Mary202 china salutations, how are you?

Mary202 china https://www.google.com/search?q=mary202.china@blogger.com

 

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New year, new blog

I've moved to Wordpress. The new place is lighter, brighter, and more sparkling.

I hope you like it.

http://excessivelydiverted2.wordpress.com/

Resolved

I've decided that in addition to the very important New Year's resolution of finishing my dissertation, I'm also going to do the following three related things:

1. I will waste less time on the internet

I spend a lot of time procrastinating online, reading useless websites (some from the Gawker media family) or just looking for something to read. I'm never satisfied unless I find something absorbing. Clearly, I'm looking in the wrong place. Therefore,

2. I will catch up on culture

Specifically, books and movies. My goal is to get through three per month (the dissertation does have to take precedence, after all), with one season of the TV series I've listed counting as "one". And I have a specific list in mind, one which I will add to as I remember things.

And this also leads me to

3. I will use the public library more

I can use my university library card to access the public library system, which is pretty awesome. The public library has lots of great DVDs and (duh) books that are FREE. Free!! I'll likely use my university library card to check out fiction as well, since I'll have longer due dates and I'm terrible at getting to things right away.

So what will I be reading or watching in 2010? Here's the list so far, determined purely by the intensity of my desire. This is the stuff that I really really want to get to, some out of professional obligation, but most out of curiosity. Some of it is pulpy or popular, some off the beaten track, some canonical. Needless to say, it will not be tackled in order.

Books

The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov

Camilla by Frances Burney (currently reading, stalled at a five-page sermon on female conduct)

The Wanderer by Frances Burney

Jane's Fame by Claire Harman (controversial bio of Jane Austen)

The Murdered House by Pierre Magnan

Pale Fire by Nabakov

House of Leaves by Mark L. Danielewski

Movies (on DVD)

Shadow of the Vampire

Let the Right One In

Silent Light

The Draughtsman's Contract (Peter Greenaway movie set in the early eighteenth century; was recently the subject of an interesting thread on the C18 listserv I subscribe to)

Once (I know, I know. I even own the DVD)

Where the Wild Things Are

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

The Hurt Locker

Movies (in theatres)

Mary and Max (playing at the Metro in Feb)

Police, adjective (playing at the Metro in Feb)

TV

Lost in Austen (for work)

The four recent ITV adaptations of Austen's novels which I just haven't been able to screw up the courage to watch. Will need wine for that, methinks.

The Wire

Friday Night Lights

While I won't blog extensively about my cultural consumption like Peter, I'll probably post "snap judgments" and half-baked analyses on this blog. Here's to 2010 being a more enriching year.

Texts from a long distance bus trip

Two days ago I had a houseguest, a friend from Vancouver. Being a recent grad with student loans, he decided to save some money and take the Greyhound to Edmonton instead of flying. The bus left at 6:30 a.m. and was supposed to arrive at 11:40 p.m. This is how it went from there, based on the texts that he sent me:

1:05 p.m. Just seeing if I can text you on this thing...such a ludite with phones!

1:35 p.m. Sigh...already 1/2 hour behind.

8:48 p.m. Sigh...just got signal back on my phone. you still a night owl? we may be as much as 1 1/2 hours late!

8:49 p.m. We haven't reached Jasper yet.

8:53 p.m. Sweet!! it's been a long trip...not physically tiring, just aggravating.

[I'd texted that there would be stew for him when he arrived]

9:12 p.m. Awesome...we're just leaving jasper now.

1:04 a.m. Think we're almost here...

Me in reply: By "here" do you mean Edmonton or my place?

1:04 a.m. Edmonton...coming into the city now.

1:09 a.m. Check that...it's spruce grove. feck, this is taking forever!

1:13 a.m. Yeah...sorry to keep you waiting like this. bus=uncool.

1:50 a.m. They lost my bag

1:56 a.m. Anger rising...

[Post script: My friend took a cab from the bus station and arrived at my place at about 2:15 a.m. He got his bag from Greyhound the next morning, though not without further trouble. When he got there, the one guy who had the one key to the luggage room was on his break and he had to wait a little longer.]

[P.P.S.: A text message from his return trip, as the bus had just embarked:

11:04 p.m. ... Btw, the latrine on the bus is almost entirely full ]

Flow chart

Last week, instead of working on my chapter:

I made a flow chart:

Total pages so far: 22 (at a snail's pace)

"Huzza!"

No, this is not a post about being done the chapter. It is a post about the history of language. Sorry to disappoint you twice.

I was skimming a PDF of Maria Edgeworth's selected letters tonight (thank you, Google Books for saving my bacon) and a funny word caught my eye:

Yes, Maria Edgeworth channels Mr. Burns and uses "huzza!" in a letter.

This made me wonder how old the word "huzza" actually is, and so I turn to the good old OED. As an interjection or exclamation, the earliest recorded usage found is from 1682: "these Rogues sing Huzza!"

But as a noun meaning "a shout of exultation or applause; a hurrah", "huzza" goes as far back as at least 1573, over four hundred years ago.

So Maria Edgeworth wasn't exactly ahead of the curve in terms of using "huzzah" in an 1809 letter.

This isn't the first time Edgeworth's idiom has struck me, though. One of the chapters in her novel Belinda is titled "Love Me, Love My Dog". Turns out that phrase? Appears as early as freaking 1475! 1475!

Love me, love my hound. Who knew?

Dear U of A "Annual Giving Office"

Dear U of A "Annual Giving Office":

I am guessing that my e-mail address is on your mailing list because in addition to being a grad student at this fine institution, I am also an instructor and therefore fall into the category of "Faculty and Staff". I received the attached e-mail from you today, and found myself in an awkward, cognitively dissonant position as Instructor-me was canvassed for a donation to benefit Student-me.

You should know that I already support U of A students—one arts student in particular—on a daily basis, providing needs as basic as food, clothing, and shelter. I am uncertain that going to your "NEW Online Giving website" which you tout as "efficient, secure, and most cost effective!" will actually be more efficient for me, since I already have ready access to the money that Instructor-me earns for Student-me. Moreover, I'm afraid I must regretfully decline your suggestion of making a "monthly gift via payroll deduction" because I already do so: it's called my tuition payment.

In closing, U of A Annual Giving Office, allow me to offer you a gift and suggest that you double check your mailing list and remove the names of anyone who is a student. You would come off as less insensitive that way.

Sincerely,

Student-Me

P.S. If you actually have any clout, Giving Office, perhaps you can convince FGSR to give me an extension on my dissertation, since I clearly spend most of my time writing letters to entities that will not write me back (tm McSweeney's). Thanks.

Procrastination/Exit strategies are the mother of all inventions

aka The Academic Equivalent of Kramer, II

Other inventions that I should patent/create/sell and make money from instead of finishing the PhD:

1. A collapsable travel mug. Once you're done your coffee, you're left with an inconvenient, bulky mug that you can't necessarily fit in your bag (especially if the mug has a handle). I once saw a travel cup in a Chapters that was composed of five rings that collapsed down for ease of packing. I can understand how translating that design to a travel mug with the thermal insert would be difficult if not impossible, especially considering that it should absolutely be leak proof, but if any engineer out there can make, patent and profit from this idea, all I ask is for 1% of the gross. That is all. Gross, mind you, not net.

2. A brass monkey toy with detachable/re-attachable balls. The monkey contains some kind of thermometer and when the room temperature (or outside temperature?) falls below a certain point, its balls fall off. Balls need to be re-attachable for replay value.

Double or single?

Ever since I start typing my essays on computer, I have always written my drafts in double space, mainly because the essays were required to be double spaced when handed in. As someone who has marked many essays since then, I can attest to how much easier it is to read double spaced writing.

But I seem to be in the minority when it comes to drafting. Most of my friends write in single spaced. One of them loves that magic moment when you double space an essay and the page count doubles. They've also pointed out that you can see more of what you've already written, thus can keep your thoughts together.

The latter point is an especially apt one now that I'm on (that is, back on) to the dissertation, which contains longer paragraphs than I've ever written in my life. Tonight I picked up chapter three where I left off (many months ago... sigh) and made everything single spaced. The page count was not as pretty (or in the double digits) but it was nice to develop a paragraph while still being able to see the topic sentence. Also, I realize that the other reason I've always double spaced is because Times New Roman looks too crowded when single spaced. Now that I've set Garamond as my default typefact, I no longer have that problem.

Pages written tonight: 1 double spaced (baby steps)

Pages written so far: 18 db sp

Pride and Prejudice and... vampires?

Dear HarperCollins:

Stop trying to capitalize on a the popularity of a certain teen vampire romance by trying to turn a perfectly good Jane Austen novel in Twilight Pride and Prejudice (aka Sparkly Mr. Darcy). It's embarrassing for all of us:

And don't get me started on your blurb:

"Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her."

With all the forces of the world conspiring to keep Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet apart, how will fate manage to bring them together? It certainly won't be easy if they're fighting it every step of the way. But theirs is a love that was meant to be, despite all the odds against them.

One of the most captivating love stories of all time, Jane Austen's enduring masterpiece is beloved by generation after generation. Beautifully presented for a modern teen audience, this is the must-have edition of a timeless classic.

You might be selling it a bit hard, there, considering that there aren't many emotional outpourings in Austen's social satire.

I think you should have gone with the zombies.

Sincerely,

ARGH!

Bad ideas in culinary substitution

Exhibit A for not substituting things willy-nilly:


Tahini: made from sesame seed paste (from roasted sesame seeds) blended with water, lemon juice, garlic, and parsley. How peanut butter/sesame oil could work as a substitute is absolutely beyond me.

Cultural detritus

I've been back for about 10 days and am only now catching up on all the cultural detritus and news that I missed in September, thanks in part to my friends. For example:

• the South African world-champion hurdler who opponents alleged wasn't really a woman might actually be intersex
• Serena Williams loses her shit at a linesman, threatening to "shove this [expletive] ball down your [expletive] throat" at the U.S. Open and loses her semi-final match when penalized for it
• the A.V. Club taste tested the KFC Double Down burger!
  

It itches! It itches!

a.k.a., fun with language

In China we were lucky enough to go to a hot springs resort (off season=good deals) that featured a series of hot spring pools that you could immerse yourself in. There was a ginseng pool, a mint pool, an ice pool, etc. One of the pools contained little carvnivorous turkey fish that would nibble on you while you sat there. When I first put my feet in, the fish rushed for my toes and started biting. The bites weren't painful (my cousin Jim referred to them as little fishy kisses) so much as ticklish and I started giggling. Jim kept asking me, in Cantonese, whether it itched. I kept saying no, since I was laughing, not scratching.

Turns out that in Mandarin, the way to ask if something tickles is to ask if it's itchy because there is no word for ticklish in Mandarin. In Cantonese, the dialect that my family and I speak (some of us better than others), there is a word for the verb "to tickle" and a term for "ticklish", which roughly translates to "flesh/meat sour". The Canadian cousins in turn taught Jim the adjective "ticklish", which he duly wrote down.

I did eventually lower my entire body, up to my neck, into the fish pool. The full immersion experience was not ticklish, just neat. The fish seemed to like me; one kept nibbling at my belly button.

China in Numbers

Cities (Towns) visited: 14

Tour buses: 7

Tour guides: 6

Hotels: 11

Flights: 6 (They serve congee for breakfast on Chinese airlines!)

Boats: 3

Hot Pot Dinners: 3

Times I squatted: 6 (I tried to avoid them so yes, I'm able to count the number of times.)

Trough style potty: 0! (Thank goodness! I never encountered one first-hand, but my mom, aunt and cousin did. When you have to go...)

Update - Finally compiled all my photos. Between my two cameras;
Photos taken: 3500

Random things about China

[I sent this to blogger on Sept. 21, but it never got posted, so here it is again]

1. KFC is the most popular fast food restaurant. There are apparently many factors for this, including good training of staff, consistency at all the franchises, and a different recipe suited to the Chinese palate. I have not yet gotten up the nerve to eat KFC in China, though I have eaten pig intestine.

2. I have been obsessed with an ad that I saw on a bus stop in Beijing that was promoting some kind of shrimp sandwich. The ad featured a picture of the sandwich, but also a picture of a row of people dressed in shrimp costumes (complete with the shrimp heads), lined up in a row (see below). We've always had a tour bus, which means that I've only been able to take photos of the ad on the fly, if I happen to have my camera ready. I finally got a semi-decent shot in Shanghai, and wouldn't you know it, it was for a sandwich at KFC.



3. The babies in the cities that we've visited wear pants with slits in the front and at the back. They do not wear diapers. The slits are to facilitate going to the bathroom. And rather than finding a bathroom, their parents let them do their business on the street. I have seen two toddlers squat and pee on the streets of Shanghai, leaving little puddles behind. And we're not talking narrow side streets; it was on the major Nanjing shopping street.

4. No sales tax. The price you see is the price you'd expect to pay. However, at many places you're expected to haggle. I don't know enough Mandarin to do it verbally, but every shop has a calculator to use for negotiations.

5. Related to #4. I bought a pair of shoes for 40 Chinese yuan that were originally 120 yuan. That works out to about $7 Cdn.

6. What I thought were expiry dates on the bottles of water and juice are actually production dates. Which is good, because it didn't make sense that every bottle of flavoured iced tea that I looked at was past its expiry date.

7. There are a lot of different regional cuisines in China. This does not really surprise me. What did surprise me was how little I liked them. I've found a lot of the food too greasy, fatty, or salty. This could be due to being a tour group and therefore getting set meals designed for tourists, which is a bit dissapointing.

8. The Sofitel hotel in the financial district of Shanghai charges 10 yuan to print one page at its business centre.

9. The number nine is considered lucky in Chinese culture because it sounds like the word for longevity. So this past September 9, 2009 (i.e., 9/9/9) was a popular day for weddings.

10. I will not miss the public horking. Or the expelling of phelgm through the nose onto the sidewalk, which we saw a man do our first night in Beijing.

11. When taking photos, the Chinese don't say "cheese", but rather, "eggplant", which in Mandarin makes a similar long e sound to elicit a smile.

Hong Kong: Thoughts

1. HK is shopping. Everywhere you look there's a shopping mall. There are shopping malls at the bottom of office buildings. There's shopping in Metro stations. There are little shops in every street. There's a huge shopping mall at Victoria Peak. You could easily spend days shopping in Hong Kong at grimy little stores to high end designer shops like Louis Vuitton and Coach. The consumerism got to me quite early. Having already shopped myself out in Guangzhou, I found it difficult to reconcile wanting to see Hong Kong with the fact that sightseeing entailed seeing a lot of malls.

2. No more squat toilets. Save for one, at the vegetarian restaurant at the Big Buddha.

3. Hong Kong feels a lot like the UK, which is not a surprise, considering its colonial history. The streets have names like Edinburgh Place and Coombe Street, people drive on the left side of the road, a friendly woman's voice in the Metro reminds you to "mind the gap", and the Metro has an Octopus card, which works the same as London's Oyster card.

4. In Guangzhou, I found that many people still spoke to me in Mandarin even though Guangzhou is the largest city in Guangdong (formerly Canton) province, where Cantonese is dominant. Chalk it up to Mandarin being the state-sanctioned national language. In Hong Kong, however, everyone speaks Cantonese, and I find that I can get by much better. I usually speak a mixture of English and Cantonese to my sister and cousins, and most people assume that we're from Malaysia or Singapore because of that mix.

5. Crossing the border from China to Hong Kong entails more bureaucracy than I assumed it would. We had to fill out health report forms, submit our China exit cards, and fill out Hong Kong immigration cards. It really was like entering another country, even though the handover was over 10 years ago. One country, my ass.

6. I've been wanting to go to Hong Kong for a long time, but lately I've been wanting to see it specifically because of the movie Chungking Express, which I consider in a new light now that I've been to Hong Kong. The escalators, the rampant consumerism (of products and food), and the camera's point of view of the city—all these things as they are represented in the movie are very Hong Kong. It's difficult to get a full geographic view of the city, as it's spread out across several (?) islands and is very hilly. Even the view from Victoria's Peak was incomplete.

7. Starbucks is expensive in China and HK, but the quality control is excellent and I don't know what I would have done without it, especially in HK where we decided to forgo paying for the breakfast buffet in the hotel and forage for ourselves instead.

7a. I had just ordered a coffee at a Starbucks in the Central Metro Station in HK. The white man after me asked, with a heavy German accent, for beer. He ended up buying a bottle of water instead.

Accents, language

Very few people in China ever guessed that my cousins, sister and I were Canadian based on our accents in Chinese and in English. Some of our tour guides, knowing that an English-language guide had been requested, assumed we were American. The concierge at our hotel in Beijing was surprised that my cousins Lisa could not speak Mandarin even though she's Chinese. A change room attendant in Huizhou complimented my sister on her Mandarin. My cousin asked us what the difference was between Canadian and American accents. In Hong Kong, where English is more prevalent, people often guessed or assumed that we were from Singapore or Malaysia because we would mix our Cantonese and English when talking to each other. The only people who knew that we were Canadian based on our accent was an Austrailian couple who shared a cable car with us at the Big Buddha in Hong Kong. When I asked why they didn't guess American, the guy said that he knew right away, that he could tell. I'll admit that while Austrailian was my first guess for their accent, I stopped to wonder whether they were from New Zealand.

There were also times when Chinese accents got the best of my parents, especially in more rural regions where the accents are thicker. We also struggled with Chinese-accented English, which can be difficult to work around. When one of our tour guides talked to us about our itinerary one day, my cousin Lisa kept wondering what was so special about this "iron pot" that we were going to see before leaving. It turns out the guide was trying to say "airport".