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[postingwhore]

My mantou were made and they are awesome and I apparently can make stuffs! This makes me proud. Also, vegetable steamers are so super convenient. I have now abandoned the microwave and will be, like steaming all my foods that need to be reheated rather than microwaving them. :D Yayay

Comments

[elyndys]

Try and look on the bright side: at least you're not Jewish, you'd have an even harder time finding stuff you want... ^^' But yeah, if you hear people speaking Mandarin, you can be pretty sure they're students or other non-residents. I think Manchester has the best Chinatown in the north, and it's very nice for a day out if you fancy a visit across there. Not far on the train!

[postingwhore]

Oh really? I know there's a lot of halal places around, but I haven't even considered kosher. :x And thanks for the tip! I may do that at some point :D

Also, when would you be free for a visit of some sort? idk if I'm ready to navigate the trains yet, but I only have sessions in the mornings from 10a-1p or so on MTR, so yeah :> You can pop in some time, or I'll navigate my way to Sheffield XD;

[elyndys]

Yes, halal is very easy to come by (it's the one word of Arabic I can recognise XD), but kosher is a lot rarer - though I think Leeds has a bigger Jewish population than most cities so ironically maybe you would be better off! ^^' And I'm sure you'll have noticed by now that in Britain, for example the BBC Asian network is for South Asian people, rather than East Asian people. ^^'

Well, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are out for me this semester, and probably Thursdays too, but Fridays are looking pretty good! ^^' Also, would you mind if I brought my American friend? I thought maybe she could offer you any tips about living here, haha. (She's from Illinois.) Unfortunately she's going on holiday this Saturday for a couple of weeks, but we could come when she gets back? Or if you'd prefer me to come by myself, that's totally OK too. :]

[postingwhore]

Either one is fine! I just hopefully won't be a failboat at like social interaction XD;;; (People say I'm not, but I'm always worried regardless :P)

[tianneh]

I think it's like that with most migrant communities. Over here if you can't speak Cantonese you'd be treated like a bug, and over half of the Chinese radio programmes are in Cantonese, so you'd better be able to understand it even if you can't speak it.

You should have chosen Australia -- never lacking for Chinese ==.

I bought black charcoal egg custard mooncake (lol I'm a sucker for weird combinations).

[postingwhore]

:P Well, Australia's thing about censoring the internet made me go >:E It's actually not bad in the States at all - I've never met someone in the States in any of the places to which I've been who didn't know Mandarin (in addition to Cantonese).

Also, O_O. I'm more of a fan of traditional mooncake - mine is 双黄莲蓉 :D

[tianneh]

Lol, I don't really understand the whole 'knowing/being Cantonese makes you superior to other Chinese' mentality either. It all boils down to (for migrants like us) 'your ancestors were too poor to survive in China' -- not that being rich during that period was particularly good for survival.

I have lotus paste mooncake too! *___* But I don't like salted egg ==.

[postingwhore]

I think maybe it's a "we were here first" mentality? Because most of the immigrants now are from the mainland and speak Mandarin, and in some ways it's a totally different mindset (more people go abroad to study, then return back to China), etc. And a lot more people who go abroad now have professional/technical skills and get high-paying jobs...so yeah...

[fishpatrol]

I would totally go for even a day off for either 中秋 or 国庆! On Rosh Hashanah, my classmate who was Jewish totally used it as an excuse to skip our three-hour seminar. XD

Re: the Cantonese thing -- I got that a few times in Toronto as well. I usually just look at them blankly and shake my head. ;;;

[postingwhore]

I'm hoping I can use it one day to get off for 春节...My like greatest wish would be to get a week off and spend it in China T_T_T_T Unfortunately that will be near impossible until I get a job :|||||||||||||| Which is so much bull.

And :O. For some reason I've always thought of Toronto as having a lot of Mandarin-speaking people...

[fishpatrol]

Maybe next year?? \o/

I think the Cantonese-speakers still outnumber the Mandarin-speakers, or maybe they're about the same now. There were a lot of immigrants from Hong Kong back in the 90s (or sometime around there).

[jerico_cacaw]

Wait ... were they supposed to ask for an ID when you bought a peeler? Uh?

[postingwhore]

The first time I went to buy one, I was IDed, and because I didn't have my passport with me, the cashier refused to sell it to me. So this time when the cashier didn't, it was kind of :|||. Yeah, peelers aren't supposed to be sold to people under 18 in the UK.

[reposoir]

Yeah, the Chinese supermarkets are MUCH better in North America, since obvs we have more Asians. But there's a number in London, while expensive, that have a number of different things. Mostly around Chinatown. Where I will take you, of course ^^

[postingwhore]

I never realized there were more Asians in North America until now! Although I suppose it's easier to get to North America than Europe before airplanes...XD;;;

And yay, thank you! ♥ I look forward to it!