Today pottered along quite comfortably in what is becoming suspiciously like a Routine. Up at 7 (well, 7:05...), stumble neanderthalithically (totally a real word) around room, get dressed, eat jam sandwiches, gather books and dictionaries and whatever random Korean biscuit is the snack for today, finally arrive at homo Sapiens stage, and then off to collect Becka and class. We had a rather nasty bombshell dropped on us today. We have a Big Test on Everything next Monday. I'm going to revise very hard this weekend and do very well, yessir I am!
We got told some Chinese gift giving customs today and amongst some fairly obvious ones (it's rude to gift knives apparently...oh really?!) were a few gems such as when you give money, you can only give certain amounts. Odd numbers are rude as are numbers with 4 in (they dislike the number 4 as it sounds like the word for death). 6 is a no-goer too, although I didn't get why. They like 8 though. 8 is a very good number in Chinese- they love having phone numbers with 8s in. This is rather infectious as I find myself sneakily pleased that my English number has about four 8s in. But then also worried that having four of them somehow negates it. Also you're not allowed to give umbrellas as the word for that sounds like the word for cut.
We tried out a new restaurant for lunch. It was 陕西* style food so I was overjoyed to spot on the biblically long menu 糖醋里脊, tanculiji, sweet and sour pork, just like they have at home :D It wasn't the best I've ever had, not very crispy, but was still a nice find. Bit by bit we are learning to read the menus and avoid what we don't like and pick out things that won't have any nasty surprises in them! Although yesterday's rice noodles in a broth still had the Now What Is This? game. We did find some quails eggs which were rather nice. However there was also what looked like shredded flip-flop soles (complete with grip marks). Daisy said it was tofu but it certainly tasted like shredded flip-flop so I'm not sure.
Spent this afternoon planning tomorrow's trip to Phoenix Island. Although, like Qingdao, it is not actually an island, rather a spit of land. Qingdao and Phoenix Island face each other across the mouth of a large bay so we are getting a boat across. Exciting! We are going to Golden Sands Beach which is supposed to be "the best beach in Asia".
Apparently it's really cold in Britain :P
Chinese of the day: the opening line of Pride and Prejudice:
有钱的单身汉必定想娶亲，这条真理无人不晓。
Literally: a single man having money must want a wife, this truth nobody does not know.
达西先生 Daxi Xiansheng, Mr Darcy
贝内特伊丽莎白 Beineite Yilishabai, Elizabeth Bennet
*陕西 is written in pinyin (romanisation system used here) as shanxi and is a province in the centre of China. Ordinarily in English it is written as Shaanxi to distinguish it from 山西, Shanxi "West of the Mountains". 山西 being to the west of the mountains that my province, 山东, is to the east of.
No comments:
Post a Comment