I haven’t carc’d it, I’m just busy. Doing 6 subjects in my final semester. Although the two Chinese language courses are easy, I’m doing some hard shit too. My background is mostly in history and cultural studies but I’ve chosen to do some economics and political science courses. Intro to Microeconomics is a piece of piss, but the 2nd year economics course on China’s Economic emergence is quite hard as I haven’t done the pre-req courses for it. The international relations of East Asia course isn’t hugely difficult but its a new area of study for me. Having submitted my 1st two essays for ECON2500 and POLS2204 last week, I realised that I was still writing from a historical perspective, but I should be writing from economics and political viewpoints respectively. Oh well, my main aim this semester is to still get the highest grades possible, but moreover - to learn new shit. I could have just taken more Chinese history classes and aced them but I’ve chosen to go out on a limb and enter new territory and hopefully through my attempts acquire a broader understanding of how things work.

I should have a recording of my Chinese to put up next week as I have to record answers to 2 questions for a spoken Chinese assessment, but I warn you the subject matter is as boring as bat shit (to the lay-person of course - I’m sure there are legions of biologists who’d love to pour over some guano for hours on end)

NOTE: Recordings were shite and I’ll not put them up, for some reason I can’t speak naturally when I’m reciting pre-written material - I’m an impromptu man. Maybe if I can trick myself by reading something out after having conveniently forgotten that I’ve turned on a recording device I’ll do something worthy of sharing.

Today is my last day of holidays before the summer semester begins. I’m taking an elective course over summer: Introduction to Macro-economics. I’m hoping I’ll be in an environment that helps facilitate my (re)learning of this broad topic. Am also working a lot, which sucks for now, but hopefully something else will usurp this current job’s position as main-income-source by year’s end. Ah. “Which year?” you ask. Could it be 07, or Pig?

The election is pretty much over. What ever the outcome, I placed my vote. Have the majority made the right choice? The event is no longer quantum. It has been measured. One can only hope that the future will be one of prosperity; not one of doom.

Greetings, I am not posting text response 3 due to confidentiality issues, so here’s number 7. I got a bit carried away with this one, so please, constructive criticism is welcome.

As has been previously discussed, the business of interpreting is fraught with danger. This also pertains to business liaison interpreting. Extreme circumstances involving criminal groups/figures operating legitimate businesses (with the propensity for violence) with which the interpreter’s client is conducting business do occur. There is potential for retaliation, if circumstances deteriorate, against not only the client but oneself as well. A more conceivable scenario; interpreter and client go shopping/sightseeing by themselves, thus exposed to common street crime and scams. However, besides latent danger, there are other important issues for a business liaison interpreter to consider.

When hired by a client the primary task may be facilitating the trip’s overall success. The criterion thus contingent on all variables within the scope of the interpreter’s relative expertise in conjunction with the client’s own skill set, yet susceptible to the capricious nature of events. That being said the interpreter has a great responsibility, with the successful flow events often determined by strategic and erudite use of language and cultural skills. Knowing when and when not to use a language is essential, as the following examples would suggest.

Poor travel conditions can have detrimental effects. The interpreter’s job is to facilitate smooth travel, moreover, make the airport experience as painless as possible for the client. Business people on sourcing trips often carry excessive baggage; carrying samples to and from their own country. When checking-in in a foreign domestic airport the interpreter might assume that using the local language will speed up the process. However due to the difference in international and domestic weight limits, the client is often charged for excess baggage, wasting both money and, more importantly, time. By using one’s native language (assuming in a country not one’s own), often monolingual staff will become flustered and simply wave you through as it saves them trouble and frustration. This does not always work, but it is a useful trick to know.

There are situations where the interpreter may be requested to not speak the other language so as to glean sensitive information carelessly mentioned by unsuspecting parties. If the interpreter is very intimate with said party’s culture and language, especially in social/business situations such as banquets, it is not unheard of for the interpreter to accidentally request a drink or salt/pepper in the other party’s language. Sometimes this happens as second nature, as it did to me once. Luckily I was able to cover my error as the other party was aware that I possessed a basic knowledge of their language, and they were arrogant enough to think that I couldn’t understand their complicated private discussions.

In conclusion, there is a lot more to liaison interpreting for clients on business trips than mere language ability and cultural knowledge. Judicious and discreet use of linguistic ability is but one of many essential attributes, requiring a dynamic and discerning approach coupled with strict self-discipline.

My gosh it doesn’t seem like 2 months since my last post. I’m quite busy attending classes, studying, taking exams, working, being a husband and a son, I have very little time for myself. But that’s the reason I left my comfortable cocoon in Suzhou- in order to finish my degree. With being a student comes poverty, with poverty comes sponging of the parents, with sponging of the parents comes living under someone else’s roof, and with that comes conflict. All in all I’d say things are going quite well.

The grades I’ve received so far are 7’s which may be recognized as A’s in other countries, so the study is paying off.

I have 3 pieces of assessment due on the 17th October for my Contemporary Chinese History class. My large essay is about the Hukou system in China. I won’t go into detail now, as it is the work on that essay that I am presently procrastinating.

I thought I’d put up my second piece of writing from my Issues in Translation and Interpreting class. Here goes;

Translating idioms and metaphors from one language to another is more often than not a difficult task, especially when the cultures of each language seem like polar opposites. How do you interpret an idiom/metaphor? Do you explain it in explicit detail, removing any wit that may have infused it? Do you just skip it altogether and simply substitute something mundane that conveys similar meaning, or even embellish it with a witty remark in the target language? Or do you make it a point to learn idioms and metaphors in the target language and build up your repertoire?

Idioms and metaphors have evolved from a multitude of sources and are laden with cultural and historical nuances and subtleties.
Hence when trying to interpret such cultural-linguistic phenomena, especially for completely different cultures such as Chinese and English (western), the interpreter has to be able to find suitable idioms and metaphors in the target language in order to achieve the desired effect. A relatively simple example of this ‘The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence’. Having discussed this with some Chinese associates, the closest they could come up with translated as; “Your friend’s wife is usually more alluring than your own.”

If unsure of the equivalent saying in the target language, you could explain it in detail, including some cultural references. However this is time consuming and may cause discomfort to the parties involved (in liaison interpreting) as the remark usually loses its intended effect. An alternative is to skip the literal interpretation and embellish it with something similar that achieves the desired effect. I once was asked to interpret ‘Bean counter’ into Chinese, and to explain that an accountant is called a bean counter because they count ‘beans’ which means money. Instead, I said that an accountant is a ‘bead’ counter, as the accountant counts the ‘beads’ on the abacus. This achieved the desired affect.

Ultimately, it is in one’s best interests to learn as many idioms, expressions and commonly used metaphors in both the source and target languages. If lacking direct equivalents, then create your own concise and witty explanations. ‘Be prepared’ shouldn’t just be the Scout’s motto, so next time you are asked to translate ‘Nice from far, far from nice’ into Chinese, you’ll be able to say, without batting an eyelid; “远看一支花，近看豆腐渣“ (From afar it appears to be a flower, but up close you can see that it resembles tofu dregs).

One of the classes I’m taking is a third year introduction to professional interpreting and translation class. Each week we have to read a text, and respond with a piece of writing no less than 450 words. Below is the original text, and further below that is my response.

Australianisms

One of the things I love about Australia is the creativity that goes into evolution of the English language with such words as milko, garbo, cuppa, stoush, larrikin, smoko. However, none of these words should be used in the booth. Nor should baby talk such as ‘coffee and bikkies’ or ‘tummy’. (I cannot help a smile at the thought of a medical conference where the interpreter talked of ‘tummy pains’, or ‘chemist’ instead of ‘pharmacist’.)

Australianisms do, however, present a problem. Australian delegates, probably because they are mostly monolingual, use local colloquialisms which are difficult to transpose into other languages and seem quite unaware that everything they say is being painstakingly translated into French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and so on. Sometimes they use these expressions deliberately, believing them to be amusing.

Living in Australia, we hear expressions like ‘things are crook’, ‘headless chook’, and ‘fair dinkum’ so often on the radio and television we might be forgiven for thinking they were formal English. They are, however, Australianisms, and probably will not be understood at an international conference by many of those listening to the floor channel; that is, listening to the original English, such as delegations from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Kenya, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and so on as well as the USA and Canada. The non-English-speaking delegates are more fortunate, because you will be able to interpret them in a way they can understand.

… A former prime minister used the following expressions in one session when I was interpreting for him: ‘the two concepts are pegged’; ‘We were investing our dollar while everyone else was having a barney in the Middle East’; ‘The Americans are mucking around with their currency’; ‘We are running twin deficits’; ‘There’s plenty of money sloshing about’; ‘The Australian dollar is commodity-driven currency’; ‘… and that is when we started sucking in all the producer goods’; ‘Investment shot through the roof’; ‘The interest rate literally took the stuffing out of the place’; and ‘The little countries keep getting ripped off’.

Valerie Taylor-Bouladon (2000) Conference Interpreting: Principles and Practice,

MATT’S RESPONSE
This text appears to be discussing the fact that different countries, we could even go further and say locales within these countries, whilst possibly sharing a common tongue, have their own peculiar colloquialisms that are less likely to be understood by those from other locales/countries. Thus when presenting information to those from a variety of geographical backgrounds one should be considerate and attempt to communicate in a manner that will be universally understood by speakers of that particular language. The example of Australianisms was the vehicle for the author’s argument, however another good example would be Chinese.

Semester 2 of 2007 at University of Queensland, St Lucia campus has officially commenced.
I’m currently enrolled in 4 courses, as follows:

1. CHIN3110- Spoken Chinese III B
2. CHIN3020- Written Chinese II B
3. HIST2101- Contemporary Chinese History- China Taiwan and Hong Kong since 1949.
4. LTCS3002-Translating and interpreting

A portion of the assessment is web-based in the form of e-learning forum threads and posts, hence this blog will serve more as a place where I reflect upon my studies.

Being back in Brisbane is awesome and Wang Ying seems to be enjoying herself.

Until next time…

Wangying and I leave China tomorrow, July 8th.

My photos willbe posted on flickr, but not for a month or so as we have lots of things to do once we get back to Brisbane.

We’ll be back in China soon- a visit in Feb 08 for CNY then back again for another long stretch a year or two after that.

Once in Brisbane I’ll be writing again, but it will about the topics that I’l be studying.

Wish us luck, until the next post…

Have officially left Suzhou, sold my business there, moved our shit in a 30 tonne lorry back to Lingbi then went on holiday to Chengdu- Great place.

Now interpreting across China with an Aussie pool chems and related goods businessman. No time for anything but work and sleep.
Leave for Australia with Wangying on July 8th.

Took 600 photos in Chengdu, must sort and PS, but unless Flickr is fully unblocked any of my remaining China readers won’t see sweet F.A.

Must rest now, up early tomorrow.

It’s official, Wangying and I are leaving Suzhou at the start of June. I’ve found a suitable teacher to take over my clients when I leave, and what’s more, he’ll be taking over my apartment lease when we leave as well.

The new guy is a fellow Australian with an actual REAL teaching degree from Griffith University in Australia. Most importantly he’s responsible, nice, relaxed, but most importantly- responsible.

So we’ll leave Suzhou on the night of June 11th and head off on our trek to Sichuan and hopefully XinJiang. The original plan was to travel for six weeks from Shanghai to Hunan then all the way across China to Sichuan then up to Gansu for the Silk Road trek into Xinjiang and finally to Kashgar before returning to Lingbi (WY’s hometown). We were going to travel by train so as to see as much of the countryside that we’d be traversing. But ‘The The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men Gang aft a-gley’- I’ve got another 10 day interpreting gig smack bang in the middle my planned odyssey, and due to the importance of this trip I had to prioritise it above my grandiose travel aspirations.

And thus travelling hasd been reduced to a 2 week mini trek. We won’t be heading to the famous famous national park in Sichuan, instead we’ll be heading into the Tibetan Autonomous region, but nothing is confirmed as yet as I’m awaiting for word from our man on the ground in Sichuan as to where to go. We initially were thinking Kangding and Litang but I have the feeling they may already be over developed. We are trying to find some remote villages in the mountains that don’t have major bus routes yet but are accessible by small car. We may be courting disappointment as that area has been popular with ‘off-the-beaten-path’ tourists for years. Anyway, after Sichuan we’ll fly to Urumqi then on to Kashgar.

Of all the places in XinJiang I think Kashgar and it’s surrounding countryside interests me the most. Apparently Lake Kurukul is mostly over developed, but I’ve heard that there are back ways into the local village areas outside of the main tourist area but are still lakeside, and the scenery is breathtaking nonetheless.

So I’ll be heading to Shangdong, Hebei, Tianjin and Beijing interpreting for an Australian businessman who’s sourcing some more products for his already burgeoning trading and retail businesses for about 10 days. That trip will finish up in Beijing on the 4th of July, then its back to Lingbi on the night of the 5th in order to spend 2-3 days there to say goodbye to friends and family, then finally Wangying and I will fly out of Shanghai for Brisbane on July 9th (tickets have yet to be purchased so that date may change).

Once back in Brisbane, I’ll finally finish off my degree (majors in Chinese and Asian Studies), I’ll probably also study a management diploma. About a year later I’ll be looking for a job- most likely a management position utilizing my Chinese skills.

PS. Still no word yet on the F^cking Macbook.

I’m so f^cking pissed off, everywhere else in the world that sells Apple products now sells the recently updated Macbook, BUT NOT CHINA!!!

I’m leaving Suzhou in another 4 weeks and I wanted to buy Macbook this week because I’m sending my PC back with our clothes etc by sea. But they won’t have the updated products until June. F^CK!

Today is ANZAC Day -Australian and NewZealand Army Corps. We think about those who fought in WWI (poor buggers) and those who fought to keep our country safe in WWII, and those who’ve fought and died in other wars- justified or not, they were following orders. Those who did fight, get together to talk about the war, and possibly have a few pints. There’s also ANZAC marches in every city in Australia.

Back in 2004, after about 6 months of living in Suzhou I suffered a bout of vicious colds, flus and chest infections. The main reason was that I was riding my bike all over town every day; many short trips at high speeds. The change in temperatures I was experiencing, coupled with the shitty air that I had to breathe detrimentally affected my immune system. I was sick for about 6 weeks until I finally found the god of Chinese medicine men; Dr Yang.

This is the first of a few posts that I’ll be writing over the next few months about Chinese Medicine and my legendary doctor, I’ll address the concept of ‘fire’ in another post. Please see the end of this post for a summary on the important points to remember regarding Chinese medicine. If you want to learn more Chinese Medicine related Chinese vocabulary then check out ChinesePOD

Allow me to highlight some of the short commings of the Chinese medical system that I’d experienced in my journey through the dark tunnel of seemingly endless malady. I first went to a normal hospital to see a doctor, he seemed nice but he gave me super strong antibiotics that caused an allergic skin reaction. Not only did he prescribe the antibiotics, but about 4 other types of pills as well. I found out later that the doctors get a commission from their medicine sales through prescriptions. I took his medicine for about 2 weeks, then I changed doctors. I went to the local Singaporean Doctor in SIP, Dr Fu. It cost about 400RMB for the appointment, then he prescribed me 7 types of medication which of course must be dispensed from his own stocks. Lets see, there was something to open my airways, something else to settle my stomach when taking the medicine, something to clear my nose, something to bring up the phlegm, another anti-inflamatory, then another pill to counter the possible side affect of body tremors from the other medicines. DOCTOR FU IS EVIL He is the designated doctor used by most foreign companies in Suzhou,so when their employees and their families require a GP, they see Dr Fu and the company has an account. The man makes tremendous amounts of money by over-prescribing and selling his own medicine. I took his medicine for 4 days until I was dizzy and having body tremors, so I stopped his medicine. I then went to the No.1 hospital in Suzhou where the doctor suggested I have an antibiotic IV drip. Of course I refused. Instead he gave me another course of expensive antibiotics. This time I took the prescription to a chemist on Shi Quan Jie where they sell antibiotics without requiring a prescription (I had a prescription though) and took another week’s course to no avail. I gave in and went for a drip which seemed to work for about 3 days and then the horrors of stuffed sinuses and liquid lungs continued. My immune system had been absolutely slaughtered by the western medicines prescribed by these so called takers of the Hypocratic oath. Finally when I went back to my regular pharmacy on Shi Quan Jie, the doctor suggested I go and see Dr Yang, a retired Director of two hospitals, an ex-practican of western and Chinese medicines, a famous TCM Dr, and since then he’s the only doctor I’ll go to.

Dr Yang in reflection

Dr Yang is now retired, but he practices from his own house. When you go into his office, its full of people, patients come from wide and far to see him. He’s famous in not only JiangSu Province but also all over the country, he’s even treated Tibetan Lamas. The moment I met him I instantly liked him. Introducing myself and mentioning my busy schedule, he allowed me to jump the queue. He sat there behind his desk with a cigarette in his right hand and my wrist in his left, feeling my pulse. He looked at my tongue, asked me to switch hands and asked a few questions about my state of being. The he proceeded to write out a prescription and told me that I should be cured with the first course, but required another course to fix my immune system. I asked him if I could still drink, smoke and eat chilli, he said of course, but in moderation. This made me so happy as all the other doctors warned me not to drink any alcohol, eat any chilli or smoke any ciggies. I handed over my 30 RMB and said thanks. He is the king of cool, all his movements are slow and graceful, he’s never in a hurry. His only vices are good Chinese tea and good ole ChungHwa cigarettes. After my two courses of medicine I didn’t catch another cold for 3 months.

As mentioned I’ve been going to a Chinese doctor for the last 2.5 years, if you are lucky enough to find a truly authentic and experienced Chinese doctor, you’ll find that most common ailments can be treated easily. My Doctor is the retired 院长 of both a local hospital and the TCM hospital in Suzhou and he practices from his home now. One of the many good things about him is that he only writes prescriptions, he doesn’t sell the medicine.

You may find that in most cases in Western medicine hospitals in China the doctors over prescribe as they get a commission from medicine sales, this also happens with some TCM doctors who are linked with certain pharmacies, so be careful.

An important part of Chinese medicine is not only the right prescription, but the quality of the ingredients and the preparation and cooking methods as well. Be sure to locate a store that stocks high quality Herbal medicine ingredients and ask them for explicit directions on preparation and cooking. You’ll also need a decent earthenware pot to cook it in.

I find that TCM does cure cold and flu symptoms, but it does take a few days, however TCM also works on the ‘root’ of the problem, hence if your immune system is low and you get sick regularly, the right TCM along with a balanced lifestyle (no drinking bouts whilst taking it, but a beer a day is ok) should have you feeling stronger in the long term. Depending on your ailments you may take a week’s course, yet for other ailments you may end up taking the medicine for a few months.

Regarding the flavour; just deal with it.

So here’s a summary on the important points to remember regarding Traditional Chinese Medicine.

1. Find an authentic Chinese Doctor. A doctor not related to a pharmacy is usually better, if you are having trouble finding one, then ask some older local people about any famous TCM doctors they know of.

Since I’ve bought my new camera I’ve had to learn some new words in order to talk about photography with my wife and friends. Here’s a brief vocabulary list of words I’ve encountered thus far. It’s by no means comprehensive, and may even have some inaccuracies. So please correct me on any mistakes you may find, and feel free to suggest more words, I’ll update this list accordingly.

JUST ROLL YOUR MOUSE SLOWLY OVER THE CHINESE TO SEE THE PINYIN ROMANIZATION

Apperture: 光圈

f-number (aka f-stop): f 号

Depth of field：景深

ISO speed: 感光度

Sensor: 传感器

Shutter: 快门

Exposure: 暴光

Shutter speed: 暴光速

Stop：档

Focus：对焦

Focal point: 对焦点

Lens cap：镜头盖

Lens：镜头

Foreground: 前景

Mid ground: 中间景 (I made that one up myself, so it’s probably inaccurate)

Background: 背景

Canon: 佳能

My lack of recent posting is due to my preoccupation with my recently purchased Canon EOS 400D DSLR camera. I must give a HUGE shout out to DEZZA of MASK OF CHINA: HK EDITION fame for his tremendous efforts in successfully procuring my camera and lenses etc and for his supreme haggling skills. I must also thank my students’ Mum for bringing the goodies back to the mainland for me.

Here’s a list of what we bought:

1. Canon EOS 400D camera

2. Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO lens This is a good all-round lens.

3. Tokina AT-X 124 AF PRO DX lens. This is a wide angle aspherical lens which is suitable for taking landscape photos.

We got a whole bunch of other stuff such as an extra camera battery, a 2Gb card, tripod, bag and two lens filters, a UV filter for the Sigma and a circular polarized lens for the Tokina.

My shots on flikr are not worth linking to yet as I’m a complete novice who hasn’t yet developed the ‘eye’. But one must start somewhere right!

In response to
Jonh at SINOSPLICE’s rant about why he hates Chinese New year, I’d like to leave a quick note about why I like Chinese New Year in Wang Ying’s hometown. I must make it clear that I do NOT like CNY in Suzhou, nor did I enjoy it in Hebei, but I love it in Lingbi, the hometown of my beloved wife, Wangying.

I’m sitting here in a dingy Internet cafe (Net Bar/ 网吧) and time is very short, so here we go:

This is my 4th CNY in China, and the first one I’ve spent in my wife’s hometown.

Let me just say something about fireworks; the noise level and timing all depends on where you live.

Places like Shanghai and Suzhou really suck because they have all these traditional rules for when they set them off, and that seems to be every hour throughout the night, at at certain points during the day.

I think that in Suzhou, they have many intricate rules that have evolved over the many years that the city itself has existed (apparently 2000 years)

Here in Lingbi, Anhui, they only set them off before each meal, and usually throught out evening but they stop just after midnight and don’t commence again until about 8am the next day.

I’ll list whats been cool about CNY for me:

#1. We didn’t watch the craptacular!
#2. Her family aren’t big drinkers and they also enjoy beer.
#3. I do enjoy a glass of 五粮液 Wu Liang Ye at lunch in the cold weather.
#4. We eat awsome food every day for breakfast lunch and dinner.
#5. I didn’t blow up enough stuff as a kid so I buy fireworks and then make hybrids. For example rockets with cherry round plastic shelled cherry bombs affixed to the top in place of the rocket cap.
#6. Blowing shit up rocks!
#7. I can actually sleep through fireworks; a talent I developed in Hebei.
#8. I rock at Mahjong!

I can’t think of any other reasons off hand, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this year’s CNY. However I am leaving for Suzhou on 初四 (4th day of the CNY) which is going to suck!

I’m heading back to Lingbi 灵璧 today. Having a small holiday for Chinese New Year. May post during the celebrations. HAPPY PIG!

Last Friday was Australia Day, and it was also the day on which we were notified of the fact that Wang Ying’s (temporary) AUSTRALIA PROVISIONAL RESIDENT VISA was granted. The passport with the visa has arrived, and we are now making solid plans to return to Oz.

Her visa is temporary in that when one applies for the permanent spouse immigration visa, if the application is successful, a temporary visa is issued which is valid for two years. After two years the permanent resident visa application is reviewed and providing everything has gone smoothly ie. the applicant hasn’t been caught committing any crimes, and is still married to their Australian spouse, the permanent resident visa is granted.

We applied for the visa on December 19th, and were told that the process would take about 28 weeks. We initially aimed at returning to Australia in July, thus the visa being issued, we could return home and I could recommence my studies in semester 2.

The visa was granted 5 weeks after the application was lodged.

All I can say is that I did my research, and provided all the requisite materials. I was very thorough. I’ve seen people going for their 3rd and 4th visa applications because they didn’t full in the forms correctly or didn’t provide enough evidence, not only wasting precious time but also huge amounts of dough. FOOLS!!!

Our application was also very straight forward, no prior marriages, no kids, same age, and lots of photos from various parties and holidays with many a change of hairstyle. The fact that I translated all our materials myself and had an initial interview in which the interviewer, Wang Ying, and myself all spoke in fluent Chinese would have given us extra brownie points. Most importantly, our feelings for each other are genuine and that would have been obvious to our case officer.

Although I currently earn the required amount to sponsor my wife in Australia, the fact is that I earn it in China, and being a freelance educator I don’t have solid evidence of my income, one of the downsides of a cash business. Hence I was unable to provide the Assurance of Support (AOS) which is required to ensure that any government welfare payments received by the visa holder (not that she’d take any!) in the first two years are paid back.

So a big thanks to my sister for providing the AOS. YOU ROCK!

Almost simultaneously my 1 year work and residence visa was also issued by the Chinese PSB.
So I’m now legal for another 12 months. But as I said before, we’ll be leaving in July.

Before we leave, I’m planning on doing a trip from East to West China. Shanghai-Changsha-Zhangjiajie-Chengdu-Kangding-Chengdu-Lanzhou-
Jiayuguan-DunHuang-Turpan-Urumqi-Heavenly Lake-Kashgar-
Lake Kurukul-Tashkurgan-Kashgar-Urumqi-Shanghai

I’ll post my tentative itinerary later today or tomorrow, any suggestions, experiences or vauluable links will be much appreciated.

Once again its Australia Day, known to some as Invasion Day. Which ever way you look at it, you will most likely find THIS quite amusing.

So it’s now 2007. What lies in store for us? Dunno yet, we’ll see. As most people are aware, due to the recent Taiwan earthquake, access to the net outside China from within has been pretty sketchy. It’s getting better as the seafloor cables are being repaired as we speak.

A few links that you should check out that I in my ignorance have not been fully aware of until now are: Life In Suzhou China- Adventures of the Humanaught , a well written account of life in - yep you guessed it- Suzhou, China. This guy is good, and his tech-ery quite skilled. There’s the blogposts with podcasts AND a video blog too. All self taught it seems.

Another great thing is the HaoHao Report which is an accumulation of the best blog posts on China from all manner of angles. The posts are voted in by netizens (and the authors themselves in some cases, which to me is quite okay as there are many undiscovered pearls in this big stinky online oyster colony we call the blogosphere, and it’s fine by me if it takes the authors of such posts to make their posts known by voting themselves onto the Hao Hao Report, as each post apparently has to voted on by other HaoHao’ers in order to be officially listed in a top 10)

If I have given any misinformation regarding the HHR, please by all means correct me.

I spent New Year’s Eve at an old Tang Dynasty Buddhist temple listening to the chanting and the 108 bangings of the huge bell to welcome in the New Year. I have footage of the chanting and pics of the fireworks. A post should follow I guess. BTW I can’t run Photoshop on my computer at the moment so my pics will be raw ie. crappy. (the best excuse I could think of– basically I am shite at taking photos)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE, WISHING YOU GOOD HEALTH AND HAPPINESS. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN CHINESE VERSIONS OF CHRISTMAS CAROLS THEN CHECK OUT SINOSPLICE

We applied for Wangying’s Spouse migration visa today at the Australian visa office in Shanghai. The interview was fine and we had all the required materials and documents and evidence etc. Putting it together was a major mission. I’ll post about it later, I have work to do now. In fact I’ll post a list of the stuff we took. Till then, take care.

I started my Little Gems section about a year ago when I posted a charming little sentence with picture created by my grade 3 student.

So here’s the long awaited Little Gem #2.

Grade: 4
Nationality: Taiwanese
Unit: History
Title: Pooramid

I’ve got another 2 or 3 which I shall post in the proceeding weeks/months.

NOTE: I made a mistake when I first published this post regarding the nature of the Little Gem #1, it has since been corrected

It’s now officially winter here in Suzhou, yet the weather still resembles that of autumn.
The one thing that irritates many of us here in Suzhou is the constantly fluctuating temperatures.

Regardless, it’s always nice to look at the golden leaves adorning the trees, while they last.
So here’s a picture I took with my phone on Dao Qian Rd 道前街 last week.

I’ve been working on a new post for the last day or so. I’ve only just started going through a photoshop tutorial, yeah I know it’s pretty overdue, but better late….

Anyway it’s a China info/story post and it’s 75% complete. The images, as ammature as they are, are all ready and I’m just finishing off the last 2 paragraphs. So please come back tomorrow or Saturday and check out the new post. You won’t be disappointed.

Seeyou then.

Benjamin from cultured.fishspeaker.com has just moved to Tianjin and is learning Chinese. His observations about his new life and the trials and tribulations of learning a new language are so familiar. From his excitement about being able to string a whole sentence together in Chinese, making the transition from sign language to speech communication, to being able to order noodles (unable to read the menu) and receiving exactly what he asked for, there are plenty of wonderful observations on his blog that are the unique province of the China rookie. Check him out.

Once again Australia observes REMEMBERANCE DAY.

Remembrance Day is the day Australians remember those who have died in war.

In 1918 the armistice that ended World War I came into force, bringing to an end four years of hostilities that saw 61 919 Australians die at sea, in the air, and on foreign soil. Few Australian families were left untouched by the events of World War I - ‘the war to end all wars’ most had lost a father, son, daughter, brother, sister or friend.

At 11am on 11 November we pause to remember the sacrifice of those men and women who have died or suffered in wars and conflicts and all those who have served during the past 100 years.

As written on the Australian government’s Department of Veteran Affairs site.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WANGYING!!!

It’s my wife’s 31st birthday today. We are planning a dinner tonight, there will be a total of 8 people which is a pretty good number in this corner of the globe.

Photos will follow.

Alas, I have been absent for some time. My parents enjoyed their sojourn with us here in China, and I shall find tremendous pleasure in recounting the details as such. However work takes precedence, therefore efforts to do so will continue to be hindered until the week leading up to the Mid Autumn Festival on October 6th.

The weather here in Suzhou has changed dramatically in the last 4 days. No longer are we basking in the sun(or hiding from it under long sleeves and umbrellas as is the case for the local female population) and perspiring in the humid 33 degree heat. Nay, we are perambulating fully clothed, and under the feeble protection of umbrellas in order to avoid the rain-droplets that are ceaselessly descending from the sky. The thermometre reads 18 degrees, yet it feels colder.

Until next time.

I have been informed that Scotch whisky is indeed spelt without the ‘e’, whereas Irish whiskey contains the ‘e’.

I shall examine my vessels in more detail in the future, and attempt to learn more about this wonderful drink before expounding it’s qualities in such an unlearned manner.

The related post has been edited.