Goodbye craptastic Travel Agencies and the uber-unhelpful CITS office! I love elong! For those of you who need to make arrangements for travel in China, use it and experience the joy of competency and convenience.
I booked my tickets online through elong and I couldn't be happier with their service. Within seconds of me clicking the purchase button I got a confirmation on both my email and mobile phone. Then shortly after a customer service rep called me up and spoke perfect English to help me with my reservation because the dates I booked were no longer available.
We worked it out and then the next day the dropped the tickets off at my door (free of charge) and collected the cash for the sale. How smooth!
But that isn't even the good part...
We went to check in at the airport, blah, blah, blah. While processing our information the airline guy informs us that we actually have business class tickets! Whoohoo! So, for less money than the travel agencies, we were able to get business class tickets on one leg of the trip. Awesome. I pigged out in the lounge - filo pastry with seasoned mushrooms, really good dumplings, spanakopita... Mmmmm...
On the plane the seats were just a little more comfortable and we were served more food. Actually, I felt a little over served - the peanuts were served on china with a folded napkin.
At least we rolled into Seoul in style!
Monday, April 30, 2007
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Return to the Motherland
Ahnyeonghaseyo! (sorry, I can't get the characters to show up so you get phonetics)
Matt and I are stealing away for another short vacation in Korea! Yeah, thought a trip to my good ol' motherland was in order with us being so close. So, you know what that means...more pictures! Hooray.
I FINALLY got up all (errr most) of the pictures from the last vacation. None have really been captioned yet, but at least there is something to keep you all busy now until the next batch.
So until next time, ahnyeonghi kaseyo!
Matt and I are stealing away for another short vacation in Korea! Yeah, thought a trip to my good ol' motherland was in order with us being so close. So, you know what that means...more pictures! Hooray.
I FINALLY got up all (errr most) of the pictures from the last vacation. None have really been captioned yet, but at least there is something to keep you all busy now until the next batch.
So until next time, ahnyeonghi kaseyo!
Saturday, April 28, 2007
EXTRA! EXTRA!
I just posted, but it is back dated a little bit, not too much, but a little. Just scroll down to read it.
Also, I FINALLY have posted up some new pictures! So, pee-boy will no longer welcome you to my flickr site! I think my mom will be very happy to know that. Not that she has anything against the pee-boy, I just think she was getting tired of looking at him.
Other than that, not a whole lot of news. Spring is here, so there is a lot of stuff in the air - cotton crap, dirt, etc. The winds have been really strong some days - I got hit by some throat cheese - not mine, mind you. If it were mine, then I really can't complain too much as I was the one who would have been spitting into the wind. But I wasn't, so, I got pretty grossed out by that. Just not something you expect. Walk, walk, walk (wind howling) Splat! UGH!!! EEEEWWWW!!!
Uh, I sang in class and made them "sing with feeling" at 8 in the morning. Imagine 30 kids belting out "darling, darling, stand by me, oh stand by me..." Their reaction? Let's just say that at least it was funny for me. I'm such a colossal dork in class, that it was probably okay for them too. But they decided that they liked the Motown music, so we might try another one some other time.
Our school is going to have a big review this coming month. We just had another preliminary review. Apparently we didn't do so well on the first prelim. One of the math professors didn't finish one of the problems on the blackboard so he got a failing grade for the class. One problem unsolved = failing grade for class. This review will determine the school's rank, so it is important to them. Really, really, really freakin' important. Which means that it is incredibly annoying for everyone else. By annoying, I mean, sucks. I won't get into the detail now, I'll hold that until the actual review.
Now I'm just struggling with the internal rage that results from the vacation schedule - we have a "week" off, but have to make up two of those said vacation days over the weekend either before or after (or in the case of the Oct. holiday, one before and the other after) which often makes vacation less convenient, especially if you want to travel. Especially as they don't tell you the schedule until about 2 weeks or so before the vacation is supposed to start. Okay, so rage is a little dramatic, but there is something bubbling in my chest and it ain't happiness or um, gas. So this time, we get Tuesday, Friday and the following Monday off. We have to make up classes that would have been held on Wednesday and Thursday on this Saturday and Sunday. How sucktastic is that?
Anyhow, it's late and I'm tired. 4 AM.
Also, I FINALLY have posted up some new pictures! So, pee-boy will no longer welcome you to my flickr site! I think my mom will be very happy to know that. Not that she has anything against the pee-boy, I just think she was getting tired of looking at him.
Other than that, not a whole lot of news. Spring is here, so there is a lot of stuff in the air - cotton crap, dirt, etc. The winds have been really strong some days - I got hit by some throat cheese - not mine, mind you. If it were mine, then I really can't complain too much as I was the one who would have been spitting into the wind. But I wasn't, so, I got pretty grossed out by that. Just not something you expect. Walk, walk, walk (wind howling) Splat! UGH!!! EEEEWWWW!!!
Uh, I sang in class and made them "sing with feeling" at 8 in the morning. Imagine 30 kids belting out "darling, darling, stand by me, oh stand by me..." Their reaction? Let's just say that at least it was funny for me. I'm such a colossal dork in class, that it was probably okay for them too. But they decided that they liked the Motown music, so we might try another one some other time.
Our school is going to have a big review this coming month. We just had another preliminary review. Apparently we didn't do so well on the first prelim. One of the math professors didn't finish one of the problems on the blackboard so he got a failing grade for the class. One problem unsolved = failing grade for class. This review will determine the school's rank, so it is important to them. Really, really, really freakin' important. Which means that it is incredibly annoying for everyone else. By annoying, I mean, sucks. I won't get into the detail now, I'll hold that until the actual review.
Now I'm just struggling with the internal rage that results from the vacation schedule - we have a "week" off, but have to make up two of those said vacation days over the weekend either before or after (or in the case of the Oct. holiday, one before and the other after) which often makes vacation less convenient, especially if you want to travel. Especially as they don't tell you the schedule until about 2 weeks or so before the vacation is supposed to start. Okay, so rage is a little dramatic, but there is something bubbling in my chest and it ain't happiness or um, gas. So this time, we get Tuesday, Friday and the following Monday off. We have to make up classes that would have been held on Wednesday and Thursday on this Saturday and Sunday. How sucktastic is that?
Anyhow, it's late and I'm tired. 4 AM.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Offensive couch label traced to China
This could explain some of the dialogues I have recorded as well...
*************************************************************************************
By CHARMAINE NORONHA, Associated Press Writer Thu Apr 19, 2:57 PM ET
TORONTO - Doris Moore was shocked when her new couch was delivered to her home with a label that used a racial slur to describe the dark brown shade of the upholstery.
ADVERTISEMENT
The situation was even more alarming for Moore because it was her 7-year-old daughter who pointed out "n----- brown" on the tag.
"My daughter saw the label and she knew the color brown, but didn't know what the other word meant. She asked, 'Mommy, what color is that?' I was stunned. I didn't know what to say. I never thought that's how she'd learn of that word," Moore said.
The mother complained to the furniture store, which blamed the supplier, who pointed to a computer problem as the source of the derogatory label
Kingsoft Corp., a Chinese software company, acknowledged its translation program was at fault and said it was a regrettable error.
"I know this is a very bad word," Huang Luoyi, a product manager for the Beijing-based company's translation software, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
He explained that when the Chinese characters for "dark brown" are typed into an older version of its Chinese-English translation software, the offensive N-word description comes up.
"We got the definition from a Chinese-English dictionary. We've been using the dictionary for 10 years. Maybe the dictionary was updated, but we probably didn't follow suit," he said.
Moore, who is black, said Kingsoft's acknowledgment of a mistake doesn't make her feel better.
"They should know what they are typing, even if it is a software error," she said. "In order for something to come into the country, don't they read it first? Doesn't the manufacturer? The supplier?"
Romesh Vanaik, owner of Vanaik Furniture where Moore bought the sofa, said it has been a best seller. He said he checked his stock but found no other couch with the offensive label.
He added that he had not known the meaning of the N-word.
"It's amazing. I've been here since 1972 and I never knew the meaning of this word," said Vanaik, a native of India.
His supplier, Paul Kumar of Cosmos Furniture in Toronto, denied responsibility and refused to give the name of the couch's Chinese manufacturer.
"It's not my fault. It's not the manufacturers' fault," he said, adding that Kingsoft was to blame.
Huang said Kingsoft has worked to correct the translation error. In the 2007 version, typing "dark brown" in Chinese does not produce the racial slur in English. But if the offensive term is typed in English, the Chinese translation is "dark brown," he said.
Moore is consulting with a lawyer and wants compensation. Last week, she filed a report with the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
Commission spokeswoman Afroze Edwards said the case is in the initial stages and could take six months to two years to resolve.
Moore, 30, has three young children, and said the issue has taken a toll on her family.
"Something more has to be done. We don't just need a personal apology, but someone needs to own up to where these labels were made, and someone needs to apologize to all people of color," Moore said. "I had friends over from St. Lucia yesterday and they wouldn't sit on the couch."
*************************************************************************************
By CHARMAINE NORONHA, Associated Press Writer Thu Apr 19, 2:57 PM ET
TORONTO - Doris Moore was shocked when her new couch was delivered to her home with a label that used a racial slur to describe the dark brown shade of the upholstery.
ADVERTISEMENT
The situation was even more alarming for Moore because it was her 7-year-old daughter who pointed out "n----- brown" on the tag.
"My daughter saw the label and she knew the color brown, but didn't know what the other word meant. She asked, 'Mommy, what color is that?' I was stunned. I didn't know what to say. I never thought that's how she'd learn of that word," Moore said.
The mother complained to the furniture store, which blamed the supplier, who pointed to a computer problem as the source of the derogatory label
Kingsoft Corp., a Chinese software company, acknowledged its translation program was at fault and said it was a regrettable error.
"I know this is a very bad word," Huang Luoyi, a product manager for the Beijing-based company's translation software, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
He explained that when the Chinese characters for "dark brown" are typed into an older version of its Chinese-English translation software, the offensive N-word description comes up.
"We got the definition from a Chinese-English dictionary. We've been using the dictionary for 10 years. Maybe the dictionary was updated, but we probably didn't follow suit," he said.
Moore, who is black, said Kingsoft's acknowledgment of a mistake doesn't make her feel better.
"They should know what they are typing, even if it is a software error," she said. "In order for something to come into the country, don't they read it first? Doesn't the manufacturer? The supplier?"
Romesh Vanaik, owner of Vanaik Furniture where Moore bought the sofa, said it has been a best seller. He said he checked his stock but found no other couch with the offensive label.
He added that he had not known the meaning of the N-word.
"It's amazing. I've been here since 1972 and I never knew the meaning of this word," said Vanaik, a native of India.
His supplier, Paul Kumar of Cosmos Furniture in Toronto, denied responsibility and refused to give the name of the couch's Chinese manufacturer.
"It's not my fault. It's not the manufacturers' fault," he said, adding that Kingsoft was to blame.
Huang said Kingsoft has worked to correct the translation error. In the 2007 version, typing "dark brown" in Chinese does not produce the racial slur in English. But if the offensive term is typed in English, the Chinese translation is "dark brown," he said.
Moore is consulting with a lawyer and wants compensation. Last week, she filed a report with the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
Commission spokeswoman Afroze Edwards said the case is in the initial stages and could take six months to two years to resolve.
Moore, 30, has three young children, and said the issue has taken a toll on her family.
"Something more has to be done. We don't just need a personal apology, but someone needs to own up to where these labels were made, and someone needs to apologize to all people of color," Moore said. "I had friends over from St. Lucia yesterday and they wouldn't sit on the couch."
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Un-Crappy
Just thought that I would let you all know that I didn't have a sucky China day today. Today I went shopping all by my lonesome. My goal was to bring home a new ipod shuffle. So off I went! After thoroughly confusing the taxi driver and a 40 minute traffic jam, I arrived at my destination.
I enter the mall and am immediately accosted by people with flyers. Eventually I make my around to the ipod section. So, I communicate with the shop assistant that I am interested and want to see the small ipod shuffle in blue in Chinese. Also asked if there was an English book or CD, which there was none. Everything was going well until the end. She was saying something that I just couldn't figure out something about clear and blue. WHAT?!?! So, in a panic I call one of my recording friends to translate a little for me. He finally told me he thinks this has to do with a rubber cover that the no longer have in blue, but she thought that the clear cover was far superior anyhow. So, with the rubber cover now settled we started to joke around with the price. It just so happened that a Chinese woman was buying one at the same time, so she suggested that we go together and try to get the price down for two. Mission accomplished - we got the lowest price in the receipt book (which I flipped through while they got our packages together - nosy, nosy).
After my quest was finished, I was feeling pretty good and decided to do a little shopping around the Carrefore complex (CFC). The mall that connects to the CFC is quite a winding maze! When I went there earlier in the year, I completely got lost and could not find my way back to where I needed to go. But anyhow, this time I walked around the outside shops for a little bit and picked up a few things. Then I wandered into one of the entrances to the labyrinth of a mall. Low and behold, I found myself smack dab in the middle of a Chinese goth-ish art fair! It was awesome! Strange patch worked animals with grotesque features, anime fairy paintings, LOTS of art with safety pins, and self-loathing declarations in mangled English scrawled with fine line pen, complete with ink blobs. Ahhh...gotta love the goths.
So, I walked around looking at the interesting wares and wound up in the rotunda which was decked out with rainbow flags. I was soooo hoping that it was for a GLBT event, but thought that would be a misplaced hope here in China, but I was pleasantly surprised - it WAS for not one, but two GLBT non-profit organizations in China. I talked with some of the members of the Information Clearinghouse for Chinese Gays and Lesbians. They were so much fun and friendly! They just had such a good energy about them, I just wanted to help them out. I wound up giving them a nice donation and received 4 totally rad shirts. Hopefully I will be able to work with them a little bit before I go back to the United States.
Anyhow, after that, I wandered back to the CFC and decided to try to find some sunglasses as I had left mine on a bus some time ago. I went to one of the glasses shops that was super crowded (ugh). But had fun! What you say? You had fun in a filled to capacity and then some store? Yup I did. I was in the back with a bunch of women around my age. We sent in one of the really little women into the mob to grab as many glasses as she could manage. When she got back we were all picking through them not only for ourselves, but for each other. In the end, we all were helping to pick the "right" sunglasses for each women. I think I was there for about an hour having fun in a hot crowded store. After the sunglasses were chosen and purchased, I got my self a treat (caramel macchiato) and found out that they will be putting in a DQ/Orange Julius (score!)
Then the true test to a good day...to wrangle me a cab! I waited and waited but no cabs. Cabs would come and there would be the Chinese cab scramble and then I was left at the curb. My solution? Uh...cross the street! It was amazingly easy to catch a cab by just crossing the street! So, all my packages in one hand and a hot coffee in the other, I was whisked back to the good ol' east gate. Nice to have an un-crappy day once in a while.
I enter the mall and am immediately accosted by people with flyers. Eventually I make my around to the ipod section. So, I communicate with the shop assistant that I am interested and want to see the small ipod shuffle in blue in Chinese. Also asked if there was an English book or CD, which there was none. Everything was going well until the end. She was saying something that I just couldn't figure out something about clear and blue. WHAT?!?! So, in a panic I call one of my recording friends to translate a little for me. He finally told me he thinks this has to do with a rubber cover that the no longer have in blue, but she thought that the clear cover was far superior anyhow. So, with the rubber cover now settled we started to joke around with the price. It just so happened that a Chinese woman was buying one at the same time, so she suggested that we go together and try to get the price down for two. Mission accomplished - we got the lowest price in the receipt book (which I flipped through while they got our packages together - nosy, nosy).
After my quest was finished, I was feeling pretty good and decided to do a little shopping around the Carrefore complex (CFC). The mall that connects to the CFC is quite a winding maze! When I went there earlier in the year, I completely got lost and could not find my way back to where I needed to go. But anyhow, this time I walked around the outside shops for a little bit and picked up a few things. Then I wandered into one of the entrances to the labyrinth of a mall. Low and behold, I found myself smack dab in the middle of a Chinese goth-ish art fair! It was awesome! Strange patch worked animals with grotesque features, anime fairy paintings, LOTS of art with safety pins, and self-loathing declarations in mangled English scrawled with fine line pen, complete with ink blobs. Ahhh...gotta love the goths.
So, I walked around looking at the interesting wares and wound up in the rotunda which was decked out with rainbow flags. I was soooo hoping that it was for a GLBT event, but thought that would be a misplaced hope here in China, but I was pleasantly surprised - it WAS for not one, but two GLBT non-profit organizations in China. I talked with some of the members of the Information Clearinghouse for Chinese Gays and Lesbians. They were so much fun and friendly! They just had such a good energy about them, I just wanted to help them out. I wound up giving them a nice donation and received 4 totally rad shirts. Hopefully I will be able to work with them a little bit before I go back to the United States.
Anyhow, after that, I wandered back to the CFC and decided to try to find some sunglasses as I had left mine on a bus some time ago. I went to one of the glasses shops that was super crowded (ugh). But had fun! What you say? You had fun in a filled to capacity and then some store? Yup I did. I was in the back with a bunch of women around my age. We sent in one of the really little women into the mob to grab as many glasses as she could manage. When she got back we were all picking through them not only for ourselves, but for each other. In the end, we all were helping to pick the "right" sunglasses for each women. I think I was there for about an hour having fun in a hot crowded store. After the sunglasses were chosen and purchased, I got my self a treat (caramel macchiato) and found out that they will be putting in a DQ/Orange Julius (score!)
Then the true test to a good day...to wrangle me a cab! I waited and waited but no cabs. Cabs would come and there would be the Chinese cab scramble and then I was left at the curb. My solution? Uh...cross the street! It was amazingly easy to catch a cab by just crossing the street! So, all my packages in one hand and a hot coffee in the other, I was whisked back to the good ol' east gate. Nice to have an un-crappy day once in a while.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Introducing...the Apple iRack
Just saw this and got a good laugh from it. It takes a little long to load though.
Enjoy!
Snorting up the white
My goodness time has gotten away from me. Nothing really exciting going on around here, just the same old teaching and the same old recording.
So the highlights since I last wrote in March(!):
I have been sick for the last week or so. I thought that my sicken state would give me a little break from the recording, but as it turned out my scratchy voice recorded even better, so I had a lot of work while I was hacking up phlegm in the mike (yum!)
I was walking to the studio a couple of days ago and was enjoying breathing through my nose as it was the first time I had been able to in a little while. But things are starting to blossom here, including all of the cottonwood trees. So there is a ton of white fuzz floating around in the air. I wound up snorting in a huge piece up one nostril and hacking it up a little later, covered in snot through my mouth where it flew out onto the ground (double yum!)
I am actually enjoying my Yan Qing classes this semester. My second class is really sweet. Not all of them show up every single time, which I like as I can get to know some of the other students better. We went outside for class, plopped down in the middle of the soccer field, and had a great time talking about relationships while other students played soccer around us.
I had an April Fool post all ready to go, but didn't get around to posting it and now it is just too late, so too bad for all of you! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Got a couple of fab packages from Jerry and Gfarb. Rock on you two! They are helping my cheese need.
I was recording some more material for English learning and was reading some poetry passages and inspirational whatnot (i.e. crap). One of the sections wanted me to sing, "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)" a capella. The man who was recording with me convinced the people (after much argument) that although I am very talented, that unless I am a sassy black woman, that the song just wouldn't be quite right. So we did it all spoken word, Kerouac like. The result was probably just as stupid sounding.
So yes, this was me:
Out of the ruins
Out from the wreckage
Can't make the same mistake this time
We are the children
the last generation
We are the ones they left behind
And I wonder when we are ever gonna change it
Living under the fear till nothing else remains
We don't need another hero
We don't need to know the way home
All we want is life beyond the thunderdome
Looking for something we can rely on
There's got to be something better out there
Love and compassion, their day is coming
All else are castles built in the air
And I wonder when we are ever gonna change it
Living under the fear till nothing else remains
All the children say
We don't need another hero
We don't need to know the way home
All we want is life beyond the thunderdome
So, what do we do with our lives
We leave only a mark
Will our story shine like a light
Or end in the dark
Give it all or nothing
*snap, snap, snap* (beatnik style)
I know I have made some promises, that I have not fulfilled, but I have just been a little overworked at the moment, but I still have more pictures to put up (I know at least one reader/viewer who is very sick of the peeing boy picture up on my flickr site, cheers, Mom) and I still intend to put up some more about my travels as I haven't even written about Laos yet.
Anyhow, I'm still trying to get better, but I will try to update more often.
So the highlights since I last wrote in March(!):
I have been sick for the last week or so. I thought that my sicken state would give me a little break from the recording, but as it turned out my scratchy voice recorded even better, so I had a lot of work while I was hacking up phlegm in the mike (yum!)
I was walking to the studio a couple of days ago and was enjoying breathing through my nose as it was the first time I had been able to in a little while. But things are starting to blossom here, including all of the cottonwood trees. So there is a ton of white fuzz floating around in the air. I wound up snorting in a huge piece up one nostril and hacking it up a little later, covered in snot through my mouth where it flew out onto the ground (double yum!)
I am actually enjoying my Yan Qing classes this semester. My second class is really sweet. Not all of them show up every single time, which I like as I can get to know some of the other students better. We went outside for class, plopped down in the middle of the soccer field, and had a great time talking about relationships while other students played soccer around us.
I had an April Fool post all ready to go, but didn't get around to posting it and now it is just too late, so too bad for all of you! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Got a couple of fab packages from Jerry and Gfarb. Rock on you two! They are helping my cheese need.
I was recording some more material for English learning and was reading some poetry passages and inspirational whatnot (i.e. crap). One of the sections wanted me to sing, "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)" a capella. The man who was recording with me convinced the people (after much argument) that although I am very talented, that unless I am a sassy black woman, that the song just wouldn't be quite right. So we did it all spoken word, Kerouac like. The result was probably just as stupid sounding.
So yes, this was me:
Out of the ruins
Out from the wreckage
Can't make the same mistake this time
We are the children
the last generation
We are the ones they left behind
And I wonder when we are ever gonna change it
Living under the fear till nothing else remains
We don't need another hero
We don't need to know the way home
All we want is life beyond the thunderdome
Looking for something we can rely on
There's got to be something better out there
Love and compassion, their day is coming
All else are castles built in the air
And I wonder when we are ever gonna change it
Living under the fear till nothing else remains
All the children say
We don't need another hero
We don't need to know the way home
All we want is life beyond the thunderdome
So, what do we do with our lives
We leave only a mark
Will our story shine like a light
Or end in the dark
Give it all or nothing
*snap, snap, snap* (beatnik style)
I know I have made some promises, that I have not fulfilled, but I have just been a little overworked at the moment, but I still have more pictures to put up (I know at least one reader/viewer who is very sick of the peeing boy picture up on my flickr site, cheers, Mom) and I still intend to put up some more about my travels as I haven't even written about Laos yet.
Anyhow, I'm still trying to get better, but I will try to update more often.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
