User Comments - pretzellogic
pretzellogic
Posted on: How was your flight?
June 30, 2010 at 12:47 PMIt was interesting to hear John's discussion around asking about the trip, and the actual flights. I was thinking similarly to John that lútú doesn't really have a counterpart in English, but I guess it does. We would just say, "how was the flight?", rather than "how was the trip?" But I guess Chinese wouldn't say, "Nǐ de hángbān zěnmeyáng?" Or would they?
I've had the opportunity to speak with local Chinese, and Yali and Yu Liang sound very wealthy compared with some Chinese i've talked to. Most of the locals are saying that they've never left the country, and that flying out of the country is something they've never experienced, let alone flying from North/South America.
Posted on: How was your flight?
June 30, 2010 at 12:30 PMMy guess would be "zhèxié ge hángbān xūyào yìgōng shí bā ge xiáoshī. (These flights altogether take 18 hours).
Or maybe "lútú shíjiān xūyào shí bā ge xiáoshī. (travel time take 18 hours).
Posted on: NGO Guy
June 30, 2010 at 10:42 AMYour blog is really interesting. Plus, who knew there was a website called "stuffwhitepeoplelike.com". I'm glad I read your blog before I divulged any of my boring love experiences, Chinese or otherwise.
Posted on: An Unplanned Tan
June 29, 2010 at 12:21 PMTiānshuǐ, Huī County, Gansu Province. Plenty of blue sky, not too hot. Dare i say it: the well water is somewhat clean! Actually, much of Gansu province is reasonably clean air except Lanzhou. This is likely because farming by hand doesn't create as much air pollution, and not too many factories around.
Posted on: NGO Guy
June 29, 2010 at 10:28 AMThe Badi Foundation did really interesting work in Gansu province that I heard about, and had a chance to talk with some of the participants. One participant in the Badi Foundation's Environmental Action Program in particular felt the foundation's work really improved her life and the people in her village.
And even though UNIFEM isn't really a NGO, the work that the organization has been doing is also along the same lines; gender equity and women's empowerment in China.
Posted on: World Cup Talk
June 28, 2010 at 6:17 PMI look back on all this, and it all seems so quaint now......
Posted on: World Cup Talk
June 28, 2010 at 9:23 AMBrazil v. Argentina!
Posted on: An Unplanned Tan
June 28, 2010 at 1:48 AMIt would have been funny to have the guy who didn't bring the sunblock, sunglasses and umbrella say to the woman, "too bad for you, I just turn red for a couple of days under a lot of sun."
Maybe there could have been a third person in the dialogue who says, "I'm going to get a sunburn", but then we're starting to get more dialogue than Cpod usually has in an elementary lesson.
Posted on: Taxi to the Airport
June 28, 2010 at 1:21 AMFWIW, if you have a map of Beijing, and have sense of where you need to go when you arrive, then this might help. When you arrive at the Beijing airport, and want to ride a taxi to your hotel or event, it will cost between 50-60 RMB to get to places around 4th ring road and the airport expressway. If you're heading near Jiangguomenwai dajie, near Tiananmen Square, or the China World Center, or any of the hotels/businesses around the Central Business District (CBD), then it should take around 100-120 RMB.
Posted on: How was your flight?
June 30, 2010 at 12:50 PMOh, and why is there a China Eastern airplane the graphic on a lesson that mentioned United Airlines? And why is it a China Eastern Airbus A321 instead of a United Boeing 777? :-)