HOLY FRIKAMOLY BATMAN!!! im going to CHINA!!! canada world youth just emailed me to say ive been placed on the China/Atlantic programme. which means ill be living in some atlantic province for a few months, and then get shipped somewhere in China.
at first i was kinda disappointed cuz i was really hoping for a placement in Africa or even India. thing is they did offer me a placement in Mali but it started too early, and it really wasn't feasible for me to go. and i guess this is a good chance for me to connect with my chinese roots. and the clincher was the realization that, hey, i get to eat chinese food 24/7!!! i hope. ive heard horror stories of other cwy participants who dont get fed for days. i hope i get to learn some kung fu, play with pandas, and party with jet li.
anyways, the programme starts august 28 until march 12 or sumshing. wow...from japan to china. this'll be interesting to say the least.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Friday, May 11, 2007
Learn to speak chinese in 5 minutes!
(You MUST read them out loud)
1) That's not right..............................Sum Ting Wong
2) Are you harboring a fugitive? ...........Hu Yu Hai Ding
3) See me ASAP.................................Kum Hia Nao
4) Stupid Man....................................Dum Fuk
5) Small Horse...................................Tai Ni Po Ni
6) Did you go to the Beach? ................Wai Yu So Tan
7) I bumped into a coffee table..............Ai Bang Mai Fa Kin Ni
8) I think you need a face lift...............Chin Tu Fat
9) It's very dark in here.......................Wao So Dim
10) I thought you were on a diet...........Wai Yu Mun Ching
11) This is a tow away zone................No Pah King
12) Our meeting is next week................Wai Yu Kum Nao
13) Staying out of sight.......................L! ei Ying Lo
14) He's cleaning his automobile............Wa Shing Ka
15) Your body odor is offensive.............Yu Stin Ki Pu
16) Great..........................................Fa Kin Su Pah
1) That's not right..............................Sum Ting Wong
2) Are you harboring a fugitive? ...........Hu Yu Hai Ding
3) See me ASAP.................................Kum Hia Nao
4) Stupid Man....................................Dum Fuk
5) Small Horse...................................Tai Ni Po Ni
6) Did you go to the Beach? ................Wai Yu So Tan
7) I bumped into a coffee table..............Ai Bang Mai Fa Kin Ni
8) I think you need a face lift...............Chin Tu Fat
9) It's very dark in here.......................Wao So Dim
10) I thought you were on a diet...........Wai Yu Mun Ching
11) This is a tow away zone................No Pah King
12) Our meeting is next week................Wai Yu Kum Nao
13) Staying out of sight.......................L! ei Ying Lo
14) He's cleaning his automobile............Wa Shing Ka
15) Your body odor is offensive.............Yu Stin Ki Pu
16) Great..........................................Fa Kin Su Pah
relationship advice
Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl "Will you marry me?"
The girl said, "NO!"And the girl lived happily ever after and went shopping, dancing, camping, drank martinis, always had a clean house , never had to cook, had sex with whomever she pleased....did whatever the hell she wanted, never argued, didn't get fat, travelled more, had many boyfriends, saved more money, had all the hot water to herself, never had pubic hairs under the toilet seat lid, watched girlie movies, never had football on, never wore fricken lacey lingerie that went up your ass, had high self esteem, never cried or yelled, felt and looked good in sweat pants and shirt, and burped, swore, & farted all the time. THE END
-------------------------------------------------------
"remember karen just because he buys you ramen noodles that aren't instant, doesnt mean you owe him/her anything. unless it's @ a restaurant, and the him/her in question is a server hehe...then you owe moneys. none of that dine and dash." - Hanah Amin
-------------------------------------------------------
Five tips for a woman...
1. It is important that a man helps you around the house and has a job.
2. It is important that a man makes you laugh.
3. It is important to find a man you can count on and doesn't lie to you.
4. It is important that a man loves you and spoils you.
5. It is important that these four men don't know each other.
The girl said, "NO!"And the girl lived happily ever after and went shopping, dancing, camping, drank martinis, always had a clean house , never had to cook, had sex with whomever she pleased....did whatever the hell she wanted, never argued, didn't get fat, travelled more, had many boyfriends, saved more money, had all the hot water to herself, never had pubic hairs under the toilet seat lid, watched girlie movies, never had football on, never wore fricken lacey lingerie that went up your ass, had high self esteem, never cried or yelled, felt and looked good in sweat pants and shirt, and burped, swore, & farted all the time. THE END
-------------------------------------------------------
"remember karen just because he buys you ramen noodles that aren't instant, doesnt mean you owe him/her anything. unless it's @ a restaurant, and the him/her in question is a server hehe...then you owe moneys. none of that dine and dash." - Hanah Amin
-------------------------------------------------------
Five tips for a woman...
1. It is important that a man helps you around the house and has a job.
2. It is important that a man makes you laugh.
3. It is important to find a man you can count on and doesn't lie to you.
4. It is important that a man loves you and spoils you.
5. It is important that these four men don't know each other.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
bali baby!
chickachickachickachickachickachicka BALI WUT!
okay dokay. so i just got back from bali three days ago. i had an omoshiroi time doing omoishiroi stuff. on my first day i flew into seoul, korea for a FIVE hour layover. but the airport was pretty swank so it wasnt too awful...unlike my 6 hour layover in bangkok airport sleeping on the god-knows-what-stained-carpet. i ate some oishii korean food, and then i checked my dang ding email, and after i meandered over to the korea cultural learning centre where i made my very own handcraft! YAY! i made a box, it was very sexy. finally i caught my transfer flight to denpasar, bali. i spent that five hour flight chatting to a korean lady sitting beside me. she spoke no english, i spoke no korean, but we managed to communicate our life stories and hobbies in the wonderous world of nihongese. she was fluent in japanese, and i just made sounds like bucka bucka bucka.
anyhoo, i arrived in bali at 11 pm and took a taxi to the beach city of kuta. famous for the surf, and seemingly endless hordes of tall, blond, tan, ripped surfers. my hotel had a pool which came complete with the entire von trapp family. all the balinese people assumed i was japanese (japan is the number 1 source of tourism for bali). so im walking along and all these stall workers and taxi drivers are shouting at me "konnichiwa! doko iku no?" and to be fair, i would think i was japanese too but it got annoying after awhile. so when i told them i was from canada, always, ALWAYS, the next thing out of their mouths would be "but you have a ASIAN face". and i would have to explain that my parents are from china, but i was born in canada rah rah rah. a few times i said i was from mexico for the heck of it. hola senor. adonde es el cesto? (hello sir, where is the garbage can? two years of spanish and thats all ive got. me and that garbage can...we bonded)
i spent thursday shopping and spent nearly $200! mainly on clothes (rashguard, surf shorts. if u cant actually surf, mite as well look like u do). then friday i signed up for a bountry cruise boat tour. such a waste of money. for $65 i got shuttled out to a plontoon off the coast of lembongan. there was a hour village tour, followed by some banana boat rides, and gay ass water slide. the only reason i signed up for it was cuz i thought there would be a submarine ride!!! turned out to be a SEMI-submarine ride. which is basically a glass bottom boat the extends further into teh water. u couldnt even see anything :-( fortunately, that was the last of the crappiness. the rest of my vacay went relatively hitch-free.
on saturday i met up with my friend jon, and we went horseback riding together. it was my first time horseback riding too! horses are pretty scary animals when u dont know what to do. my horse kept doing its own thing, munching on the grass at her own leisure. and im like, if we were in japan, this horse wudve been sashimi by now. anyways, it was a really beautiful experience. horse back riding along a pristine white sand beach, with the sound of surf punctuating the silence, while the setting sun illuminated the sky in brilliant hues. we ended the ride with dinner at a really nice resort restaurant right along the beach. picture perfect evening. aside from the dorky helmet and leg guards we had to wear. come on. even i cant make this look cool >___<
on sunday, i had my grand reunion with MICHERU!!! she was one of my closest friends last year in japan, and she had returned to new zealand last summer. so it had been nearly a year since i last saw her. despite that time gap, we got on like we had never parted ways. as soon as she arrived at our hotel i told mich she had half an hour to get ready, cuz we were going to catch the sunset at ulu watu (seaside shrine in the southern peninsula). we arrived just in time, but barely got to absorb the moment cuz we were whisked away to a traditional balinese dance called kachuk. theres an ensemble of some 20 men going chickachickachikcachicka and various other noises throught out the narrative dance. then our driver took us to the famous seafood restaurants in jimbaran bay, where we had oishi seafood on the beach. we were even serenaded by a 4 piece band who played us cool reggae tunes.
on monday we hired a driver to take us on a tour of the bali mainland. we went to see mount agung and batur, two volcanoes. we had a gorgeous view from the restaurant where we had our lunch. then we went through ubud, and it had really amazing craft shops. balinese art is just really amazing. the woodwork is so detailed. i just wish i had a proper house that i could furnish with all the amazing pieces we saw. then we finished our day by driving on the western coast to see the sunset at tanah lot, another seaside temple. we just sat on the cliffside cafe, sipping our bintang beers and coconuts, while taking in teh crashing waves and the elegant temple beneath the sun.
tuesday, we got up pretty early to go white water rafting down the telaga waja river. it was fun, we got to go down two tiny waterfalls, and kept getting whacked by low hanging branches and bridges. michelle nearly had her face smashed in by a rock face. good thing im into her for her personality! ho ho! after we got back from rafting, we hightailed it out of kuta, and drove into sanur. whats in sanur? the port! we were gonna catch a boat to lembangan island teh next day, and we just wanted to get away from kuta and all the von trapps.
the trip to lembongan was about 1 and a half hours by local boat. we were crammed in with skinny wooden planks to sit on. very uncomfortable...for the average mortal that is. thanks to my superior genes, evolved from generations of mongol warriors and rice farmers, i managed to fall asleep on what basically amounted to a 2x6 plank of wood. but wutever, you dont see me going on about it. we arrived by about 11 am, and we settled into a bungalow on teh beach. we hired some scooters to take us to dream beach. and there were these boys who were surfing in the water, doing really well i might say considering they couldve easily went smack into a cliff. the next day we went scuba diving and it was amazing. my first dive i didnt really enjoy that much cuz i had problems with my dive mask...as usual :-( but the second one i got it together, and saw some really cool marine life. me and mich were gutted cuz we wanted to go to manta point to see the manta rays, but the current was too strong that day. even more gutted to find out the next day they took another group out to manta point and they saw 12 rays!!! oh well...one day...
on our third and last day on lembangan, we headed over to mushroom beach, and just worked our tans, and did a bit of snorkeling. that night we went to scooby doo bar, and chilled with the locals. we met this one balinese guy, who had spent his entire life on lembongan, this tiny little island. we told him we lived in japan, and he said he could speak a little japanese. i expected him to spout off the usual stuff -konnichiwa, transporto? rahrahrah. but then he goes all out nihongo on us. even michelle (who studied japanese in uni) was impressed. apparently this guy had only been studying a year, by himself, from books! puts my efforts to shame! but then michelle was like, yeah, hes really gifted at languages, but its sad cuz u know he wont really be able to do anything with it. and i see her point. i mean, he's never gonna go to japan is he? the average balinese person makes like $100 a month. if its any consolation, bali gets wack loads of japanese tourists. there are twice as many japanese visitors than australians! go figure.
on saturday, we reluctantly make our journey back to kuta. michelle had a plane to catch that afternoon, so we spent the final few hours together doing some souvenir shopping. and at 1 pm we said adieu once again :*( that night we and jon went down into the southern peninsula to benoa to a famous balinese restaurant run by a pretty famous chef. alas i cant recall what its called, but 15 fabulous courses. kebabs, lamb coconut curry, balinese cakes. droooool.
sunday was our last day before jon and i returned to japan, so in the morning we went surfing at kuta beach. i mean, who goes to bali and doesnt surf right?! anyways, i was getting pounded by the waves, so after an hour i kinda gave up and switched to a boogie board. caught some awesome rides into shore with that! and later that afternoon we decided to do a final trip to ubud, the cultural center of bali. ubud is so much more than we initally thought! we ended up perusing the markets, then saw some different types of balinese dance at Ubud palace, and finished with dinner at Katuk's place. Katuk has an amaaaaazing compound. there's a inner courtyard with garden, swimming pool, which overlooks a river. and the architectural detail! sumptious as the food. im sad michelle couldn't have joined us for what was definitely the best two meals ive had in bali.
interesting trivia. in bali, all the children are named one of 4 names depending on birth order. 1. Wayan 2. Made 3. Nyuman 4. Katuk and if you have more than 4 children, it starts over at Wayan! so really, you can go up to any balinese person, and have a 25% chance of guessing their name right! i like those odds! and there ya have it! 13 days in a nutshell. doncha knowit ;-)
okay dokay. so i just got back from bali three days ago. i had an omoshiroi time doing omoishiroi stuff. on my first day i flew into seoul, korea for a FIVE hour layover. but the airport was pretty swank so it wasnt too awful...unlike my 6 hour layover in bangkok airport sleeping on the god-knows-what-stained-carpet. i ate some oishii korean food, and then i checked my dang ding email, and after i meandered over to the korea cultural learning centre where i made my very own handcraft! YAY! i made a box, it was very sexy. finally i caught my transfer flight to denpasar, bali. i spent that five hour flight chatting to a korean lady sitting beside me. she spoke no english, i spoke no korean, but we managed to communicate our life stories and hobbies in the wonderous world of nihongese. she was fluent in japanese, and i just made sounds like bucka bucka bucka.
anyhoo, i arrived in bali at 11 pm and took a taxi to the beach city of kuta. famous for the surf, and seemingly endless hordes of tall, blond, tan, ripped surfers. my hotel had a pool which came complete with the entire von trapp family. all the balinese people assumed i was japanese (japan is the number 1 source of tourism for bali). so im walking along and all these stall workers and taxi drivers are shouting at me "konnichiwa! doko iku no?" and to be fair, i would think i was japanese too but it got annoying after awhile. so when i told them i was from canada, always, ALWAYS, the next thing out of their mouths would be "but you have a ASIAN face". and i would have to explain that my parents are from china, but i was born in canada rah rah rah. a few times i said i was from mexico for the heck of it. hola senor. adonde es el cesto? (hello sir, where is the garbage can? two years of spanish and thats all ive got. me and that garbage can...we bonded)
i spent thursday shopping and spent nearly $200! mainly on clothes (rashguard, surf shorts. if u cant actually surf, mite as well look like u do). then friday i signed up for a bountry cruise boat tour. such a waste of money. for $65 i got shuttled out to a plontoon off the coast of lembongan. there was a hour village tour, followed by some banana boat rides, and gay ass water slide. the only reason i signed up for it was cuz i thought there would be a submarine ride!!! turned out to be a SEMI-submarine ride. which is basically a glass bottom boat the extends further into teh water. u couldnt even see anything :-( fortunately, that was the last of the crappiness. the rest of my vacay went relatively hitch-free.
on saturday i met up with my friend jon, and we went horseback riding together. it was my first time horseback riding too! horses are pretty scary animals when u dont know what to do. my horse kept doing its own thing, munching on the grass at her own leisure. and im like, if we were in japan, this horse wudve been sashimi by now. anyways, it was a really beautiful experience. horse back riding along a pristine white sand beach, with the sound of surf punctuating the silence, while the setting sun illuminated the sky in brilliant hues. we ended the ride with dinner at a really nice resort restaurant right along the beach. picture perfect evening. aside from the dorky helmet and leg guards we had to wear. come on. even i cant make this look cool >___<
on sunday, i had my grand reunion with MICHERU!!! she was one of my closest friends last year in japan, and she had returned to new zealand last summer. so it had been nearly a year since i last saw her. despite that time gap, we got on like we had never parted ways. as soon as she arrived at our hotel i told mich she had half an hour to get ready, cuz we were going to catch the sunset at ulu watu (seaside shrine in the southern peninsula). we arrived just in time, but barely got to absorb the moment cuz we were whisked away to a traditional balinese dance called kachuk. theres an ensemble of some 20 men going chickachickachikcachicka and various other noises throught out the narrative dance. then our driver took us to the famous seafood restaurants in jimbaran bay, where we had oishi seafood on the beach. we were even serenaded by a 4 piece band who played us cool reggae tunes.
on monday we hired a driver to take us on a tour of the bali mainland. we went to see mount agung and batur, two volcanoes. we had a gorgeous view from the restaurant where we had our lunch. then we went through ubud, and it had really amazing craft shops. balinese art is just really amazing. the woodwork is so detailed. i just wish i had a proper house that i could furnish with all the amazing pieces we saw. then we finished our day by driving on the western coast to see the sunset at tanah lot, another seaside temple. we just sat on the cliffside cafe, sipping our bintang beers and coconuts, while taking in teh crashing waves and the elegant temple beneath the sun.
tuesday, we got up pretty early to go white water rafting down the telaga waja river. it was fun, we got to go down two tiny waterfalls, and kept getting whacked by low hanging branches and bridges. michelle nearly had her face smashed in by a rock face. good thing im into her for her personality! ho ho! after we got back from rafting, we hightailed it out of kuta, and drove into sanur. whats in sanur? the port! we were gonna catch a boat to lembangan island teh next day, and we just wanted to get away from kuta and all the von trapps.
the trip to lembongan was about 1 and a half hours by local boat. we were crammed in with skinny wooden planks to sit on. very uncomfortable...for the average mortal that is. thanks to my superior genes, evolved from generations of mongol warriors and rice farmers, i managed to fall asleep on what basically amounted to a 2x6 plank of wood. but wutever, you dont see me going on about it. we arrived by about 11 am, and we settled into a bungalow on teh beach. we hired some scooters to take us to dream beach. and there were these boys who were surfing in the water, doing really well i might say considering they couldve easily went smack into a cliff. the next day we went scuba diving and it was amazing. my first dive i didnt really enjoy that much cuz i had problems with my dive mask...as usual :-( but the second one i got it together, and saw some really cool marine life. me and mich were gutted cuz we wanted to go to manta point to see the manta rays, but the current was too strong that day. even more gutted to find out the next day they took another group out to manta point and they saw 12 rays!!! oh well...one day...
on our third and last day on lembangan, we headed over to mushroom beach, and just worked our tans, and did a bit of snorkeling. that night we went to scooby doo bar, and chilled with the locals. we met this one balinese guy, who had spent his entire life on lembongan, this tiny little island. we told him we lived in japan, and he said he could speak a little japanese. i expected him to spout off the usual stuff -konnichiwa, transporto? rahrahrah. but then he goes all out nihongo on us. even michelle (who studied japanese in uni) was impressed. apparently this guy had only been studying a year, by himself, from books! puts my efforts to shame! but then michelle was like, yeah, hes really gifted at languages, but its sad cuz u know he wont really be able to do anything with it. and i see her point. i mean, he's never gonna go to japan is he? the average balinese person makes like $100 a month. if its any consolation, bali gets wack loads of japanese tourists. there are twice as many japanese visitors than australians! go figure.
on saturday, we reluctantly make our journey back to kuta. michelle had a plane to catch that afternoon, so we spent the final few hours together doing some souvenir shopping. and at 1 pm we said adieu once again :*( that night we and jon went down into the southern peninsula to benoa to a famous balinese restaurant run by a pretty famous chef. alas i cant recall what its called, but 15 fabulous courses. kebabs, lamb coconut curry, balinese cakes. droooool.
sunday was our last day before jon and i returned to japan, so in the morning we went surfing at kuta beach. i mean, who goes to bali and doesnt surf right?! anyways, i was getting pounded by the waves, so after an hour i kinda gave up and switched to a boogie board. caught some awesome rides into shore with that! and later that afternoon we decided to do a final trip to ubud, the cultural center of bali. ubud is so much more than we initally thought! we ended up perusing the markets, then saw some different types of balinese dance at Ubud palace, and finished with dinner at Katuk's place. Katuk has an amaaaaazing compound. there's a inner courtyard with garden, swimming pool, which overlooks a river. and the architectural detail! sumptious as the food. im sad michelle couldn't have joined us for what was definitely the best two meals ive had in bali.
interesting trivia. in bali, all the children are named one of 4 names depending on birth order. 1. Wayan 2. Made 3. Nyuman 4. Katuk and if you have more than 4 children, it starts over at Wayan! so really, you can go up to any balinese person, and have a 25% chance of guessing their name right! i like those odds! and there ya have it! 13 days in a nutshell. doncha knowit ;-)
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