cats was mine (he did not return home and we were very worried and went looking for him) the other was from our neighbour. Luckily we were on time, otherwise they probably would have been shipped to Guangdong (that is what all the Chinese around me are saying). A while ago my other cat returned home with similar injuries (now I know why) and was close to dying due to the infection that was caused by the trap and other cats mysteriously disappeared in my neighbourhood.
After some research I found out that these traps are placed by professional (In total there were almost 20 traps). These “professional” catch small animals for a living and sell them as food (mainly to cater to the Guangdong market) or sell them for their fur. A cat makes about 4 kuai and the “waterrat” about a 100. These people could care less what is in their trap. As long as it makes money they are happy. This is pretty heartless I think. Collars are a good sign that they are someone’s loved ones. Also, the other animal that is often caught for the skin is protected in China according to my information. The police is aware, the security guards as well, but it is very difficult to catch and stop these people. The only way to stop them is hurting them financially by taking away there tools. So, that is what we do.

Yes. I agree that all animals are the same. Personally I am fine with Guangdongren or any other meat lovers satisfying their meat needs in any way they please. I say: eat them all: sheep, dogs, cows, pets you name it, but please be so brave to eat your own if you really feel the need to do so.

Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Festival -- 清明

Maybe this is of any help: The last two comments that dissappeared (as far as I know) in Calkins' thread were: I wrote a question about twitter / activity msgs not showing up vice versa and asked for any thoughts on that. .... Another user replied he/she had the same issue I think. Good luck! ;-)