Sep 21 - We found a flower market near our house and last weekend picked up these 20 roses for about $3. Of course it's was so hot the last few days that they're about dead now. Oh well, for that price we can get some more!
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Flower Market Fun
Sep 21 - We found a flower market near our house and last weekend picked up these 20 roses for about $3. Of course it's was so hot the last few days that they're about dead now. Oh well, for that price we can get some more!
Embarrassing English Lessons
Sept. 21, 2005- Tiffany
A benefit of having friendly bilingual co-workers is they act as great on-the-spot Mandarin tutors. Over the past few weeks, they have had no problem answering my simple questions of how to say basic items like phone, computer, apple, etc. They display much patience with my pronunciation, and are very excited when I say the word just right. In return, I often act as their English thesaurus as well as teach them English slang (the word of the day yesterday was ‘mooch’, as in she never pays for lunch, she’s a ‘mooch’).
Today, I got into a bit more uncomfortable situation. The other intern was unable to come in to work due to a bad reaction to something he ate. This prompted an awkward discussion about English terms for bodily reactions/functions. They each wanted to be able to not only say these words with perfect pronunciation, but spell them as well. I not only (uncomfortably) helped them with the words, but also gave them an etiquette lesson on when it is appropriate to use these words when dealing with Americans, as we (or at least I) seem to be a bit more modest. Needless to say, our term of the day was ‘too much information’!
A benefit of having friendly bilingual co-workers is they act as great on-the-spot Mandarin tutors. Over the past few weeks, they have had no problem answering my simple questions of how to say basic items like phone, computer, apple, etc. They display much patience with my pronunciation, and are very excited when I say the word just right. In return, I often act as their English thesaurus as well as teach them English slang (the word of the day yesterday was ‘mooch’, as in she never pays for lunch, she’s a ‘mooch’).
Today, I got into a bit more uncomfortable situation. The other intern was unable to come in to work due to a bad reaction to something he ate. This prompted an awkward discussion about English terms for bodily reactions/functions. They each wanted to be able to not only say these words with perfect pronunciation, but spell them as well. I not only (uncomfortably) helped them with the words, but also gave them an etiquette lesson on when it is appropriate to use these words when dealing with Americans, as we (or at least I) seem to be a bit more modest. Needless to say, our term of the day was ‘too much information’!
Monday, September 19, 2005
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Starbucks enters the Mooncake industry
Always privy to new marketing opportunities, Starbucks also offers it's own 'mocha' and 'leche' mooncakes. These taste much sweeter and 'more american'. They are the same size as the Chinese version (both 2" in diameter) and cost $3USD each. My office was kind enough to give me a big box of the Starbucks kind for my first 'Moon Cake' festival!
This weekend marked the 'Moon Festival' in China. It's a time where friends and family get together to celebrate and eat moon cakes. Here are pictures of the traditional Chinese moon cakes, which are filled with flavors like red bean paste, coconut, egg yolk, and lotus root. These cost about .12 USD each.
sep 17 (1 of 2) - This was from last weekend, when we saw a Chinese rock band at this bar. They were pretty good, but really picked it up when some British expats started calling for western music. The band proceeded to play a whole set of Beatles tunes!! They were actually quite good, though I wonder if they know what they were singing?
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