3.25.2009
Jigggerypokery
今天不错， 我上午没有棵。 下午的大部分时间我都休息， 然后去吃了饺子。 在饺子饭馆里我跟两个年轻的学生寥寥还有玩模子。一个学生是老板的孩子。我教了他半个小时的英语， 所以老板送给我一瓶啤酒和一个小饼。 谢谢老板！
3.23.2009
wtf
I now have a job teaching English over Skype to a Korean professor who graduated with a doctorate from the most prestigious University in all of China.
3.20.2009
Update Blog
1. We made some modifications to the ramp so it is sleeker to get wild on.
2. Still keen on Chinese.
3. Really miss Mexican food.
4. Discovered an 18元 all-you-can-drink coffee bar.
5. Currently about half way through a month long eat ten 饺子 a day bet.
6. My body hates me as a result of the last two updates.
7. Miss Winnipeg.
8. Three chopped up bodies were found in our neighborhood.
9. There is a bike (pedal) gang that steals and rapes in our neighborhood.
10. It's hot and muggy most days, damp is a dry as clothes get.
11. In pretty good health and pretty good spirits.
12. Going to work in a village next weekend.
13. Planning a bicycle trip.
14. Two travelers are staying with us in our apartment.
15. Body's pretty much adjusted to not wearing deodorant.
16. Possibly moving into a different apartment next month el solo.
17. BF is coming this week!
2. Still keen on Chinese.
3. Really miss Mexican food.
4. Discovered an 18元 all-you-can-drink coffee bar.
5. Currently about half way through a month long eat ten 饺子 a day bet.
6. My body hates me as a result of the last two updates.
7. Miss Winnipeg.
8. Three chopped up bodies were found in our neighborhood.
9. There is a bike (pedal) gang that steals and rapes in our neighborhood.
10. It's hot and muggy most days, damp is a dry as clothes get.
11. In pretty good health and pretty good spirits.
12. Going to work in a village next weekend.
13. Planning a bicycle trip.
14. Two travelers are staying with us in our apartment.
15. Body's pretty much adjusted to not wearing deodorant.
16. Possibly moving into a different apartment next month el solo.
17. BF is coming this week!
3.09.2009
Our Pets Heads Are Falling Off!
Holmbird bit the dust this afternoon. The green one, my least favorite. The blue one is living in caged loneliness. It was mine and JP's mutual assumption that the other party was feeding our birds. Turns out their involuntary fast got the better of Green One. Sorry Green One! A death resulting from negligence is both dishonorable and hilarious for a bird. I've got to take my hat off to Blue One for not resorting to cannibalism. We've taught it well.
"I'll just start feeding them regularly and exclusively so there will be no confusion in the future". Good plan.
I wiled much too hard today on my date with my bicycle. The roads were still thinly layered with wet for the morning commute as I barreled down the last hill to 艺术学院. At the bottom of the hill is a traffic light, which was green when I last saw it, and subsequently blue. (The traffic lights in China don't actually turn blue, but that's the resultative color when green and yellow mix). Exercising my dangerously (literally) liberal rights as a cyclist in China I decided to beat the blue light. The car ahead of my decided to heed to it. Circumscribed by vehicles I hit the skids going blatantly too fast to stop, but slow enough to contemplate how I would deal with the angry owner of the Lambourghini Diablo before hitting it. I decided to be scared about the situation. I gathered myself off of his trunk. The owner of the vehicle I ran into was so understandably confused as he alighted the Diablo. He looked like he wanted to yell at me, but more than that he looked like he didn't know how to deal with a foreigner who'd just smashed into his car (no visible damage, I hit him straight on with my tire instead of side-skidding my frame into his bumper, good thing!). I nearly burst out laughing on the spot at the absurdity of the situation. The conversation that transpired went something like this.
冷静 － "....不好意思”，
先生 － ”＃¥％ 干吗？红灯你看过没有？？？“
冷静 － “我的旁边都有车了, 没有办法“
先生－ ”这个呢？“
冷静 － ”那个不是我的“
先生－ ”你看！“
冷静 － ”那个不是我的， 应该没有问题“
Translation (Roughly, some things are hard to translate):
James - "Oh! How embarrassing!" (This is hilarious because "不好意思" is something you say if you accidentally bump into someone on the street, this situation definitely calls for a more serious choice of words, I was still piecing my life together when I said it though leaving no time for word processing)
Holmey - "What are you doing? Didn't you see the red light?"
James - "There were cars beside me, I had no way to...."
Holmey - "What about this??" (pointing to minor scuff marks on his bumper"
James - "That's not mine" (literal translation, if I had more time to think I would've put it more delicately)
Holmey - "Look at it!"
James - "Nahh, that's not mine, it should be no biggy" And then I biked away. (Had I done serious damage I would've openly admitted it, but he was just trying to get money from me so I brushed it off, thinking back, very nonchalantly)
The funniest thing is this is exactly what I predicted would happen.
Taken from earlier posted '泰国‘；
"I bike downtown everyday, it’s about a twenty-minute ride. There are just so many people, I’ve come so close to so many accidents, it’s only a matter of time. Thankfully everybody drives slow, so when the time comes my injuries will be non-existent or minor, I’m more worried about my bike."
I predict it will happen again.
Don't worry Mom and Dad, I have something better than a helmet protecting me.
"I'll just start feeding them regularly and exclusively so there will be no confusion in the future". Good plan.
I wiled much too hard today on my date with my bicycle. The roads were still thinly layered with wet for the morning commute as I barreled down the last hill to 艺术学院. At the bottom of the hill is a traffic light, which was green when I last saw it, and subsequently blue. (The traffic lights in China don't actually turn blue, but that's the resultative color when green and yellow mix). Exercising my dangerously (literally) liberal rights as a cyclist in China I decided to beat the blue light. The car ahead of my decided to heed to it. Circumscribed by vehicles I hit the skids going blatantly too fast to stop, but slow enough to contemplate how I would deal with the angry owner of the Lambourghini Diablo before hitting it. I decided to be scared about the situation. I gathered myself off of his trunk. The owner of the vehicle I ran into was so understandably confused as he alighted the Diablo. He looked like he wanted to yell at me, but more than that he looked like he didn't know how to deal with a foreigner who'd just smashed into his car (no visible damage, I hit him straight on with my tire instead of side-skidding my frame into his bumper, good thing!). I nearly burst out laughing on the spot at the absurdity of the situation. The conversation that transpired went something like this.
冷静 － "....不好意思”，
先生 － ”＃¥％ 干吗？红灯你看过没有？？？“
冷静 － “我的旁边都有车了, 没有办法“
先生－ ”这个呢？“
冷静 － ”那个不是我的“
先生－ ”你看！“
冷静 － ”那个不是我的， 应该没有问题“
Translation (Roughly, some things are hard to translate):
James - "Oh! How embarrassing!" (This is hilarious because "不好意思" is something you say if you accidentally bump into someone on the street, this situation definitely calls for a more serious choice of words, I was still piecing my life together when I said it though leaving no time for word processing)
Holmey - "What are you doing? Didn't you see the red light?"
James - "There were cars beside me, I had no way to...."
Holmey - "What about this??" (pointing to minor scuff marks on his bumper"
James - "That's not mine" (literal translation, if I had more time to think I would've put it more delicately)
Holmey - "Look at it!"
James - "Nahh, that's not mine, it should be no biggy" And then I biked away. (Had I done serious damage I would've openly admitted it, but he was just trying to get money from me so I brushed it off, thinking back, very nonchalantly)
The funniest thing is this is exactly what I predicted would happen.
Taken from earlier posted '泰国‘；
"I bike downtown everyday, it’s about a twenty-minute ride. There are just so many people, I’ve come so close to so many accidents, it’s only a matter of time. Thankfully everybody drives slow, so when the time comes my injuries will be non-existent or minor, I’m more worried about my bike."
I predict it will happen again.
Don't worry Mom and Dad, I have something better than a helmet protecting me.
3.05.2009
冷静
I have an official Chinese name now, I think. The transliteration 'jia mu se' didn't really stick. 小James was also a little informal. It was sufficient in separating me from the rest of the James' around here, but 小 is a prefix of endearment. It was a trip to the hospital that forced me to choose/get a name as I needed to register as somebody. 冷静, (pron. leng jing). Last names first, first names last. 冷 means 'cold', which coincides nicely with Friesen, 静 'jing', sounds like James (kind of), and the two characters together '冷静' means 'calm, under-control, etc.'. Just like me right? How fitting? hah, Chinese people always laugh at me when I tell them my Chinese name, because it's totally stoopid to them. Supposedly it's a girly name too. Oh well, I've told too many people now to turn back, so that's neat.
Yesterday I saw an old Chinese man that looked exactly like my Grandpa Friesen. I'm not sure how that calculates, but it did. I miss Grandma and Grandpa. Happy Birthday Grandma! Eighty years! Here's to eighty more.
Yesterday I read an entire book in one day, I've never done that. It was called 'Passion and Purity', a book about commitments and chastity. I didn't read it all in one day because it was good, in fact it was kind of dry, the authors stance was fairytailish and a little cold. Outside it was not dry, was cold, so I stayed in and read. To be fair the text was not the standard 12 point font either. Save your time and some letters to Corinth.
Every time a 'jian strikes up a conversation with me (or vice versa), our conversation inevitably ends with an exchange of e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and business cards. This is the Chinese way. "I think we are good friends for long time". "Yeah me too, probably". Seeing as how nearly every day I end up having a conversation with one of Nanning's residents, I've given out my e-mail address and phone number more times than I can count. 95% of people don't make any attempt to contact me, but the few that do always throw me for a loop. Every once in a while I'll get an unexpected phone call with someone saying "Hey, remember me?", "I'm really sorry, I don't". Or some bizarre e-mail from some people inviting me to their house for dinner, or to their school, or to accept their hearts. It's mostly my fault I guess (how do you give a fake phone number when they insist on dialing it for confirmation afterwards?), but honestly I don't mind, it's usually fun. Most of the people I meet are very genuine as well, so it's just rude to not reciprocate their kindness. Everyone is very nice, few are too nice, and once in a long while they will be strange.
Today I studied Chinese for about seven, or eight hundred hours. Learning a new language (later on in life) prevents Alzheimer's I'm told. So take that my future Alzheimer's! I am happy to have not yet fallen out of love with this language. It is difficult and rewarding and most importantly fun to study. The culture lends itself really really nicely to motivation on many levels.
"Damn, Sam, I love a woman that rains" - Ryan Adams, Heartbreaker
Yesterday I saw an old Chinese man that looked exactly like my Grandpa Friesen. I'm not sure how that calculates, but it did. I miss Grandma and Grandpa. Happy Birthday Grandma! Eighty years! Here's to eighty more.
Yesterday I read an entire book in one day, I've never done that. It was called 'Passion and Purity', a book about commitments and chastity. I didn't read it all in one day because it was good, in fact it was kind of dry, the authors stance was fairytailish and a little cold. Outside it was not dry, was cold, so I stayed in and read. To be fair the text was not the standard 12 point font either. Save your time and some letters to Corinth.
Every time a 'jian strikes up a conversation with me (or vice versa), our conversation inevitably ends with an exchange of e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and business cards. This is the Chinese way. "I think we are good friends for long time". "Yeah me too, probably". Seeing as how nearly every day I end up having a conversation with one of Nanning's residents, I've given out my e-mail address and phone number more times than I can count. 95% of people don't make any attempt to contact me, but the few that do always throw me for a loop. Every once in a while I'll get an unexpected phone call with someone saying "Hey, remember me?", "I'm really sorry, I don't". Or some bizarre e-mail from some people inviting me to their house for dinner, or to their school, or to accept their hearts. It's mostly my fault I guess (how do you give a fake phone number when they insist on dialing it for confirmation afterwards?), but honestly I don't mind, it's usually fun. Most of the people I meet are very genuine as well, so it's just rude to not reciprocate their kindness. Everyone is very nice, few are too nice, and once in a long while they will be strange.
Today I studied Chinese for about seven, or eight hundred hours. Learning a new language (later on in life) prevents Alzheimer's I'm told. So take that my future Alzheimer's! I am happy to have not yet fallen out of love with this language. It is difficult and rewarding and most importantly fun to study. The culture lends itself really really nicely to motivation on many levels.
"Damn, Sam, I love a woman that rains" - Ryan Adams, Heartbreaker
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