Recap on the weekend plus photos: dumplings, pass by bar
The weekend was busy because I had a lot of homework to do and it took me ages. I also was spending far too much time on audiography. They had three great themes in a row - movie themes, big band and then covers. Now they're onto New Orleans Jazz I think I can slow down too.
Yesterday: Dumplings
Yesterday I was doing homework and considering if I was going to ride my bike out to the dumpling place for lunch when I received an sms from Erika. She wanted to know if I wanted to join her and Mikako for karaoke. I said yes so the plan was to meet at Wudaokou light rail station at 6pm.
In the meanwhile, I had been naughty and ridden over to the dumpling restaurant, which meant I had a very late lunch. Approximately 3.30pm, completely spoiling any prospects of an early dinner. The dumplings were even more delicious than last time and I had meant to take a photograph but I was so hungry that I forgot and by the time I remembered my camera, my bowl was kind of empty ..... :)
This is the front of the dumpling restaurant:
When you are inside the restaurant, you can see them making dumplings:
Se Hyun told me not to stare at them when he was with me because he said I'd embarrass them. I said: "I think we're supposed to be able to watch! That's why they have such a big clear window!"
I experienced something rather funny while I was there on Saturday. I guess 3.30pm on a Saturday is resting time. I had brought a book with me and I was eating and reading my book. When I finally looked up from my book, this is the sight that confronted me:
Everyone in the restaurant was asleep! I felt like I was in Sleeping Beauty land or something. It was the funniest thing. I didn't want to get up because i felt bad waking them up since they were obviously so tired but eventually some other customers came in and they all woke up. I went outside and unlocked my new Old bike. Here are some photos:
I am hoping desperately that this bike doesn't get stolen!!!! It's so convenient to have a decent bicycle again.
Karaoke
I met up with Erika and Mikako at the station and none of us were hungry so we went to a karaoke place in Wudaokou called "Shrek". That's right, the other one is "Lion King" and this one is "Shrek". We all know what the protection of IP rights are like in China!!! The problem was, the place was pretty bad. It was run by North Koreans, all of the menus and controls were in Korean so only Erika could decipher them. On top of that, the English, Chinese and Japanese songs were really old. Furthermore, none of the mtvs were genuine - all of them were just songs put over the top of Korean mtvs. What was funnier was that the remote control was more of a big heavy console that had to be held in the air and pointed at the screen. The problem was, there was no way to skip to the end and most of the songs Mikako and I wanted were in the "Y" section so we had to hold this massive device up and press continuously with our thumb. Ih both instances, the song we wanted wasn't there. In the end it was easier for me just to pick English songs.
Mikako and Erika have fabulous voices and Erika is amazing. She memorises every single nuance of the song. I'm quite familiar with the main melody, the chorus but you know the little variations and flourishes that singers throw in? She knows all of those as well, leaving me in the dust. It was fun despite the funny inconveniences.
I wonder if I ever ....?
After that we headed to Sculpt Easy cafe for dinner. Mikako looked a bit unhappy part of the night. Hera - I think she might be a little bit like Winnie! I think she would have preferred boys to be present :) Erika's friend Bardi joined us towards the end of the night. He's an Indonesian guy and really nice although he was sitting right next to me and he had a really disconcerting habit of laughing and talking with his mouth full. Not only was it a bit gross but things sometimes fell out :) I think I'm getting better at controlling my face ..... I have to admit that I still struggle a little when Fenny or Se Hyun spit ..... Se Hyun tends to do a fairly discreet spit which doesn't involve any hocking or noise .... but Fenny when she's unwell will do a massive noisy hock which would do a Chinese person proud .......
When I'm in the middle of talking with them, I have trained myself to keep talking and to try to keep smiling even though I want to say: "Ewwww!" :) I wonder whether I unwittingly do things that disconcert THEM?
Today: Language quirks
Today I went to the cafe near where I live for dinner. A few of the waitresses recognise me as I often go there either on my own or with other people. The funny thing was tonight, there were a lot of foreigners there having dinner. I think it's because there's a Radissons hotel down the road and this cafe has photogrpahs of the food so you can point to food even if you can't speak Chinese. There was an Indian woman sitting on her own eating and she kept looking at me and I could tell that if did the welcoming smile back, she would have come over and joined me but I had homework to do and besides she was a smoker.
A couple of French girls sat at the table next to me. One was "white" French and the other was "Chinese French" but spoke no Chinese. They ordered spaghetti and she pointed emphatically at the picture and said: "Cheese! Cheese! Cheese!" Another waitress rushed to the assistance of the first waitress and the French girl kept pointing and saying: "Cheese! Cheese! Cheese!"
A few minutes later, the waitress came up to me and whispered. "Do you know what she wants?"
"She wants you to put extra cheese on her spaghetti." I told her.
"Oh!" she said and went running into the kitchen to tell them. :)
Then these two Chinese-looking guys came in and sat nearby and kept eying the 2 girls. They were really obvious about it as well, it was almost embarrassing. Then they moved to the table next to the girls. The girls had been seated at the table next to me which is why I saw all of this. The reason they were staring became clear, at one point one of the guys tried to speak English to the girls. They were clearly keen to practise their English and the girls told him: "French is our native language". The thing was, it became clear to me at that point that the two guys weren't Chinese and their English had an odd accent.
Then another Westerner came in and sat a few tables away. It turned out he was French as well so the girls at the table next to me started shouting out in French to the guy a few tables away who shouted back. Eventually reason spoke to them and he moved over to their table to sit with them and talk to them. He was sitting almost right next to me and they were talking really, really loudly. He said "merci" by accident to a waitress and she had no clue what he was saying :) Then the waitress came back and whispered to me: "If they're together, why did they sit apart?"
I explained that they were all French, they didn't know each other but were sitting together now that they realised they were French. The waitress said that the two guys further up weren't Chinese and weren't from Hong Kong either. I commented that it appeared to be quite a lively night and she giggled. In the end, the French people were soooo noisy I gave up trying to study and packed up my things and left, waving at the smiley waitress.
I stopped to buy some stationery and the girl at the stationery counter was laughing at me because I put the pens on the counter and she told me the price. "Oh I want to buy something else. Please wait a moment while I check how to say it." I pulled out my dictionary and she started giggling.
"Oh I see."
I had a mental blank, I had no idea how to say "envelope" in Chinese. For your reference, it is 信封 xìnfēng. Easy! I just get confused because 封 fēng is the measure word for letter 信 xìn!!! So I bought the envelopes and stopped at an ATM to get some cash out. I queued up behind the girl who was withdrawing money. I correctly queued 1-2 metres behind her. Suddenly two guys came up and stood right behind her.
"Ummmm, are you with her? Otherwise - I'm in the queue here." I said to the guy.
"Queue?" he queried.
"Yes, I'm queuing." I told him.
"Oh." he said and fell back and let me in first. :)
Grand Opened?
I then decided to have a quick look at the new Walmart Superstore that has opened near me. The signs for the Superstore were hilarious. Before the store opened, they read:
WALMART SUPERSTORE: GRAND OPENING COMING SOON!!!
After it opened, the signs said:
WALMART SUPERSTORE: GRAND OPENED!!!
I guess it makes sense. If you can have a grand opening, why can't you have a grand opened? The stoe was large. Furniture, appliances, books that sort of thing. I was more interested in the supermarket section. Disappointingly, Carrefour is better for Western stuff and my normal Chinese supermarket is better for everything else! The Walmart seemed too expensive. The Aussie cheese I buy from Carrefour is RMB32, at Walmart it's RMB40.
The Chinese clearly LOVE Walmart though, ever since the opening people have been swarming there and I see crowds of happy shoppers walking out with Walmart shopping bags full of groceries. I think it must just be a desire to follow a trend though. The non-imported groceries are approximately 5mao to RMB2 more expensive than a Chinese grocery store so there is absolutely no reason why they're buying things like toilet paper and normal groceries from Walmart except for novelty value. I had a small basket in my hand but in the end I put it down and decided I wasn't going to buy anything from there. It was interesting to go there but I think I'll stick to a combination of Carrefour and my local Chinese supermarket.
Anyway I'd better get back to my homework. There's still quite a lot to do. Ori sms'd me today to tell me that he's staying in Hangzhou an extra day and tell "the old bat" ie our zonghe teacher that he's away an extra day :)
Weird Chinese Phrase for the Day
I really don't understand why this word exists in Chinese. 殉葬 xùnzàng v. be buried alive with the dead!!!!!!!!!!
I was looking for this word 殉国 xùnguó die for one's country, when I found the above phrase. I think that's a bit disturbing :) In other news before I leave, I tested out the printer that Hera and Vincent gave me for my birthday, it is terrific although I seriously have no room on my little table anymore. I'm having a stress attack because it's bro's birthday on 6 June and I have no clue what to buy him. It's not like Beijing is shopping mecca .... I have a fledgling idea in my head but am still undecided - mostly because the quality of goods here is so poor. Things just break so easily.
Oh my face is a cream cocktail lately :) L'Occitane sold Hera the wrong face cream. I usually use the one with an SPF sunblock and they sold her a plain cream with no block so what I do is I slather L'Occitane on first and then put on another layer of Neutrogena sunblock cream. It means I'm very moisturised but when there is dust, I seem to attract a lot of it :D
Some older photos
Photos from my camera from before. I forget when I went but anyway here are photos of the Pass By Cafe:
Here are photos of the cafe Ant tried to take me to initially. I went back there later on my own and discovered that they only have drinks and no food. As I had already sat down, I had to have a drink before leaving. It as a cute cafe as you can see. Just kind of ... foodless!
Yesterday: Dumplings
Yesterday I was doing homework and considering if I was going to ride my bike out to the dumpling place for lunch when I received an sms from Erika. She wanted to know if I wanted to join her and Mikako for karaoke. I said yes so the plan was to meet at Wudaokou light rail station at 6pm.
In the meanwhile, I had been naughty and ridden over to the dumpling restaurant, which meant I had a very late lunch. Approximately 3.30pm, completely spoiling any prospects of an early dinner. The dumplings were even more delicious than last time and I had meant to take a photograph but I was so hungry that I forgot and by the time I remembered my camera, my bowl was kind of empty ..... :)
This is the front of the dumpling restaurant:
When you are inside the restaurant, you can see them making dumplings:
Se Hyun told me not to stare at them when he was with me because he said I'd embarrass them. I said: "I think we're supposed to be able to watch! That's why they have such a big clear window!"
I experienced something rather funny while I was there on Saturday. I guess 3.30pm on a Saturday is resting time. I had brought a book with me and I was eating and reading my book. When I finally looked up from my book, this is the sight that confronted me:
Everyone in the restaurant was asleep! I felt like I was in Sleeping Beauty land or something. It was the funniest thing. I didn't want to get up because i felt bad waking them up since they were obviously so tired but eventually some other customers came in and they all woke up. I went outside and unlocked my new Old bike. Here are some photos:
I am hoping desperately that this bike doesn't get stolen!!!! It's so convenient to have a decent bicycle again.
Karaoke
I met up with Erika and Mikako at the station and none of us were hungry so we went to a karaoke place in Wudaokou called "Shrek". That's right, the other one is "Lion King" and this one is "Shrek". We all know what the protection of IP rights are like in China!!! The problem was, the place was pretty bad. It was run by North Koreans, all of the menus and controls were in Korean so only Erika could decipher them. On top of that, the English, Chinese and Japanese songs were really old. Furthermore, none of the mtvs were genuine - all of them were just songs put over the top of Korean mtvs. What was funnier was that the remote control was more of a big heavy console that had to be held in the air and pointed at the screen. The problem was, there was no way to skip to the end and most of the songs Mikako and I wanted were in the "Y" section so we had to hold this massive device up and press continuously with our thumb. Ih both instances, the song we wanted wasn't there. In the end it was easier for me just to pick English songs.
Mikako and Erika have fabulous voices and Erika is amazing. She memorises every single nuance of the song. I'm quite familiar with the main melody, the chorus but you know the little variations and flourishes that singers throw in? She knows all of those as well, leaving me in the dust. It was fun despite the funny inconveniences.
I wonder if I ever ....?
After that we headed to Sculpt Easy cafe for dinner. Mikako looked a bit unhappy part of the night. Hera - I think she might be a little bit like Winnie! I think she would have preferred boys to be present :) Erika's friend Bardi joined us towards the end of the night. He's an Indonesian guy and really nice although he was sitting right next to me and he had a really disconcerting habit of laughing and talking with his mouth full. Not only was it a bit gross but things sometimes fell out :) I think I'm getting better at controlling my face ..... I have to admit that I still struggle a little when Fenny or Se Hyun spit ..... Se Hyun tends to do a fairly discreet spit which doesn't involve any hocking or noise .... but Fenny when she's unwell will do a massive noisy hock which would do a Chinese person proud .......
When I'm in the middle of talking with them, I have trained myself to keep talking and to try to keep smiling even though I want to say: "Ewwww!" :) I wonder whether I unwittingly do things that disconcert THEM?
Today: Language quirks
Today I went to the cafe near where I live for dinner. A few of the waitresses recognise me as I often go there either on my own or with other people. The funny thing was tonight, there were a lot of foreigners there having dinner. I think it's because there's a Radissons hotel down the road and this cafe has photogrpahs of the food so you can point to food even if you can't speak Chinese. There was an Indian woman sitting on her own eating and she kept looking at me and I could tell that if did the welcoming smile back, she would have come over and joined me but I had homework to do and besides she was a smoker.
A couple of French girls sat at the table next to me. One was "white" French and the other was "Chinese French" but spoke no Chinese. They ordered spaghetti and she pointed emphatically at the picture and said: "Cheese! Cheese! Cheese!" Another waitress rushed to the assistance of the first waitress and the French girl kept pointing and saying: "Cheese! Cheese! Cheese!"
A few minutes later, the waitress came up to me and whispered. "Do you know what she wants?"
"She wants you to put extra cheese on her spaghetti." I told her.
"Oh!" she said and went running into the kitchen to tell them. :)
Then these two Chinese-looking guys came in and sat nearby and kept eying the 2 girls. They were really obvious about it as well, it was almost embarrassing. Then they moved to the table next to the girls. The girls had been seated at the table next to me which is why I saw all of this. The reason they were staring became clear, at one point one of the guys tried to speak English to the girls. They were clearly keen to practise their English and the girls told him: "French is our native language". The thing was, it became clear to me at that point that the two guys weren't Chinese and their English had an odd accent.
Then another Westerner came in and sat a few tables away. It turned out he was French as well so the girls at the table next to me started shouting out in French to the guy a few tables away who shouted back. Eventually reason spoke to them and he moved over to their table to sit with them and talk to them. He was sitting almost right next to me and they were talking really, really loudly. He said "merci" by accident to a waitress and she had no clue what he was saying :) Then the waitress came back and whispered to me: "If they're together, why did they sit apart?"
I explained that they were all French, they didn't know each other but were sitting together now that they realised they were French. The waitress said that the two guys further up weren't Chinese and weren't from Hong Kong either. I commented that it appeared to be quite a lively night and she giggled. In the end, the French people were soooo noisy I gave up trying to study and packed up my things and left, waving at the smiley waitress.
I stopped to buy some stationery and the girl at the stationery counter was laughing at me because I put the pens on the counter and she told me the price. "Oh I want to buy something else. Please wait a moment while I check how to say it." I pulled out my dictionary and she started giggling.
"Oh I see."
I had a mental blank, I had no idea how to say "envelope" in Chinese. For your reference, it is 信封 xìnfēng. Easy! I just get confused because 封 fēng is the measure word for letter 信 xìn!!! So I bought the envelopes and stopped at an ATM to get some cash out. I queued up behind the girl who was withdrawing money. I correctly queued 1-2 metres behind her. Suddenly two guys came up and stood right behind her.
"Ummmm, are you with her? Otherwise - I'm in the queue here." I said to the guy.
"Queue?" he queried.
"Yes, I'm queuing." I told him.
"Oh." he said and fell back and let me in first. :)
Grand Opened?
I then decided to have a quick look at the new Walmart Superstore that has opened near me. The signs for the Superstore were hilarious. Before the store opened, they read:
WALMART SUPERSTORE: GRAND OPENING COMING SOON!!!
After it opened, the signs said:
WALMART SUPERSTORE: GRAND OPENED!!!
I guess it makes sense. If you can have a grand opening, why can't you have a grand opened? The stoe was large. Furniture, appliances, books that sort of thing. I was more interested in the supermarket section. Disappointingly, Carrefour is better for Western stuff and my normal Chinese supermarket is better for everything else! The Walmart seemed too expensive. The Aussie cheese I buy from Carrefour is RMB32, at Walmart it's RMB40.
The Chinese clearly LOVE Walmart though, ever since the opening people have been swarming there and I see crowds of happy shoppers walking out with Walmart shopping bags full of groceries. I think it must just be a desire to follow a trend though. The non-imported groceries are approximately 5mao to RMB2 more expensive than a Chinese grocery store so there is absolutely no reason why they're buying things like toilet paper and normal groceries from Walmart except for novelty value. I had a small basket in my hand but in the end I put it down and decided I wasn't going to buy anything from there. It was interesting to go there but I think I'll stick to a combination of Carrefour and my local Chinese supermarket.
Anyway I'd better get back to my homework. There's still quite a lot to do. Ori sms'd me today to tell me that he's staying in Hangzhou an extra day and tell "the old bat" ie our zonghe teacher that he's away an extra day :)
Weird Chinese Phrase for the Day
I really don't understand why this word exists in Chinese. 殉葬 xùnzàng v. be buried alive with the dead!!!!!!!!!!
I was looking for this word 殉国 xùnguó die for one's country, when I found the above phrase. I think that's a bit disturbing :) In other news before I leave, I tested out the printer that Hera and Vincent gave me for my birthday, it is terrific although I seriously have no room on my little table anymore. I'm having a stress attack because it's bro's birthday on 6 June and I have no clue what to buy him. It's not like Beijing is shopping mecca .... I have a fledgling idea in my head but am still undecided - mostly because the quality of goods here is so poor. Things just break so easily.
Oh my face is a cream cocktail lately :) L'Occitane sold Hera the wrong face cream. I usually use the one with an SPF sunblock and they sold her a plain cream with no block so what I do is I slather L'Occitane on first and then put on another layer of Neutrogena sunblock cream. It means I'm very moisturised but when there is dust, I seem to attract a lot of it :D
Some older photos
Photos from my camera from before. I forget when I went but anyway here are photos of the Pass By Cafe:
Here are photos of the cafe Ant tried to take me to initially. I went back there later on my own and discovered that they only have drinks and no food. As I had already sat down, I had to have a drink before leaving. It as a cute cafe as you can see. Just kind of ... foodless!