Eftersom vi lämnade bilen hos mamma och Stefan igår stack jag och killarna för att hämta den direkt när jag hämtat kidsen på förskolan idag. Vi åkte till barnens förtjusning roslagsbanan dit. Alvin somnade ju igår innan vi kommit fram till tåget och missade då hela tågresan så han va ju glad att han fick åka i vaket tillstånd idag

Kul att åka tåg tyckte båda två

Vi åt lite kakor och mandariner hos mormor och killarna lekte medans jag fick hjälp att filea 2 laxar och sen tog vi bilen hem.

Nu ska jag skicka iväg lite önskelistor till familjen och sen slöa framför tvn ett tag innan jag ska sova skönt. i morgon blir sista pluggdagen innan träffen i skolan som är torsdag och fredag.

Ha en trevlig kväll!!!

Use this blend for aiding in reducing stretch marks.

100ml of Coconut oil with 25 drops of mandarin and 30 drops of neroli essential oils is excellent for stretch marks.

Apply after showering on a daily basis.

Remember that coconut oil absorbs quickly because of it’s small molecular structure, un like other carrier oils.

Bilingualism is not uncommon in Malaysia. Many households are multilingual let alone bilingual. In my family alone we converse with each other in 4 different languages. I consistently speak to my mother in English and Indonesian, my father in Mandarin, Cantonese and English, and my brother in Mandarin and English. My parents however speak to each other exclusively in English as that is the language they used when they met.

It’s funny how I develop that kind of reference tag in me. I ‘contact-switch’, if you may, between languages just as easily as I switch from person to person. If I’m surrounded by a big group of friends to which I speak different languages to, my brain somehow adapts and is able to speak to that person in the language we are used to. It is pretty surreal. This has never really crossed my mind as being a talent. Living in Malaysia, almost everyone does that, I took it for granted. However, it has been a constant battle when speaking to a group of friends to whom I reference differently.

But ever since coming to Australia, those around me can’t stop but marvel at how naturally this comes to me. It’s just part of who I am, but to Australians in particular, most of which who speak dominantly in English, they find it extremely intriguing. Even my friends from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong find it awe-inspiring. As in their home country there is not a huge diversity in terms of culture.

In Malaysia, it’s not rare to find someone mixing and matching words from different languages into a sentence and the other doing just the same in reply. Say for instance if I want to say “Where should we go for dinner?” I would say “我门去那里 for makan?” Which literally translates to “We go where ‘for’ eat?” It’s quite weird but that’s how most Chinese in Malaysian speak. We call that ‘broken-English”.

This, again, only became apparent to me when I came to Australia and happened predominantly when I was talking to my Malaysian friend on the phone and some Taiwanese friends of mine were like cocking their heads to the side because they did not get what I said. Even though I used only a combination of Mandarin and English. DUH?!?!

It was really hard for me at first to speak primarily in one language and I often found myself pausing to find words in certain languages because I was so used to expressing myself in that context in another language. Context language is a very powerful and not easily reversible. Thankfully for me it was an easier transition as I have always found language to be one of my strong points. For my brother however, he is still constantly asking me for translations of Mandarin words to English, although I think that’s a result of him fooling around in English class when he was young.

How to say Merry Christmas in different languages. Send these to your friends around the world.

Afrikaans: Gesëende Kersfees

Afrikander: Een Plesierige Kerfees

African/ Eritrean/ Tigrinja: Rehus-Beal-Ledeats

Albanian:Gezur Krislinjden

Arabic: Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah

Argentine: Feliz Navidad

Armenian: Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand

Azeri: Tezze Iliniz Yahsi Olsun

Bahasa Malaysia: Selamat Hari Natal

Basque: Zorionak eta Urte Berri On!

Bengali: Shuvo Naba Barsha

Bohemian: Vesele Vanoce

Brazilian: Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo

Breton: Nedeleg laouen na bloavezh mat

Bulgarian: Tchestita Koleda; Tchestito Rojdestvo Hristovo

Catalan: Bon Nadal i un Bon Any Nou!

Chile: Feliz Navidad

Chinese: (Cantonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan’Gung Haw Sun

Chinese: (Mandarin) Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan

Choctaw: Yukpa, Nitak Hollo Chito

Columbia: Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo

Cornish: Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth

Corsian: Pace e salute

Crazanian: Rot Yikji Dol La Roo

Cree: Mitho Makosi Kesikansi

Croatian: Sretan Bozic

Czech: Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok

Danish: Glædelig Jul

Duri: Christmas-e- Shoma Mobarak

Dutch: Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!
or Zalig Kerstfeest

English: Merry Christmas

Eskimo: (inupik) Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo!

Esperanto: Gajan Kristnaskon

Estonian: Ruumsaid juulup|hi

Faeroese: Gledhilig jol og eydnurikt nyggjar!

Farsi: Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad

Finnish: Hyvaa joulua

Flemish: Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig nieuw jaar

French: Joyeux Noel

Frisian: Noflike Krystdagen en in protte Lok en Seine yn it Nije Jier!

Galician: Bo Nada

Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr!

German: Froehliche Weihnachten

Greek: Kala Christouyenna!

Hausa: Barka da Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar Shekara!

Hawaiian: Mele Kalikimaka

Hebrew: Mo’adim Lesimkha. Chena tova

Hindi: Shub Naya Baras

Hausa: Barka da Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar Shekara!

Hawaian: Mele Kalikimaka ame Hauoli Makahiki Hou!

Hungarian: Kellemes Karacsonyi unnepeket

Icelandic: Gledileg Jol

Indonesian: Selamat Hari Natal

Iraqi: Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah

Irish: Nollaig Shona Dhuit, or Nodlaig mhaith chugnat

Iroquois: Ojenyunyat Sungwiyadeson honungradon nagwutut. Ojenyunyat osrasay.

Italian: Buone Feste Natalizie

Japanese: Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto

Jiberish: Mithag Crithagsigathmithags

Korean: Sung Tan Chuk Ha

Latin: Natale hilare et Annum Faustum!

Latvian: Prieci’gus Ziemsve’tkus un Laimi’gu Jauno Gadu!

Lausitzian:Wjesole hody a strowe nowe leto

Lettish: Priecigus Ziemassvetkus

Lithuanian: Linksmu Kaledu

Low Saxon: Heughliche Winachten un ‘n moi Nijaar

Macedonian: Sreken Bozhik

Maltese: LL Milied Lt-tajjeb

Manx: Nollick ghennal as blein vie noa

Maori: Meri Kirihimete

Marathi: Shub Naya Varsh

Navajo: Merry Keshmish

Norwegian: God Jul, or Gledelig Jul

Occitan: Pulit nadal e bona annado

Papiamento: Bon Pasco

Papua New Guinea: Bikpela hamamas blong dispela Krismas na Nupela yia i go long yu

Pennsylvania German: En frehlicher Grischtdaag un en hallich Nei Yaahr!

Peru: Feliz Navidad y un Venturoso Año Nuevo

Philipines: Maligayan Pasko!

Polish: Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia or Boze Narodzenie

Portuguese:Feliz Natal

Pushto: Christmas Aao Ne-way Kaal Mo Mobarak Sha

Rapa-Nui (Easter Island): Mata-Ki-Te-Rangi. Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua

Rhetian: Bellas festas da nadal e bun onn

Romanche: (sursilvan dialect): Legreivlas fiastas da Nadal e bien niev onn!

Rumanian: Sarbatori vesele

Russian: Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom

Sami: Buorrit Juovllat

Samoan: La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou

Sardinian: Bonu nadale e prosperu annu nou

Serbian: Hristos se rodi

Slovakian: Sretan Bozic or Vesele vianoce

Sami: Buorrit Juovllat

Samoan: La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou

Scots Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil huibh

Serb-Croatian: Sretam Bozic. Vesela Nova Godina

Serbian: Hristos se rodi. Singhalese: Subha nath thalak Vewa. Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa

Slovak: Vesele Vianoce. A stastlivy Novy Rok

Slovene: Vesele Bozicne. Screcno Novo Leto

Spanish: Feliz Navidad

Swedish: God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt År

Tagalog: Maligayamg Pasko!

Tami: Nathar Puthu Varuda Valthukkal

Trukeese: (Micronesian) Neekiriisimas annim oo iyer seefe feyiyeech!

Thai: Sawadee Pee Mai

Turkish: Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun

Ukrainian: Srozhdestvom Kristovym

Urdu: Naya Saal Mubarak Ho

Vietnamese: Chung Mung Giang Sinh

Welsh: Nadolig Llawen

Yugoslavian: Cestitamo Bozic

Yoruba: E ku odun, e ku iye’dun!

No one has even seen a trailer for Iron Man 2, yet rumors are swirling around of actor Faran Tahir (leader of the Ten Rings terrorist organization that held Tony Stark hostage in the first film) returning to play the villain in the third film; Mandarin. Tahir told Moviefone the following:

“At some point, they want to introduce Mandarin into the storyline and my character, like Mandarin, was the leader of the Ten Rings. We’re leaving it open because, partly, it makes good business sense for us to leave a little bit of uncertainty for people to speculate on.”

“He [Favreau] has known for a long time where he wants to take it and I don’t want to speak for him, but my feeling is that the second movie didn’t want to just follow a singular storyline. They wanted to expand the characters to show that it’s not a linear saga like Lord of the Rings. There’s a linkage somewhere in there, but the big idea is to do at least one more Iron Man movie and then go into The Avengers.”

This revelation is nothing major, not until we set our eyes on the I.M. 2!

Chinesisch lernen ist nicht einfach. Nach exakt drei Monaten Aufenthalt und drei Wochen Sprachkurs weiß auch ich das nun. Da wären zum einen die tückischen vier verschiedenen Tonlagen, die ein “Mama” mal ganz schnell zu “Pferd” werden lassen und so zu Missverständnissen, peinlichen Situationen und Beleidigungen führen können (..sprich ein “noisy- chao” NIEMALS, unter gar keinen Umständen, scharf aus!). Neben Reden und Verstehen, da werde ich immer besser drin, sollte man allerdings auch noch das Schreiben und Erkennen von Schriftzeichen beherrschen, wenn man nicht den Bus in einen Vorort von Taipei nehmen (Die Zeichen sahen FAST so aus wie die für meine Schule..aber nur fast..) und dort dann zusammen mit den noch immer über meine Chinesischkünste lachenden Egbert statt Beefnoodlesoup Hühnerbeinchen serviert bekommen will. Nunja, immerhin ist beides Fleisch, ein Teilerfolg. Wie sagte die weise Frau, die mir vor 16 Jahren das Leben schenkte, noch immer?  “Mühsam ernährt sich das Eichhörnchen”!

Jetzt ist mir allerdings einiges klargeworden. Chinesische Zeichen sind nicht nur eine wirre Zusammensetzung von Strichen, die einen abstrakten Künstler wie Picasso vor Neid erblassen lassen würden, nein, es sind vielmehr Voraussagungen, Andeutungen, regelrecht Zeichen, die die alten Chinesen uns da vermacht haben! Nehmen wir mal mein momentanes Lieblingszeichen- Haus:

家

Wenn man ganz genau hinsieht oder gerade zufällig eine Lupe zur Hand hat, erkennt man das Zeichen für Schwein unter einem Dach (..oder auch nicht). Und dies spiegelt meine momentane Situation voll und ganz wieder. Das Dach steht jetzt mal für meine Schule, ganz schön grosses Dach, und das Schwein- oh Wunder- für die Schweinegrippe, neue Grippe oder auch H1N1. In meiner Klasse geht das ach so gefährliche Virus nämlich momentan um und ich von Fortuna geküsstes Mädchen darf zwei wundervolle, nicht enden wollende Tage in meinem trauten Heim verbringen. Ich fleissiges Wesen werde natürlich NICHT meine wertvolle Zeit mit meinem geliebten Dell- Laptop (..Blogartikel^^), guter Musik und dem ein oder anderen Film verbringen, NEIN, ich werde hart arbeiten, Tag und Nacht meine Chinesischbücher wälzen und das gigantische Plakat über mich selbst nach drei Wochen Aufschiebens endlich fertigstellen.

Für alle Menschen, die mich nicht persönlich kennen, weise ich zum Ende noch einmal ganz dezent auf die in diesem Blogartikel häufig vorkommende Ironie hin.

OD Records

Laoying Shao Road, Fenghuang, China

On the banks of the calmly flowing river Tuo, in the back water river-town of Fenghuang, sits  OD Record store.  Narrow and quaint, snugly camouflaged by tea shops and  food stores; a record store that could easily be unseen by even the most observant eye.

We enter the shop, which has more in common with a long slim corridor than your average store (the idea of browsing space, having not really caught on), and discover a wall dominated by CDs without covers.  Each CD sits in a perfectly fitted clear plastic wallet, offering neither explanation nor reason for their naked forms. I stare closely at the specimens and discover them to be neither official release, nor pirated copies, but press-release promotional CDs, the likes of which are usually sent to music journalists or radio-stations.

I stare closely at a remastered release of The Police’s Reggatta Da Blanc, and notice that each CD is dotted with  stickers offering press-friendly promotional notes in Mandarin. We stop for a minute and gaze out to the River Tuo in wonder, contemplating how a small shop in the middle of nowhere in China, could have come into such a supply of promotional CDs. We come to a swift conclusion; that the store is either an ex-writer/ radio presenter/ editor’s personal collection for sale, or else a record-label company has liquidated its stock onto the market (which, according to copyright legislation, is technically illegal).

Spurred on by the apparent rarity of the promos on hand (after-all when was the last time you saw a CHINESE promotional copy of a record!), we get flicking. A few interesting titles raise their heads; a chill out CD featuring a Radiohead remix tempts my purse strings, as does a James Brown live album from the 1980s, and Supertramp’s Greatest Hits.

I scan my eyes over the hypnotically monotonous shelving, searching for anything unusual or that I have wanted for a while. I spy Roger Water’s The Wall Live In Berlin,  haphazardly jammed at the back of one of the stands near the cash register. Recorded way back in 1990, the live album features the likes of Van Morrison, Sinead O’Conner and, erm, Cyndi Lauper, dueting with the ex-Pink Floyd singer.

Picking up on the slight interest I show, the manageress slots the The Wall into the shop’s stereo and cranks it up to 11. The opening chords of In The Flesh ring out, and a biro on top of the old speakers near the till rattles as Water’s aged voice eventually  croons, “So you thought you might like to go to the show”,  the infamous first lines of that infamous album.  I listen to the track,  reminiscent of that spine-tingling night at Live 8, and, light of its 40Y (£3.64) price tag, can’t say no.

We pay up, and wander back to the balcony of our hotel, where we listen to the album, as the sun sets over the quaint river town.

Purchase:

Roger Waters – The Wall Live In Berlin – £3.64 [Tracklisting]

Total Purchases:

Armand Van Helden – Ghetto Blaster – £1 [Tracklisting]

Club Azuli 1 – Mixed By Dave Piccioni – £0.48 [Tracklisting]

Club Azuli Part 2 – Mixed By Dave Piccioni – £0.79 [Tracklisting]

Chemical Brothers, The: Brothers Gonna Work It Out – £2.77 [Tracklisting]

Defected In The House – Mixed By Copyright – £0.79 [Tracklisting]

DJ Hardy Heller – Mix In Motion – £1  [Tracklisting]

DJ Shadow – The New Collection – £2.38

Elektrik 02 – Mixed By King Unique & Nubreed – £0.59 [Tracklisting]

Fabric 25 – Mixed By Carl Craig – £0.59 [Tracklisting]

Fabric 26 – Mixed By Global Communication – £0.59 [Tracklisting]

Le Le – Breakfast 12″ – £8.24 [Tracklisting]

Moby – Last Night – £0.59 [Tracklisting]

Roger Waters – The Wall Live In Berlin – £3.64 [Tracklisting]

Santos – Camels 12″ – £1.18 [Tracklisting]

Samim: Flow – £1.98 [Tracklisting]

Underworld – Cowgirl (Remixes) 12″ – £1.18 [Tracklisting]

Underworld – Underneath The Radar 12″ – £8.91 [Tracklisting]

Total Spend: £36.68

Welcome to Understand Chinese Characters!

As a beginner perhaps just starting out in the study of a Chinese language, spoken or written, it can often be difficult to tackle. The script, though identical across the various dialects of Chinese (ie: Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, Hokkien, Hakka, etc.), can nonetheless be quite a daunting challenge to face when just starting out or seeing it for the first time. Many people claim that the writing is nothing more than little scribbles that all look the same, which is definitely not an inaccurate description for someone who has not had previous experience with it.

This website is currently being constructed to show otherwise and aims to explain the complexities of Chinese writing to the beginning, and perhaps somewhat already familiar but still confused student or even anybody just interested in how Chinese characters have come to be in their modern form.

This part of the website is the blog section, or the supplementary section to the part of the site that does the actual explaining of the characters. This blog section will aim to have posts on issues and interesting news that relate to Chinese characters and Chinese languages (and anything else I feel like putting in about China ).

The other section, or the site itself, by using simple animations, pictures, and text, aims to teach learners about the evolution of Chinese characters and how they have come to their present-day form, thereby attempting to show the accessibility of Chinese writing.

The site itself is still being built, but look for the completed version at the end of December 2009! And come back to this part of the site that is already up to get updates on the site’s progress.

Last night, the UWSP COP15 delegation held a silent auction at the STEP green fashion show (http://www.r4fashion.com/) in Toronto. While emerging fashion designers showed off their eco-fashions, UWSP members worked away at raising funds for COP15. All proceeds of the silent auction went directly to supporting the delegation. I’d like to thank Alice, Tyler and J of the UWSP delegation for all their effort and everyone else who helped support us last night. This fundraiser would not have been possible without your help!

A special thank you goes out to the following companies who provided us with donations for the silent auction. We greatly appreciate your support for our delegation and the environment.

Golden Hearth Baking Co. http://goldenhearth.wordpress.com/

 Exhibit Cafe http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kitchener-ON/Exhibit-Cafe/9070482013

 Ten Thousand Villages http://www.tenthousandvillages.ca/

Mandarin Restaurant http://www.mandarinbuffet.com/

 Kynk Naturals http://www.kynk.ca/

 UW Retail Services http://www.retailservices.uwaterloo.ca/home.html

 Inti Crafts at 444 Bloor ST W, Toronto

So as many of us know, Winglin was down last weekend.  That totally messed up my teaser-posting plans.  XDD  But that’s okay, I’ll just post tomorrow for Saturday, and then on Sunday a week later.

I’m going to finish watching Kurosagi today.  I think I’ve become a YamaKi fan.  XDD  [Or at least I am becoming one.]   I have two episodes left…what’s going to happen?!  *finishes typing this so I can watch*

I’ve also been listening to SS501’s “Love Like This” from their REBIRTH Album/Mini-album/something.  I like it so much~~~  I only found out about it because my brother was showing me the Oricon charts for the week[?], and I saw ‘SS501′ under the KPop list and made him click it.  XD  But I really like all the songs on REBIRTH!  But I think “Love Like This” is my favorite one.  I feel like writing a Korean-fanfic with that title just because I like the title/song so much [but I have no idea what I'd write for it].  XD  Oh well.

I’ve added Perfect. Just Too Perfect. onto my list of recommended fanfictions.  I really liked reading that one~  It was just so…I don’t know how to describe it.  XD   It stars Yamapi & a fictional character.

& I think that there are signs of Yamapi becoming my favorite NewS member.  XD  I never really had one before……but he’s just….awesome!   [I thought he was a little odd, but funny in Nobuta Wo Produce.  He was/is absolutely one-of-a-kind hilarious in Kurosagi, though~  XDD]

His song “Daite Senorita” is awesome too~  You should totally go check it out.  XD

And a friend of mine just reminded me that today is Aaron Yan’s birthday!!!!  I can’t believe I actually forgot… >_<  It’s like when I forgot about Daiki’s and Ryosuke’s birthdays earlier this year…. ;_;  I’ve just been too busy….  [Haha, it was his birthday; no wonder I had such an awesome day at school~  Well, awesome enough.  XD]

Awww he’s 24 now~  I absolutely love his voice; and I hope I get to hear it in a new song some time soon!  I love all the solo moments and his solo songs!  I think that one of the ones that stand out/stood out the most to be was “願意不愛你 / Yuan Yi Bu Ai Ni / Willing to Not Love You”…it’s such a sad song, but it’s so good!  So…touching….

Now…to watch Kurosagi~~

…frameworks. Theoretical, methodological, exhibition and curatorial…what and who reflect and respond to each other, where have I come from and where has that information taken me. Paper trails and constant mapping…

This could be quite a long post and I want to begin by telling you about a few things that have made me smile this week…things I have liked. I’ll begin by saying I’ve just returned from the hairdressers and they had a powercut…I left with wet hair. It’s been an incredibly random day. Anyway, I came across this via Twitter of all places, the work of Masters Illustration student called Man Ju Lee from the University of the Arts Camberwell. What struck me about her work was the sheer innocence of the narrative she used to describe her illustration and practice. I love the fact she never actually states the direct meaning of these chinese characters, just its overall emotive power, its inner entity…the ‘feeling’, it can never just be described through language. 美好, ‘mei hao’ in a literal sense means beautiful happy…how life should be. Right?

Man Ju Lee – “美好” is a Chinese word. It is an amazing and meaningful word for me. This word could be an adjective or a noun either and could be used in many different conditions.This word represents all of the good things. I expect my works will be like this word. I wish that my works could bring people美好.”

During the CCVA conference, Public Space, Art and Collective Memory a couple of weeks ago I met a Masters student at the University of Oxford called Ros Holmes. We went through the usual conversations you have at these kind of events eventually discussing our research. Having lived in China for many years, she said she knew of a contemporary Chinese artist who is very early on in his career and used Chinese characters explicitly within his practice, and in fact was trying to create a new set of characters, or radicals in this case, and terminologies. (*Too excited*)  This week she emailed me having remembered his name…Jiao Yingqi, along with a couple of article links explaining his practice one of which is called ‘Chinese Characters Reloaded‘. It would be interesting to talk to him about the concept of ‘imitation vs innovation’ and his very extreme opening statement ‘either Chinese characters die or China is doomed.’ It’s true every language has to progress through re-definition and re-categorisation, the Oxford English Dictionary is a prime example of this as they receive new words and definitions weekly. The adjective ‘achy-breaky‘ only made its way into the dictionary in March this year…

This week, I somehow ended up knee deep in terminologies, language and naming termnologies…starting with onomastics. I ended up at etymology which I’m already looking into from the translation and transference of artistic terminology from their creation in the West (largely Germany) through to the East (Taiwan and Hong Kong, to Japan to China). Looking at the known problem of modernity in translation, and the difficulties in cross-Chinese language translation and country transference such as from Japan to China. How does “Chinese” to “Chinese” translation compare? Does structure and perception change between regions? Is it ultimately modernity in translation? These seems to be what the artist Jiao Yingqi is trying to tackle. And just in case you wondered…

Onomastics – the study of proper names/their origins.
Anthroponomastics – the study of people’s names.
Toponomastics – the study of place names.
Etymology – the study of the history of words/origins of words.

I’m hoping all these terms will slowly come together. I have a distinct feeling I may have issues with the specific premise of the words I use and will be constantly defining and redefining their boundaries.

I came across a comprehensive website that acts almost like a past, present and future archive of what is out there in the way of journal and conference call outs in the Chinese arts domain called the ‘Arts of China Consortium‘ as part of NYU, New York. During browsing the vast, vast lists I came across many conferences, including the 5th International Sinology Forum called ‘China Exposed, Imposed, Proposed‘. There are again many familiar and well-known names, I am just trying to work out whether or not it is beneficial I attend? It would be nice to have a jaunt to Lisbon. Hmmmm priorities. First China next year I reckon.

As for Mandarin class this week, well…it was slight humiliation time, it seems to be the case every week. “Why don’t we try and sing Silent Night in Mandarin”, ummmm why don’t I tell you now how bad i’m going to be at it. Apart from this brief musical interlude, we were taught months, years and the weather, oh and how to say the all important Happy Christmas! (Sheng dan kuai le!) I should be typing in characters…I’m getting better, it really is just such a slow process. I’m thinking it might be more beneficial for me to have one-on-one tuition after Christmas, but then there are additional costs involved (says the girl who’s thinking of going to Lisbon for a conference).  The next day was the Pg Cert part of the PhD, this time with presentations from my supervisor Joshua Jiang and David Burrows. Joshua made me verbally question in front of the group the similarities and/or differences between curators who are trained practically (fine art) and theoretically (art historical). I’m not sure whether theoretically trained curators can ever ‘feel’ or ’see’ the same as practice-based curators. It’s the knowing and seeing process as an artist of how art is made, even the smell of a process or artistic practice that I think provides an additional curatorial facet and understanding for the curated artist. I’m not sure this even makes sense here, but I completed a Masters thesis on this topic called the ‘The Shift in Power: The Artist-Curator‘, so I should be able to verbalize it better…let me know if you would like to read a copy as bound copies sit here unread.

Jiang – “There must be flexibility in the curatorial framework to embrace the discussions of the artist and curator that are never planned…It reshapes your own curatorial framework.”

Burrows went on to discuss practice-based research as event and ontological frameworks. He referenced the work of Heidegger specifically about how we walk through a world that is already named through language, where words are reproduced and developed through repetition, and as I see it, through repetition breeds difference. In fact, when I was completing my undergraduate studies in Fine Art, I typewriter typed a phrase onto a small piece of paper and placed it within a red frame. It read “changing sentences from one to another breeds development in myself”. I swear by this phrase. It hangs on my bedroom wall…I see it every single day…you can see it below as apparently I still have an image of it from when it was in my second year studio space. Funny.

Heidegger – “What we call the world is constructed through ontological assumption produced by and engendered through language which provides an unspoken ‘context’ or background for our way of being.”

One final thought on the Pg Cert session is the conversations around codifying a new language and how the creation of new words goes through a process of translation, where language always implies a shared and plural notion of understanding – it exists for more than one person. Burrows also spoke of what got him into art – what “event” as such. This I found intriguing and very insightful. For him, it was David Bowie, and seeing the TV programme ‘Nationwide’ after the news on the BBC at about age 12, where they were reporting on an exhibition at the Tate Gallery. This made me think about my own reasons for getting into this creative whirlwind. Apart from my Grandpa being a photographer, it was one painting that I used to visit time and time again at the National Gallery as a child, and one that I still have to go and see whenever I’m in London today. It is still on display there now…‘The Execution of Lady Jane Grey’ (1833) by Paul Delaroche. I can sit in front of this piece for hours…it’s making my hairs stand on end typing about it, thinking about it, visualising it.

One final note, the New Art Gallery Walsall celebrate their 10th Birthday next year and have created this rather beautiful public project that everyone and anyone can apply to, where you create, make and send a home made birthday card to them. Super sweet…in a childlike sense…and I can’t believe they’ve been open ten years already. Time…we all know what happens…

I ♥ Shan Dong. That’s really the long and the short of it. The last few months have been extraordinarily busy on all fronts, and last weekend, I just did not want to cook (or clean, or paint, or weed, or do any of the other things I was supposed to be doing around the house). So when seven o’clock rolled around and D. started wondering what we could eat for dinner, I tried for a bye. “Umm, takeout?” Now I should note that 99.9 percent of the time when I try this, I get resistance. For the most part, we either cook at home or we eat out, and the money we save by cooking simple meals at home finances the next cocktails we get out. It’s a good little system—but every now and then, there’s a day when I just don’t have the energy to cook, let alone to motivate enough to go out somewhere. This was one of those days.

And this time, magically, it worked! We’re fortunate to have lots of great options nearby for takeout. But Saturday, I didn’t just want takeout—I wanted delivery. I wanted to be incredibly lame and lazy and curl up on the couch, watch a movie, and have someone bring me dinner. This limited our options considerably; there are only a handful of decent restaurants that deliver to our house (plethora of flyers that get left on the porch notwithstanding). There’s pizza: Lanesplitter, Rustica, or Pizza Pazza. There’s Indian from Raj on Piedmont. There’s Japanese from Sushiya on Broadway.

And then there’s Shan Dong. Shan Dong is a little restaurant in the heart of Oakland Chinatown that’s well worth a visit in person—over the years I’ve steered lots of friends in that direction and no one’s ever come back disappointed. But they also have a great delivery gig running if you’re lucky enough to live within a mile and a half of Chinatown (and we squeak in just under the wire with a tenth of a mile to spare!)

Officially, Shan Dong serves Northern Chinese (or Shandong) cuisine. In my mind, this is code for noodles and dumplings, since in northern China, wheat is the staple crop, rather than rice. The flavors and mix of vegetables are a bit different than in other Chinese cuisines more common in the United States, and there’s a much bigger fish presence on the menu. But the absolute best parts of Northern Chinese cuisine are the fried, steamed, and boiled breads in all their forms.

First: you want the handmade noodles. Just factor the dollar surcharge into the cost of the noodle dishes. You WANT them. I almost always get sesame noodles, but really any noodle dish on the menu turns into wonderful goodness when you add the handmade noodles. Shan Dong is also known for their dumplings. These are a bit better when you eat at the restaurant—steamed food in general doesn’t travel super well—but we always get the vegetarian dumplings anyway, because yum! (I also have friends who rave about the house special pork dumplings, though I have yet to try them.) I also often get mu shu vegetables because I have a mu shu obsession, and their version is especially tasty. (Mu shu is rumored to have originated in the Shandong region, and I think the pancakes Shan Dong serves put others to shame.) And they never forget the special sauces for each dish, always carefully packaged.

Since all that plus some stir-fried green beans or Chinese broccoli usually fills us up and then some, that’s generally my delivery order of choice. But when I’ve eaten with larger groups at the restaurant, I’ve also had sizzling rice soup, pot stickers, onion pancake (mmm…but no good for delivery, as I discovered once), fish in various forms, and assorted chicken dishes.

They’re not perfect. When we put our order in this time, we got an estimated wait time of 40 minutes, but the food didn’t actually show up for well over an hour. How easy it is to place an order depends very much on who answers the phone (and on how well you speak Mandarin!) But for a grand total of $40 including tax and tip, we got enough deliciousness for two big dinners with enough left over for four work lunches; you really can’t beat that. They also get points for our last order, when the woman asked me what kind of Chinese broccoli I wanted. I was at a loss, since usually I just order Chinese broccoli and something tasty shows up. “Umm, steamed?” I asked, guessing. “No, no, no, stir-fried,” she corrected. “Much better.” Okay. Stir-fried it was! (When I recounted the story to D. afterwards, he cringed. Apparently everyone knows that Chinese broccoli is supposed to be stir-fried…)

Shan Dong is also open for Chinese breakfast on the weekends, and one of these days I’ll make it there for that, because if the steamed buns and fry bread are as good as the dumplings and noodles, it’s going to be a treat. Until then, though, they remain my go-to rainy-day don’t-wanna-cook partner-in-crime.

Grade: A
Cost: $-$$

“Ola!” I had just landed at Macau airport and that was the first thing I said as I greeted the immigration officer who took my passport for inspection. It had been only a few days since I left Dili and there were still a few Portuguese phrases that had not gone to my brain’s recycle bin. Traveling to another city where Portuguese was the official language, I thought that my limited knowledge might still come in handy.

Dead silence. The immigration officer neither looked at me nor gave any semblance that he acknowledged my greeting. At first, I thought he was just being uptight in the way most immigration officers anywhere in the world usually are.  He handed back my passport after a few minutes and I said “Obrigado” (thank you) to which he flatly ignored me. He really had no idea that I was talking to him.

all the signs are in chinese and portuguese but it's useless to know the portuguese name as 99% of the people won't understand if you ask for directions

During my stay in Macau, I had encountered more of such problems. Mind you, I learned my lesson from the airport and no longer used Portuguese outside. It didn’t matter that all the signs – from the restaurants to the buildings and streets – were in Portuguese, 99% of the city’s population could not understand them. English was also useless. Fine, Macau was never under the influence of the Anglophone world so that’’s an excuse there. What was actually startling was that most of the local people also could not understand Mandarin – their national language for heaven’s sake! Some might argue that it’s only been 10 years since this small plot of land returned to the arms of the motherland (China) but Hong Kong, which has a similar recent history, sees a lot of fluent Mandarin speakers. Most locals in Macau are still monolingual up to today, and know only Cantonese.

Despite this, I find Macau to be the most European-looking of Asian cities. The territory has lots of winding back alleys, pastel-colored churches and buildings with ornate exteriors that are well-preserved due to the UNESCO World Heritage designation. One good thing to do while on a trip to Macau is to get lost exploring the cobblestone walkways.

except for the motorists, this scene could have been somewhere in Europe or Latin America

The free maps found in guesthouses and hotels usually have a few walking tour suggestions which are worth trying. These usually start in Largo de Senado and end at the southern tip of the peninsula. I did this on my first day there. My favorite stops were Guia Lighthouse which has a great view of the city, St. Joseph’s Church with its ornate facade and the Leal Senado (Loyal Senate).

the charming largo de senado

largo de sao domingos - just a few steps away from largo de senado

ruins of st. paul - perhaps the most well-known among macau's attractions

guia lighthouse

st. joseph's church

Macau has dozens of churches even though less than 10% of the people of Macau are Christians. Though well-designed and brightly painted, most are poorly attended by followers and mainly cater to tourists.

A visit to Taipa Village south of the peninsula is also a highly recommended stop on any visit to Macau. Many good restaurants serving Portuguese and Macanese fare are located in this area, and Taipa is generally not as crowded as the peninsula.

carmel church

villa de taipa

Overall, I believe Macau deserves more than just a daytrip from Hong Kong. Doing the cultural walk around the territory alone takes up one full day. Those interested in the casinos will find themselves preoccupied for one extra day at the very least. Knowing a bit of Cantonese can come in handy.

As an extra tip, do change your Hong Kong Dollars to Macau Pataca. The exchange rate is about 1.03 Pataca = 1.00 HKD. All establishments do accept Hong Kong dollars but they are taken on a 1:1 basis so might as well save 3% by converting it.

Another great Denton band that is no more. I think they put out 2 albums before calling it quits, and this is one of my favorite songs.

Mandarin “Shadow Your Shadow”

Like what you see feel free to email me at tad@creativesquall.com and don’t forget to become a fan on Facebook. Check out the Creative Squall website to see how sketches grow up to be complete ideas.

Gw sekarang dah SMA, pelajaran juga numpuk..
Sumpah dah, gw abis dari SMP ke SMA kok kaget bgini ye.. gag ada yg namanya boleh malas-malasan lagi, tapi gw tetep malas seh.. tapi emang SMA lebih padet dari SMP. Ckck.

Yah, akhir-akhir ini gw tertarik ama bahasa.. ntah kenapa.. di sekolah gw diajarkan empat bahasa, bahasa Indonesia, bahasa Inggris, bahasa jepang, ama bahasa mandarin. Gw dari SMP emang pengen juga she belajar bahasa Jepang, yah, kerana hal sepele juga she gw pengenya.. karena gw penyuka anime jepang, jadi seenggak nya bisa dikit lah bahasa nya.. gw lumayan lah, di pelajaran ini.. (yah, emang materi nya masi gampang)..
Yang kedua, bahasa Mandarin. Gw gila, ama pelajaran ini.. bukan gila karena suka, tapi karena bingung.. susah! Gag paham! Kata-kata nya sama semua dah.. paling dari sheng diao nya aja yg bedain. Tapi, apa guna, toh juga hamper sama.. lagian hurup nya bejibun gitu.. satu kata itu, punya makna, trus punya hak kepemilikan huruf ndiri-ndiri, lah, mau ngapalin berapa juta huruf dulu coba biar jago?
Berita-berita nya dulu ni bahasa mau jadi bahasa Internasional, tapi gw gag tau.. kalo ini dijadiin bahasa internasional, bisa apa gw dengan kemamapuan gw yang cuman bisa salam mandarin doang? Ni hao? Ni hao ma? Xie xie. Zhong wu shang hao. Qing wen, ni jiao shenme mingzi? Yah, itu lah doang yg bakal gw pake kemana-mana kalo bahasa internasional bakal diganti.. seenggak nya ntar gw bisa bantuan manggut-manggutin pala ama geleng-geleng dengan muka memelas kalo pun ntar gag tau yang lainya..
Segala sesuatu emang sulit pada awalnya, seenggak nya bahasa menyapa dalam mandarin gw uda bisa dikit lah meski kalo gw omongin juga belom tentu bener ntar nya.
Satu hal yang penting, yang bisa tu bahasa harus maklumin orang kek gw yang ga ngerti bahasa dia.. gw jadi ngiri, orang china aja bisa pake bahasa jawa yang medok jawa nya banget, masa kita gag bisa pake bahasa mandarin yg ke-singkek banget, bener?..
Ketiga, bahasa inggris, mulai SMA ini, gw baru aja belajar toefl, gag tau, gw kadang nyahut kadang kaga, yah, moga aja ntar nya bisa lancar. Tapi emang susah buanget seh.. ckck
Keempat, bahasa indonesia, bahasa paling gw tau, tapi ga gw kuasai. Yah, gw jadi inget apa kata guru gw.. “apakah anda yakin sudah menggunakan bahasa Indonesia?” jangan biasakan menggunakan bahasa dengan prinsip ‘pokoknya ngerti’” Yah, kebukti seh, gw tugas bahasa Indonesia uda beberapa kali disuruh kerja ulang.. apa segitu parah nya gw ama bahasa Negara gw ndiri? Tapi emang, kalo uda kebiasaan, saking banyak nya perkembangan bahsa Indonesia yg entah itu menuju kebenaran atau kesalahan. Tapi, pokoknya ngerti itu, emang harus ditegakkan menurutku.. kalo gag ngerti, ah~

Yang penting harus berhasil dalam bidang ini! Yeah! Meski gw ga tau gw milih jurusan apa ntar nya.. yuhu~