User Comments - sballa

Posted on: Lucky Duckies

I found the differences in colloqial speech to be very interesting.  "Good luck" in English v. 祝你好运 in Chinese.

Another colloqial phrase we sometimes use in English is "Have fun."  Any similar kind of phrase in Chinese?  For example, 可以说马：祝你好晚儿。

Steve

Posted on: Weather and Seasons

Don't know why there were such formatting problems in the above comment.  Here are the sentences in question:

房间有点闷。

夏天这里很闷。

Posted on: Weather and Seasons

Posted on: Instant Noodles

Thanks Pete!  I visited Shanghai Jiaotong not that long ago, and a few people mentioned that Jiang Zemin is an alumnus.  They were obviously proud of that fact.

But since I was visiting the relatively new public policy school, they were talking about what a shame it was that the school hadn't been around when Jiang was a student.  He, like many of China's leaders, got his degree in engineering or a related field.  For my part, nothing wrong with this!  It's just that the public policy folks hope they are now training one of China's future leaders, and that some leaders in the future may possess degrees in public policy and other social sciences.

So I guess these universities, if Shanghai Jiaotong is any indication, have expanded their portfolios over time, to become more full service institutions of higher education.

Steve

Posted on: Christmas Presents

Just discovered a small inconsistency in the following expansion sentence...

他们明天又要去公园玩。
(They want to go play at the park again tomorrow.)

When you listen to the audio, the speaker omits the word 又.

Steve

Posted on: Instant Noodles

In the expansion section, the word  交通 (jiao1tong1) is used.  Can this word be used to talk both about transportation in general (i.e., the transportation system of a city) and traffic more specifically?

Also, I've notice there are universities in China that have the term  "jiao tong" in their name.  Is this the same jiao tong?  Does anybody know the history behind the naming of universities in this way?

Steve

Posted on: Stuffy Room

Last night, my students asked me if I was cold.  I had been teaching class in a short sleeve polo shirt.  In the meantime, many of them had their coats on, and were gripping their containers of hot water.

This led to a discussion, instigated by the students, of whether Chinese people are just not able to tolerate the cold as well as westerners.

What really got them was when I mentioned how I was not wearing any long underwear under my jeans.  Judging by their reactions, my guess was that every one of them, or nearly so, was indeed wearing layered clothing.

My ultimate take was that although DC and Beijing have reasonably similar weather, one feels colder in Beijing because you are simply outside more.  In DC, one walks from the house to the car.  Here, it is from the apartment to the bus stop.  A lot more time outside.

So I tried to make the case that it was not differences in constitution across east and west, but simply that people here spend more time out in the cold.

This doesn't explain, though, why I was so warm in the classroom and they were so cold...

Steve

Posted on: What's your (animal) sign?

我儿子属牛。He remembers from a Dear Amber that he should wear red duirng "his" year.  What else might he do while living in China during "his" year?

Steve

Posted on: Surviving Winter and Singles Scene for Expat Girls

One of our favorite winter comfort foods here in China is rou mian.  This is, I think, a Shaanxi specialty (we first came across it in Xi'an).  It is a bowl full of piping hot noodles (not the la mian, but thicker noodles that are made differently).  The bowl will also have some small chunks of beef and assorted little pieces of veggies.  Some of the water the noodles are cooked in sits at the bottom  of the bowl.  Well, a very wordy description...but it is a very simple and gratifying winter food.

As an added bonus, you can ask for mian tang.  This is the actual water the noodles are cooked in.  Order a bowl and just use it to keep your hands warm, or chug it down.  (I think it's tasty.)

On the second part of the show, I was in a bar in Sanlitun here in Beijing the other night.  First ever exposure to Beijing nightlife.  I was with a much younger male Chinese friend.  It wasn't long before a 20-something year old Chinese female came up to me and asked if I wanted to have a drink with her.  Hey, I'm a bald, middle-aged guy!  (Not to mention married!)  Let's just say my answer was quick and emphatic!

Steve

Posted on: Asking for Leave

After arriving in Beijing this summer, it felt like the whole country was on permanent vacation.  There was the Olympic period, where many people here in Beijing (at least my part of the city) could not even get into their offices.  Then, the mid-Autumn Festival.  Then the National Day "golden week."

Since then, though, there have been no holidays.

Steve