User Comments - pretzellogic

Posted on: World Cup and Diamonds

That's interesting. I thought all the North Korean players worked and lived in North Korea. To live in Japan must be pretty cushy by North Korean standards, if what I hear about North Korea is correct/current.

Posted on: World Cup and Diamonds

not quite samba, but i'll take it! But plenty of time left.....

Posted on: World Cup and Diamonds

and playing strong defense too. Where's the samba?

Posted on: World Cup and Diamonds

BRAZIL!!!!

Posted on: Fun at the Beach

actually, I was surprised at the number of Chinese people running around with tatoos. I know that someone suggested a tatoo lesson, and I thought a tatoo lesson would be especially useful for somewhat day-to-day vocabulary.

Posted on: Horseback Riding

Another lesson with cool, arcane words. Now we only need to learn "stampede" and "help!" 

I was about to ask where in China might one go horseback riding, but a simple google search revealed plenty of places.  One in Beijing is near the Badaling Great Wall.

Posted on: Fun at the Beach

Too bad there aren't any Chinese on this site that can weigh in with an opinion on this :)

Posted on: Fun at the Beach

1. FYI, Most of the beaches I've been to were up north (Yantai, Shandong Province), with not too many foreigners.

2. If the current prevalent attitude of wealthy, lighter skinned Chinese is to be out of the sun because the less wealthy/worker types are out in the sun, then they have something to look forward to. My sense is that avoiding the sun was the attitude in the US during the 1910s-1930s for the same reason (workers must work outdoors in the sun, wealthy spend their leisure time indoors being waited on). Then what happened is that the prevaling trend became "I have so much money, I can afford to spend my leisure time outdoors traveling, going to the beach, on sidewalk cafes and so on". Tans appeared a sign of wealth especially as the US moved toward a service economy, and the knowledge workers moved indoors and became more pale. This is at least one non-sociologist's theory of anthropological evolution.

Posted on: Fun at the Beach

ok, fair enough. I guess my hidden agenda was to have more dialogue around natural things you find on most beaches; shells, jellyfish, rocks, the occasional minnow, seaweed, flotsam and so on....

Posted on: Fun at the Beach

I didn't say it, but the beaches i've been to, the Chinese were relatively tan already. Plus, I would agree that I haven't seen much in the way of laying out a towel and just sitting there soaking up sun. This is why I didn't think the sunscreen issue was prevalent, but as I said, it might be that I don't go to the beaches where the wealthy hang out. I haven't seen a jet-ski in China either, but it's cool to learn how to say it. There are plenty of jet-skis on lots of lakes/rivers back in the US.