User Comments - moiecosse

Posted on: Mix it up!

 These are interesting observations about Western and Chinese wedding guests. I keep a photo on display of my friend from Wuhan looking stunning in the most beautiful dress on her wedding day and her Mum is in the front row of the church in an tee-shirt and everyday skirt. Guests here in Scotland always dress up for weddings and we have a special term "Mother of the Bride outfit" to describe the fancy attire expected of such a senior guest. Guests in Engand are smart but not as fancy as is the custom here. My own mother was shocked to see kids in tee shirts, summer shorts and sandals at a summer wedding we attended in England while I was thinking, "How sensible". So it is maybe a generational thing and people have varying expectations about being more or less formally dressed. 

Posted on: I Work in Shanghai

Thank you for the gorgeous picture of Shanghai looking across from the Bund side of the river. Though my service was in a school in Putuo district this evocative view is any educated person's shorthand for Shanghai and I wish I was standing there now among my lovely Chinese friends.

Posted on: Don't push me!

Since this is Newbie level

I would really appreciate the Pinyin to help me learn these interesting expressions, too.

Posted on: Dancing in Public

Last year on holiday with my husband in Berlin, Germany, we watched couples meet every night for Latin American dancing by the river on a tiny dance floor with a tiered arena beside it, surrounded by little tables and chairs where the dancers changed into their shoes or had a drink. We are too self-conscious in Scotland to take over an outdoor space for ballroom though I am a big fan of Highland dancing at traditional games here. In China I frequently join in the dancing-on holiday in Guilin this year I danced in the morning outside my hotel and was always welcomed. A warm welcome always awaits in Jing'An Temple park in Shanghai,too, but my best attempt was in Zhengzhou where I walked into the arms of a Chinese gentleman who was dancing on his own with his eyes shut-he got a fright to find a red-haired foreigner smiling and walzing with him but I think his friends and the other spectators enjoyed it best. Needless to say I love this topic.

Posted on: Transportation Card

Shanghai transportation cards can be used in buses, on the underground and in taxis. I always advise nervous visitors who are concerned about being given fake money in their change for taxi fares that using the card cuts out this risk.

Posted on: Anybody home?

Interesting to see the different views on the imminent festival. Hallowe'en is a popular autumn celebration here in Scotland and we usually buy fruit, nuts and sweets to reward the children of neighbours who come to the door in the early evening to entertain us. The "trick" element does not exist here but to earn rewards, children are expected to tell a joke, sing a song or dance, either on the doorstep, if you don't know them, or in your living-room if you recognize them and invite them in. A group of small kids would usually be accompanied by a parent. We also prepare lots of apples floating in a basin of water on the floor and children perch on a chair and try to drop a fork held in their mouths to catch an apple. Alternatively they kneel on the floor with their hands behind their backs and duck their heads in the water to catch an apple with their teeth. Students go to Hallowe'en discos in disguise and my Chinese foster son was a popular "Harry Potter" with a magic wand last year. While teaching English in Shanghai two years ago I did the "ducking for apples" game with Senior Two and it was great fun.