I’m pleased to say that I have returned and will continue to aid you in your effort to learn Chinese.
Contrary to what one reader suspected, I didn’t get abducted (;-) ), a bit unlike a man in the neighbourhood, who was detained and not seen again since. Admittedly, he threatened to assassin our country’s leading [...]
Archive for the ‘China: Sunny Side Up’ Category
Back on track
Posted in China: Sunny Side Up on August 17, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Bog-Standard Roadkill
Posted in China: Sunny Side Up, tagged anecdotes, culture shock, laowai on July 20, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Sometimes I’m not sure at all whether people coming to China actually know that the country they’re going to live in is neither some jungle outpost nor a squeaky clean western colony.
I get to hear the most mind-boggling remarks from the foreigners I meet, whether they are students of mine or mere acquaintances.
I don’t [...]
Let’s make friends
Posted in China: Sunny Side Up on July 14, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Reading the Xinhua-News, it becomes…let’s say, obvious…that this is a official press agency. What I’d like to comment on are the funny expressions sometimes used, especially when translated into English. Let me emphasise that I am talking about linguistic aspects, do not falsely read anything political into it.
The following extract if from an “Opinion”-article about [...]
How time flies by…
Posted in China: Sunny Side Up, tagged age, daily life, slang on July 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This morning, some neighbourhood kid greeted me with “老张你好!” Am I overreacting because I think that’s subtly disrespectful, make me aware of the fact that my 30th birthday is approaching? Does everyone (including my family) have to rub it in? 呵呵
肏! I’m 28, how can I be old?
These are the moments in life when I [...]
Namesake
Posted in China: Sunny Side Up, tagged internet, politics on July 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This morning, I received an email from a former student of mine (now at the university) who’d been struggling for three weeks to get his academic website online after it had been blocked. He succeeded and wrote in to tell me what had been the reason for the inexplicable inaccessibility: Apparently, one of the papers [...]
Spicy prejudices
Posted in China: Sunny Side Up, tagged daily life, prejudices, school on July 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
One of my students, sitting idly on a wall with some friends of his, is munching away on a bag of what appears to be wasabi-coated nuts or beans. Upon stuffing one of the greenish balls into his mouth, he remarks: “Hmm, brilliant taste. One of the few things those Japs actually got right.”
He [...]
