Sunday, October 30, 2005
CHINESE WRITING, A SATURDAY WITH MY HOMESTAY & POLICE
I now know 175 characters. Today was the first time I tried to write sentences using the words I know. It was tough with a limited vocabulary but here are a few I came up with: "Today I have 4 black cows; tomorrow it will snow; Kunming is too big; I love your girlfriend, and many others. These are for the most part useless sentences, but I was proud of my efforts nevertheless.
Today I went out for the day with my family. Our first stop was lunch at "Cowboy" American Restaurant. A venture by some entrepreneuring Chinese who watched too many Westerns, Cowboy was an interesting place. Despite the fact that the staff wore plaid and cowboy hats, I was the closest thing to a cowboy there. Everyone was Chinese and eating "American food"...I don't know, I've never seen a cowboy eating fish heads or cow tails but I've only been living in Colorado for 2 years.
After that, we went to "Century City" a housing complex under construction where my family planned to buy a 2nd home. When finished, Century City will contain over 200 buildings, 23,000 apartments and the largest mall in Kunming (a town of 4 million people.) We arrived and my family has dropped 360,000RMB ($35,000) on a new apartment. So, apparently my family here is rich, since the average income in China is $250/month. The apartment is nice but not totally completed, some internal work still needs to be done. It is on the 17th floor which is really the 14th. Now some of you may be thinking "How can 17 be 14?" This fuzzy math (which might make sense to George Bush) is very logical to the Chinese. 4 sounds similar to the word for death so you can't have a 4th floor. 14 has 4 in it so scratch that too. 13, is just plain unlucky.
We then went to the Hongta Cigarette Sports Arena, because all the best athletes are sponsored by cigarette companies (at least in China.) There were a few things that shocked me. First was when my family said “do you want to go skiing?” because this is Kunming, there is no snow. The next few shocks were when we got to a large ice skating rink. “Go skiing” said the dad. Those who know me know that I do not Ice Skate. Mercifully, the largest skate they had was a size 46 and I’m a size 48. The final shock came when I saw an advertisement for Kunming’s Ice Hockey team from the Hong Kong Ice Hockey Association. I miss hockey and might have to go watch them play. After the rink we walked downstairs and went bowling, where the dad proceeded to destroy me, first by 70pins, then by 50pins. Finally was a few games of Ping Pong. The US-China Series was tied 1-1 when we left (21-16, 10-21.)
So that way my Saturday, I still dont know what to make of the Cowboy Restaurant.
On a different note, I wanted to express the sentiment about police here that Ive been hearing. My homestay father says “all they do is bring trouble with them, we only like them if we need to call them for something.” In China, policemen are referred to as “hei mao” (black cats.) No one has been able to explain why they are black, but they are cats because “we are the mice, they are the cats, they go around trying to catch us,” explained my teacher. I guess as a policeman being called a cat is better than being called a pig. The character for policeman is 2 mouth radicals under a roof because “officers need 2 mouths, one to yell at people, the other to ask for bribes.” Thats it for now. Happy Halloween, I think I'll go as Chairman Mao.
I now know 175 characters. Today was the first time I tried to write sentences using the words I know. It was tough with a limited vocabulary but here are a few I came up with: "Today I have 4 black cows; tomorrow it will snow; Kunming is too big; I love your girlfriend, and many others. These are for the most part useless sentences, but I was proud of my efforts nevertheless.
Today I went out for the day with my family. Our first stop was lunch at "Cowboy" American Restaurant. A venture by some entrepreneuring Chinese who watched too many Westerns, Cowboy was an interesting place. Despite the fact that the staff wore plaid and cowboy hats, I was the closest thing to a cowboy there. Everyone was Chinese and eating "American food"...I don't know, I've never seen a cowboy eating fish heads or cow tails but I've only been living in Colorado for 2 years.
After that, we went to "Century City" a housing complex under construction where my family planned to buy a 2nd home. When finished, Century City will contain over 200 buildings, 23,000 apartments and the largest mall in Kunming (a town of 4 million people.) We arrived and my family has dropped 360,000RMB ($35,000) on a new apartment. So, apparently my family here is rich, since the average income in China is $250/month. The apartment is nice but not totally completed, some internal work still needs to be done. It is on the 17th floor which is really the 14th. Now some of you may be thinking "How can 17 be 14?" This fuzzy math (which might make sense to George Bush) is very logical to the Chinese. 4 sounds similar to the word for death so you can't have a 4th floor. 14 has 4 in it so scratch that too. 13, is just plain unlucky.
We then went to the Hongta Cigarette Sports Arena, because all the best athletes are sponsored by cigarette companies (at least in China.) There were a few things that shocked me. First was when my family said “do you want to go skiing?” because this is Kunming, there is no snow. The next few shocks were when we got to a large ice skating rink. “Go skiing” said the dad. Those who know me know that I do not Ice Skate. Mercifully, the largest skate they had was a size 46 and I’m a size 48. The final shock came when I saw an advertisement for Kunming’s Ice Hockey team from the Hong Kong Ice Hockey Association. I miss hockey and might have to go watch them play. After the rink we walked downstairs and went bowling, where the dad proceeded to destroy me, first by 70pins, then by 50pins. Finally was a few games of Ping Pong. The US-China Series was tied 1-1 when we left (21-16, 10-21.)
So that way my Saturday, I still dont know what to make of the Cowboy Restaurant.
On a different note, I wanted to express the sentiment about police here that Ive been hearing. My homestay father says “all they do is bring trouble with them, we only like them if we need to call them for something.” In China, policemen are referred to as “hei mao” (black cats.) No one has been able to explain why they are black, but they are cats because “we are the mice, they are the cats, they go around trying to catch us,” explained my teacher. I guess as a policeman being called a cat is better than being called a pig. The character for policeman is 2 mouth radicals under a roof because “officers need 2 mouths, one to yell at people, the other to ask for bribes.” Thats it for now. Happy Halloween, I think I'll go as Chairman Mao.
