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This time I have decided to go in another direction with my favorite words, mainly, I have chosen 2 words at the same time and chosen English as the language of choice.

The first has been a long-time favorite of mine. Needn’t. Yes, some would say it isn’t a word, and I’d be one of those, but at my school, it is a word. It is a word that causes great joy. The time I always hear it is when I am about to go unpreparedly to teach the 6th graders. Now, you might say, “why are you, Mr. Prepared, not prepared?” I’d tell you, “I don’t have a book and the 6th graders are so quiet and uninterested.” So, when I see Rebecca enter the office and say “needn’t,” I high-five her and go home.

The second isn’t so much good as it is awful. Recently, while attending Babi Bar, one of my favorite clubs by the river, a well-spoken Chinese girl approached me and after the introductions, she showed me to her friends and referred to them as “homeboys” and “homegirls.” This was enough for her to have captured my heart. I will not be returning to America as I want to have a “homegirl” that is “fly” (she says that too). I told her that her English slang is awful and have hired myself as her slang tutor. She wants me to speak local slang, too, so beware, that may be on the way.

I am returning to America, don’t worry.

Found in , china, words, wuhan 5 Comments »

After our unplanned, but delightful nap, where unexplicably, I slept with my legs off the bed, Colette and I woke, in search of beer and food. We found both. It was hot. We had Mexican food, both burrito type meals with an assortment of unnecessary vegetables. I enjoyed it; however, I think Colette was less of a fan. We watched some of Knocked Up with the worst subtitles ever, I wish I could remember a good example and then we returned to our treehouse to shower and get ready.

After hearing that some people would be wearing ridiculous gear like face paint, headbands (I tried to advise some girls to get both armbands and headbands) and the like, I decided I’d spiffy up my look, so I donned a skinny tie. We took a picture, our only picture until we find Emma’s pictures. We went and got some more food, with Tami including me drinking some cold ovaltine (more on my ovaltine obsession later) this time, and watched some movie that was depressing and Mel Gibson directed, and gloomily moved out towards the beach party grounds.

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Found in , stories, thai guo 1 Comment »

I’d say this to you, “Wo de bo ke shi bu wu liao,” which means “My blog isn’t boring.” That would display another one of my favorite words and phrases “wu liao,” which I employ quite often in my (mini) dialogs with Chinese people. Here are two prime examples:

When discussing if a night is fun, I will turn to Colette and say this “Wu liao bu wu liao”, which directly means “Boring Not Boring,” but it is an acceptable way to say “Are you bored or not?” She’ll say “wu liao” and I’ll try to act crazy to supress her boredom.

A better example is in my hooping. When I play basketball with Chinese people, I tend to get bored and it isn’t because they aren’t talented. (They all shoot better than me, but they just shoot a lot with no ball movement). They learned about basketball from recent NBA and Street Ball videos, so they aren’t showing the old school skills that Europeans play with. So I get bored and I will trash talk a little, which I can’t really do (I lack the vocabulary, not the jerkiness) and then sometimes I’ll just say, “Wo hen wu liao” or “I’m very bored.” I can be mean. And then I flashy dunk on them and they cry. Game over.

Found in , china, words, wuhan 4 Comments »

On a monthly basis, the Thai island of Koh Paghnan hosts a party to celebrate the Full Moon and as I assume, celebrate the farang’s (foreigner’s) willingness to go to a party for anything. My friend Johanna from SAS told me to come down to this party from Bangkok.

We took an overnight bus, sitting first class, which means, not much, I’d have to say. I got a seat and was able to watch a strange Thai movie with lots of sound effects and a few motorcycles. We got to the ferry stop around 9am and got aboard the ship where I met my first Thai girlfriend, a girl about age 5 who was half European, half Thai and mostly not being watched by her parents as she handed my her baby doll many times and got shy as I asked her questions.

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Found in , stories, thai guo 1 Comment »

We recently received an interesting American import into Wuhan, a brand new Starbucks. We said we wouldn’t go because of the distance, but then, we had too much free time and decided to check it out.

So we went all the way out to New World Plaza with its crazy Hong Kong and American and other place fashions to find out how this Starbucks marked up to the ones back home. At first glance from the outside, you wouldn’t know you were in Wuhan, Seattle, Moscow, or even Philadelphia, but inside there was similar to an accent color, bits of Chinese writing on the menu under the larger English.

The inside looks the same as any other Starbucks including the local souvenir, a giant mug that says Wuhan with a picture of Wuhan’s very own Yellow Crane Tower. They even had the Starbucks food that I’ve come to enjoy infrequently.

I ordered a coffee with a shot of Hazelnut syrup (the girl was only slightly English-confused) and it was ready quick. At the fix-ins station, they had skim milk and whole milk, vanilla, chocolate and cinnamon powders, but absolutely no sugar, equal or splenda or any Chinese sweetener that I don’t even know.

When I asked, they were “sold out” of sugar. They offered more flavored syrup, but I declined. So, this Starbucks was identical except for that one necessity, some sugar to my coffee.

Found in , china, wuhan 4 Comments »

Back in the beginning of Chinese living, I knew very few words and phrases, and now a know a few more.

I will begin to present words and phrases one at a time, hopefully with an accompanying silly story.

Ni shi ar bai wu. This translates to “You are 250,” but it can also mean, “You are stupid.” When I was in the Shanghai airport, a group of taxi men arguing with us called me one, not expecting me to understand. Boy was he in for a surprise. I responded with a bombastic, “Wo bu shi ar bai wu. Ni shi ar bai wu. Ni shi sao.” This means, “I am not stupid. You are stupid. You are very stupid.”

Found in , china, words 6 Comments »

I have returned from my 3 week hiatus to tell you a tale about Shenzhen. It is a city with a mere ferry ride to Hong Kong’s hustle and bustle that has absorbed some of its overflow. We got there and got excited about seeing Starbucks, where I had a weak drink and answered a survey.

Then we went on the subway out to the Hong Kong border where there was a mall of fakes everythings! They had bape sta (sneakers), ipodz, handbags… It was crazy. But when I asked for prices they would say outrageous numbers and then quickly lower their prices, while I couldn’t figure out what currency they were discussing with me. The game of haggle haggle was not very fun for me, so I bought nothing. Then we flew into Bangkok late at night.

Found in , china 1 Comment »

I am reporting today from the Land of the Thai. I am towards the end of my vacation in Sunny Thailand and somethings have been awesome and some not as awesome. Mostly awesome though. I’ve seen elephants, a city that resembles Blue Sky Cafe, the moon at its fullest, temples on mountains and much much more.

I just wanted to say hello as I’ve got to go back out in the 90 degree weather. Jealous?

Found in , thai guo 2 Comments »