ABCisms

Cross-cultural mishaps as an ABC....

At my cousin's grandma's 80th birthday banquet a few weekends ago, I was trying to tell another cousin that he should drink more water if he wants clearer skin. Some other cousin was giving him a stupid tip that was akin to boiling tree bark and old socks (not the exact recipe) and drinking it for a week.

So I started arguing with her that he just didn't drink enough and was dehydrated. I was yelling "No, he just doesn't have enough water! (不够水!!)" not remembering that 水 was slang for money. So my pimply cousin quickly whips out his wallet and says "Of course I don't have enough money, will you give me some?"

Haha, clearly, what I said was clearly not what I meant to say. I left out the crucial verb "to drink." woopsh. This is the kind of trouble I have with speaking in general. I feel that my Chinese (especially Cantonese) is extremely limited, especially since graduation. I don't have the opportunities to speak Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin) as much since I don't usually interact with Chinese-only speakers.

I was so embarrassed. This is the kind of stuff that university language studies can not prepare you for... haha. have you ever had something like this happen to you?

Continuing Love Affair With All that is Delightful and British

Keeping up with the Shaws

I live across from a mansion that was occupied by the nephew (I think) of one of the most recognizable names in Hong Kong, Sir Run Run Shaw. I've also been spending a lot of time daydreaming at my desk and, it seems to me that SOMEthing is going on over there this week. There have been trucks and minivans hauling things in and out of there, and currently a woman in a fuchsia top and white visor, together with a man in a purple T-shirt, are walking around the grounds of the Shaw mansion talking and pointing at things. It's been on the market for ages now, and last month was the target of a burglary... has it finally been snapped up? And by whom????

Love love love this video, song is not bad either

Pointless frustration

I live in a pretty whitewashed neighbourhood: Sai Kung. There are more eurasian kids per chinese kid here than anywhere else in Hong Kong. There are also more awesome bakeries here than anywhere in Hong Kong, in Sai Kung Town, there are at least 8 bakeries, and the town could not be more than 7 blocks squared.

But, there are two things that I find that I could do without.

1. Chavs. Young white boys in hoodies yelling at me from under the bridge, from the back of the bus, from the corner of the town square. Srsly. You are never gonna get a rise out of me, ever. Except while venting on my blog of course.

2. Rude Americans. Was at the gym today, and overheard this fat American woman complain about Repulse Bay being called Repulse Bay. Said she couldn't imagine why one would name a bay that. It took me about one and a half seconds to imagine why it would be called that, and I was right - I wikied it afterwards. For a person coming from a country with the biggest navy on the planet, you Mrs, you are very unimaginative indeed.

Gay Marriage

I'm rather a little bit tired of this debate, but it seems that whenever we talk about politics, my dad and I lock horns (Lok horns even, ha ha ha) on this issue. For my moot team interview, I had to arrange my nebulous thoughts into something coherent and lawyerly, and this is what I said:

-We should allow gay marriage
- Because it is wonderful for that minority of society
- We do lots of things for many minorities and gay people should not be excluded
- Underlined by the obvious fact that what's good for a minority often translates into
- PUBLIC GOOD.

The only argument of my forbear that actually made sense

-We should not allow gay marriage
- because we have no idea how vast the societal impact could be (consider polygamy v monogamy)
- Since we have no idea, and it could be bad, best to not do anything drastic until the US has served as a petri dish for the rest of us. (God bless America.)

I have read in Microtrends (that horrendous and nefariously reductionist book by that Mark Penn) that since there are significantly more gay men than lesbian women, the outlook for the next five decades might be that there will be an upswing in single, older women who were never married. Spinsters! I wonder what kind of revolution will be on the horizon of our age. If there exists a theory that an excess of young, single men encourage war, what would an excess of single women do? (The teenager in me says "something aaaaaawesome!")



In other news, I got a job. A law firm internship. At Lovells . The interview was a bit interesting, especially the part where me and the person from HR began talking about crime / detective novels. Criminal law has proven to be rather a hilarious subject, and philosophically challenging. Has anyone read Malcolm Pryce? Aberystwyth crime series?

Tomato , Tomatii

Plural idiocy while waiting for the water for my tea to boil: has anyone else ever thought about...

Patio ... Patii?
Casio... Casii?
Ratio... Ratii?
Fellatio... Fellatii?
Mario ... Marii? (Is it possible to choose to be two Marii instead of Mario and Luigi at the same time?)
Impresario ... Impresarii?

And, I thought: "Has one ever tried to analyse the sum total of all of Chief Justice Li's Ratii Decidendi?"

I've also discovered that Ribena tastes good with Earl Grey tea. Cold of course.