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?

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.

Some Laowai's Just Don't Get the Olympic Spirit....

UGHHHH!! Loretta, I don't know about you but i love love lovvvvvvvvve the Olympics. I get all teary eyed when I see the masses of athletes stroll into the stadium. I buy into all of the hype - camaraderie, love, peace, world unity, blah blah. And this year I'm even prouder because its BJ08!! While I don't think it's quite alright for China to misappropriate the occasion to announce it's arrival (or rather, after 400yrs, its return) onto the new world stage, I am still so excited!

Just saw on BBC World News that a bunch of foreigners (mainly American and British) were detained and later deported after staging an illegal protest for Tibet and for democracy in China. WTF. Chinese people didn't go to the Oscars protesting AmerBlogger: Banana Mamas - Create Postica's involvement in Iraq. They don't shit on our (haha, I can say that now that I'm an American!!) festivities! Of course, the Chinese people were smart and stayed away from these crazy foreigners. Who wants to get detained by the secret police and miss the chance to see Liu Xiang hurdle his way to glory for China or Michael Phelp's hot body do laps around us??? not me for sure.

Oh and come on, US cycling team. Wearing masks after landing?? WTF. That was so not an "accident." Why can't you be like other athletes and put the masks on when the cameras aren't rolling! duh!! It's only polite. If you were so scared of air quality probs, then you should've waited for London'12!

Haha, wow. I'm not being very sensitive to the athletes. Their bodies are very important to them and anything to pollute it would obviously not only affect their performance but also their overall health. woopsh. But for the protesters. come on. Even the Dalai Lama isn't raising a ruckus at this time. He knows that there is a time and place for everything, and the Olympics is not the time. I keep thinking that these foreign visitors are like bad guests who come to your house, without taking off their shoes, muddy up your carpet, drink straight out of the OJ carton and try to stage an intervention for your problems. blah.

I don't know what the coverage is like in HK. My parents get TVB via satellite but I'm not sure if it's like the Canadian news broadcast or straight out of HK, so I couldn't tell you for sure. How is it like in HK?

I never saw the Beer Bong when I was in America but now I have.

Sharon Stone to Sichuan: "uhh You Sorta Deserved It"

via this post on Shanghaiist.com:



Sharon Sone doesn't like how China treats the Tibet issue and can't decide what to do about the Olympics because China isn't nice to the Dalai Lama, who is a friend of hers. When asked about the earthquake, she says the craziest lines:

"And all these earthquake and stuff happened and I thought: IS THAT KARMA... when you are not nice that bad things happen to you?"

Ugh. She is so freaking smug and confident about her answer. I can't believe that thought even came across her mind. It's like saying that Hurricane Katrina was Karma's way of telling America that it should have been nice and not invade Iraq. WTF. How can a natural disaster be "payback?" What a moron.

L adds: Fuck celebrities. What an airhead.